Individuality

There are many challenges to living our individuality - it's fascinating to think about the power of our social conditioning and how it shapes our approach to life…The world around us needs us to follow a certain path and hit certain milestones by specific ages - school, career, family, retirements etc. There is pressure from cultural norms, where it is expected to achieve career breakthroughs in your twenties, find the perfect partner by late twenties or early thirties and settle down with kids and financial independence for decades to follow.

But, that does not usually happen - as early as we can remember we all walk our own course and while most of the time we are proud of our choices, sometimes we do wonder if we are doing life all wrong. When we look around and see my friends and family, many of them are living a more secure and conventional life, while we were struggling or falling or failing or we would second guess our choices.

One of the gifts of having a calm serene meditative state of mind is that it gives us chance to listen to our ideas, desires, and?beliefs way below the surface…that deeper sense of our own “individuality”…the more we look inwards the more we learn who we truly are …instead of living in reactions to the expectations of those around us, we are able to honour that authentic voice deep within.

For many of us, we fell off the expected path or never found it in the first place or simply chose the different one. It's important for us to realise that it's not us who is flawed, it's society's "one size fits all life plan” which is flawed.?So if you are in a place in your life where you struggle to fit in - where there is a sense that you are pushing against the grain- that you are the constant black sheep, know that you are not alone. You need to shift in the way you view the choices you have made- we need to honour our uniqueness - instead of conforming to how others think you should be -celebrate your bravery for forging your own path in staying true to who you are. Really or else what’s the option

In the words of Papaji “ if you are acting like a sheep, do not blame the shepherd” -you cannot herd the lions - wake up and roar!!!…and you are FREE !!