When we look for definitions many turn first to the dictionary and there we find these answers: ‘the condition or right of being able or allowed to do, say, think, etc. whatever you want to, without being controlled or limited: a right to act in the way you think you should: the state of not being in prison’ (Cambridge English Dictionary) So it seems to be around lack of control or restraint - over our actions, thoughts, speech, feelings. And this means being able to act/speak/feel/think as we think appropriate. Embedded in this is a socio-political meaning that holds these freedoms as sacrosanct. Inviolable. Crucial to the running of a society where its diverse citizens can express themselves in many diverse ways. Freedom is thus a social rule or norm that is violated say in the case of Fascism or dictatorship. But does this go far enough if we desire a more beautiful world? A world where love, connection, understanding, playfulness, creativity are central sacrosanct values. This is the world that many of us now want, and moreover we realise that it is in radically transforming the current ‘reality’ that we will actually save the world, the planet. Many of course do not actually want to save the earth, many believe that we are just headed for extinction. That we will just eat up resources until the crash and burn. And now we are already burning. How do we radically transform reality? Political action is necessary but not enough. Politics is in the grip of non-truth, truth which is being strangled by the competition for power. Power based on fear. The reason that many of us first think of Freedom as Freeedom FROM is because there are actually two levels of reality (at least). The one level is controlled by the conditioned self and its complex set of alluring narratives made up of beliefs that we simply took on board. This is the realm of the ego or personality. Fear, anger, depression and attachment to things all belong here. It’s not that these feelings are to be denied or by-passed. In fact, they are to be used as fuel for growth. Transmuted. We are learning that these feelings and their associated beliefs do not belong to us. We are also learning that if left to run rampant the world is heading for chaos. How do we/can we know this? First of all, feelings are a vital part of being human. They are our navigation system, so we honour them and cherish them. But when we allow those feelings to become ways of being embedded with fixed thoughts and beliefs such as “I am not enough’ or “Life is a struggle” the problem begins. We are blocked from joy, our natural state. So what is our ‘natural state’? And what is this other level of reality? We can only access this other level through certain practices or experiences, or a combination of both. I came to it through meditation, in the Zen tradition, which focuses on observing the mind, and being aware of the breath. And in that act of observing, finding that we have a witnessing self. And in BEING that self we finally feel freedom. The Higher Self as it is also called, does not recognise any limitation. It rejoices in itself. It is our face before we were born. Crucially its very nature is love. It is in direct contact with our soul. And we also find that this love, this freedom, is to be found when we are being creative, when we are ‘in love’, when we are in ‘flow’, when we follow our passions. This is what is meant by the life of the heart, and in it is to be EXPERIENCED freedom. There may be times when you feel driven by the ego into constant reactivity, as if you are on a hair trigger. Ultimately this leads to exhaustion and soul starvation, then soul death. To step back into Freedom is easy, but it is a process that may lead you to ask for guidance. If you are seeking a way to this realm of love and joy, my new 1:1 programme is designed to take you there. https://gardenway.lpages.co/stepintofreedom-1

Eric Fromm said that ‘Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties’. In my own creative process of writing a poem I recognize the stages of this. It all begins with an idea, a restlessness, an agitation. Then: 1. The Fear – of the blank page and the enormous power, freedom and potential of that 2. The Excitement – mingled with the fear, this is like the magic potion that waters the seed or the idea 3. The Taking of risks – putting words down with no thoughts about whether it is ‘good enough’ 4. The Working with what has arrived – this is the process of crafting, the drafting, the refinement 5. The Release – the joy and satisfaction of having produced something beautiful or valuable that will enhance the quality of life of whoever reads or hears it – either by them learning something or feeling something, or both. This is also a release of tension, mental, emotional and physical, before the cycle repeats again. And all through this process, there is no certainty at all, just liminality, limitless possibility. There is an illusion or glimmer of certainty when the poem is ‘finished’ but when the piece goes out to an audience, there is no certainty of outcome. Being brave is the necessary condition for all of this to happen. In my work with young people and clients over a period of nearly thirty years, I have witnessed their unfolding through the creation of poetry. First there is fear, then there is excitement as we explore what is possible, and so the fear is transformed into its opposite. Excitement is then the fuel for risk-taking which is absolutely necessary in art and in life in order to move and grow. And having taken risks, and experiencing the satisfaction and release they want to do it again and again. And so this opens up a life of freedom, joy and confidence. Our lives are also works of art, unique and beautiful, and impactful whether we direct that or not. We create our lives moment by moment using the raw materials of thoughts, feelings and actions. So what fears do we bravely need to transmute