Structure and Freedom

This time of year still affects my whole being, even though I'm several years removed from the school calendar. There's a shift in late August that signals an ending of summer's freedom, of summer's play, that also invites a feeling of impending structure and rigidity - I feel my body, mind, heart, and spirit tense needlessly at the thought of this seasonal transition.

For many of my formative developmental years, and I presume yours as well, this shift brought about a great change in responsibilities, expectations, and demands. My body interprets the external inputs and signals that arise at the end of August and then habitually makes the same meaning of the typical signs that come with September near approaching. This bodily remembering is relevant and appropriate regardless of the fact that our reality no longer reflects the state of being that we're anticipating.

There are so many benefits to our ability to predict, to interpret, and to foresee what might be coming based on past experience but when things change and as we grow, these expectations may not always serve us. They may even limit our emotional, physical, and psychological progression, and create obstacles in the way of outcomes that we may desire. As adults with agency, we can tend to this process of remembering and anticipation consciously in ways we couldn't before.

Continued…

The juxtaposition of structure and freedom is one we all play with in our daily lives. Without rigidity, with a lack of needing to be somewhere, do something, be accountable to someone, we thrive, we create, we expand. We also lose focus, we lose purpose, we can become ungrounded. Without freedom, with a lack of space for ourselves and our thoughts, without time to do what you need or like, without spontaneity, we lose motivation, we lose drive or purpose, and we lose will. We also may find comfort in routine, may find an increase in productivity, and may feel like a well-oiled machined.

We all need to find a balance between these two ends of the spectrum. We must find play and joy in the constant flow, finding a rhythm that suits our present moments and lifestyle. There are gifts in both freedom and structure and I invite you to find them.

This month, we have a choice to invite this wave of structure in, to use it to our advantage and return to a routine that brings us closer to our self, which brings us back home. Life offers more choices to us as adults than we had when we were school-aged, we have more agency, more resources, and more freedom. You are able to choose your structure, choose what is meaningful and what matters to you and there is always room for that to change.

If you're reading this, and as a part of TMM community, we assume that you are interested in human consciousness, in the evolution of the soul, in self-awareness, development, and growth. We are inviting YOU back to the school of your choice and your wholmework, your soul work, and it is up to you. Enrol in a program from which you continue to graduate, the school of YOU.

The ProcessLisa MessinaThe ProcessComment