Siin on Nostr: When it was just me, I spent a lot of time holding ritual, meditating, exercising, ...
When it was just me, I spent a lot of time holding ritual, meditating, exercising, and engaging in other forms of spiritual practice and education. However, when my daughter came, as divine an experience as that was, every so often I'd find myself (and still do, sometimes, but less now that she's older) lamenting the lack of time for myself to engage in spiritual practice.
It's really fascinating the degree to which all of the facets of our lives are defined in relation to this socioeconomic reality within which we live. I learned over time that the difficulty I encountered in adjusting to life as a parent were related to economic expectations: I no longer worked a day job, and that created a kind of crisis of identity in which it never felt like I was accomplishing Work (economic or spiritual) despite that I was constantly "working". Secondly, the recontextualization of existence as a member of a household or community rather than as an "individual" (interdependence vs. independence) was difficult and innately tied to social programming that prompts us to find "our own thing" -- our own house, our own job, our own identity (usually filtered through consumer goods we purchase) and so on.
It took me about the first year to really realize where these feelings of frustration came from, and to begin the journey towards reidentifying and recontextualizing Space, Time, and Work. It was difficult for me to reconcile my total belief and understanding that the creation and care of another human being is incredibly divine and profound with the superficial and constantly reiterated (socially) belief that it was really difficult and monotonous and a part of my life I just needed to suffer through. Eventually, though, what I've realized is that most of my day is ritual: these are intentional, powerful, profound actions and events that shape not only my reality and future but that of the members of my household. Additionally, many of these daily rituals provide me space to connect with the Divine, to demonstrate gratitude, and to offer service in a magickal way.
Once I was able to understand and truly internalize this, I was able to reclaim Time and my own agency in a way that unfortunately I see a lot of other new parents struggling to find again. Not everyone is walking the same path, or is able to contextualize this journey the same way, but I think that it's incredibly important to not lose sight of the profound power in daily Work.
#Meditations #Parenting #Community #Pagan #OccultThoughts
It's really fascinating the degree to which all of the facets of our lives are defined in relation to this socioeconomic reality within which we live. I learned over time that the difficulty I encountered in adjusting to life as a parent were related to economic expectations: I no longer worked a day job, and that created a kind of crisis of identity in which it never felt like I was accomplishing Work (economic or spiritual) despite that I was constantly "working". Secondly, the recontextualization of existence as a member of a household or community rather than as an "individual" (interdependence vs. independence) was difficult and innately tied to social programming that prompts us to find "our own thing" -- our own house, our own job, our own identity (usually filtered through consumer goods we purchase) and so on.
It took me about the first year to really realize where these feelings of frustration came from, and to begin the journey towards reidentifying and recontextualizing Space, Time, and Work. It was difficult for me to reconcile my total belief and understanding that the creation and care of another human being is incredibly divine and profound with the superficial and constantly reiterated (socially) belief that it was really difficult and monotonous and a part of my life I just needed to suffer through. Eventually, though, what I've realized is that most of my day is ritual: these are intentional, powerful, profound actions and events that shape not only my reality and future but that of the members of my household. Additionally, many of these daily rituals provide me space to connect with the Divine, to demonstrate gratitude, and to offer service in a magickal way.
Once I was able to understand and truly internalize this, I was able to reclaim Time and my own agency in a way that unfortunately I see a lot of other new parents struggling to find again. Not everyone is walking the same path, or is able to contextualize this journey the same way, but I think that it's incredibly important to not lose sight of the profound power in daily Work.
#Meditations #Parenting #Community #Pagan #OccultThoughts