so that we can have the energy to take risks and create our lives as we want them? We fear that we are not good enough and never will be. We fear that we will upset people and be ostracized by friends and family and end up crazy and alone. We fear that we will be successful, and we don’t know how to handle that. We have become used to living in the so-called ‘comfort zone’ safe and small. We are even afraid of finding our tribe, of meeting people on the same wave length who understand us completely and do not expect us to behave in certain ways. In 2016 I had several wake-up calls. One of the many things I realized was that I could no longer tolerate the feelings that daily arose (and sometimes several times a day) when I allowed myself to be victimized and used by the system. Feelings of despair, grief and furious rage that I could have legally medicated if I had chosen to. I decided to really listen to what these feelings were telling me. Your story will be different, but for me this meant finally resigning from my well-paid but soul-destroying job with nothing tangible in its place. That makes it sound simple – in fact it came with astounding green light clarity – ‘You cannot do that, be that, go there any more, end it now, go!’ I will leave you with two questions and an invitation: • What are your feelings telling you? • What leap are willing to make to live a life of freedom (and awareness of risk, yes) and creativity?

I first came across this notion in the work of Carl Rogers when I was doing my training in person centred counselling. Authenticity, or ‘congruence’ or ‘genuineness’ is according to Rogers, and he spoke and wrote from years of experience as a psychological researcher and therapist in the 1960s and 70s, one of the core conditions for growth and change. It must be present in the counsellor and in turn the counsellor communicates that to the client who then grows into their own authenticity. This also reaches into our everyday relationships. If we can be authentic in our day to day relationships, this facilitates authenticity and growth in others too. I have certainly found this in my work with young people. Being ‘real’ is another way of saying it. But what does it actually mean? And how easy or difficult is it to express? Here is my understanding and experience of it. It’s a knowing, acceptance and even a loving of ourselves so that we feel confident to express all of who we truly are in each moment. Here’s how it’s challenging. In no particular order…first comes social and familial conditioning, including culture and ancestral patterns. Arguably this is the biggest challenge of all because so many people take what family members, teachers, bosses, colleagues, even so-called friends say and behave towards them for granted as being real and true. The messages we get as children, when we are fist starting out in this life are crucial to this. For example, we are told by a caregiver that anger is not allowed, and we believe this to be true and stop expressing it. Crucially though, we still continue to feel it, because it is part of being human and it is really a signal to us that something is wrong. These messages are incredibly powerful patterns and are passed down the generations through centuries of felt experience. There is a lot of talk just now about limiting beliefs because in order to bring the new world or new story into being we need to move past entities which are untrue. But in order to do that we need to reach the realisation that most if not all of our beliefs are just constructs. The message ‘you will never be good enough’ is just as true as ‘you are a balloon’. This conditioning makes it hard for us to know, accept or love ourselves, so getting to be authentic stays out of reach, along with the joy and freedom that a truly authentic relationship with self and others can bring. As long as we are caught up in the conditioning, we will struggle to know ourselves. And this is another challenge. How do we know who we ‘truly’ are? Surely I am that which does this and that, thinks this and that, does this or that, believes this or that. No, you are not any of that. It begins with a wake-up call. And each and every one is completely unique. So without listing the infinite number of experiences that we can have which make us wake up to what is really going on…what they all have in common seems to be an irresistable feeling of ‘life has to change. I cannot go on like this.’ And then we might seek help, or we might even realise what we need to do. And what we need to do sounds simple – to get back to who we have always been – but is quite tricky indeed! Who we always were? We come into this world trusting, with the seeds of our unique potential, and ready to give our unconditional love to all we meet and many of us find the right conditions in which to grow – a family or social environment where love is given unconditionally. Even if we don’t, there is still hope. Many of us later meet helpers or teachers as I see them (and that includes friends, lovers, colleagues, therapists and others) who do give us that. And so we grow like a tree grows, with some branches confidently expressing all they are and others stunted and delayed. So the overarching challenge to being real and authentic is fundamentally this – we need to know, love and accept ourselves including (and perhaps especially) our imperfections before being authentic even makes sense. A person who is in the thrall of unconscious false beliefs is always holding something back, so authenticity in its fullest sense – that is, ALL we truly are – is impossible. There is a lot of work to be done, and there is a call to do it now. Our core current lessons are these: Self-knowledge Self-acceptance Self-love And then, knowing, accepting and loving each other. And then some more of all of that! And then throw in bravery, curiosity and creativity and you have a curriculum fit for the soul.

I’m a great believer in starting anything new with a settling into the NOW. How am I feeling right now, this moment, what thoughts are arising, what do I observe within and around me? As I write, it’s the 31 st January and tonight in the UK, if the sky stays clear, we are due to see the Super Blood Blue Moon Eclipse - well… the super and the blue part anyway. I’m always interested to see what the ancient divination systems say about such uncommon events and a few things are striking me in a powerful way. To sum up, this is a time when old issues from 2017 can be released. For many of us, we have moved our lives into new directions in a process beginning last August, the time of the last total eclipse. Starting from tonight, when the moon enters Leo, we are all entering a phase when our fiery, leadership qualities come to the fore. This will allow us to finally take charge of our own lives as we clear out the old, and let the past go. But this process needs to start within us, and may will feel the need to retreat for a while to allow this process to unfold. Things that we need to let go of will first of all rise within us ready to be seen. And just as a lion relies on her pack, so you too may feel a strong pull towards tribe and group holding. We are all going to emerge from this process in July or August with raised consciousness and renewed confidence to step up and live our truths as who we really are. And so it seems fitting that I am called to visit Crete again this June. In September of 1988 I was persuaded by a friend to travel to the Greek island of Crete. I was reluctant at the time, swayed as I was by visions of drunken red-bodied sun-burnt Northern Europeans lazing on the beach and drinking all night. I know, it sounds judgemental but that’s how I was feeling about going to what I thought was a holiday resort. But my friend (pre-internet days!) showed me pictures in a book, of bright white churches, lush gorges filled with wild flowers, snow-capped mountains and remote turquoise bays and I agreed – how could I not, lured by the promise of such beauty? We arrived in the early hours of the morning, before dawn, and the tour bus drove us to our budget (but as a result relatively isolated) apartment in what was then the small fishing village of Sissi. We were the only ones left on the bus as we pulled into the village square next to the harbour, and carried our cases into the hot night. We slept soundly, covered in only single white bed sheets. In the morning, I stepped outside and was greeted by heat and undiluted intense colour. As my body expanded and relaxed, my senses seemed to wake as from a longer sleep. Never had I seen dust so red, walls so white, a pure blue unclouded sky and spread out before me – a turquoise ocean. Later when we took a walk by the shore, a kingfisher sat on a rock the sunlight revealing its vivid plumage to me, and an old woman in black worked a field which sloped down to the sea. Peace entered my soul, memories (the nature of which were to be gradually revealed to me) reinvigorated my very cells and I fell in love with this land. We did do some lying on the beach, and some swimming, but other days we travelled. We visited the ancient Minoan site at Knossos, lingered in the museum of antiquities in Heraklion where we saw pottery painted with spirals, dolphins, octopus, leaves and shells – lovingly glued together again as if new. Statues and frescoes of bull leapers, dancing women and bare-breasted snake wielding priestesses. Delicately worked gold jewellery, strings of amber beads and the obscure symbolism of the clay ‘Phaestos disc’ which could be the earliest example of writing dating from between 1850 B.C. and 1600 B.C. We rode on the back of donkeys up to a deep cave in the mountains where we were told the baby Zeus had been hidden. Something was calling to me, stirring in me. And to this day I continue to be stirred and called to be in Crete, to bathe in its waters, learn the art of deep devotion in the baked ruins of my ancient sisters’ temples, tiny shrines and springs in the mountains. Everywhere the mountains, covered in herbs, everywhere the sea, and music and dancing as often as possible. To move to the wild lyra in hypnotic circle dance is my heart’s greatest delight. And so it seems fitting that this June, at the time of the New Moon in Gemini, I am called to bring all of me together, like the fragments of artisan pottery that lay buried and undiscovered in the Cretan soil until the early twentieth century – my little house in Crete, my poetry, my teaching, my love for the island, my loved ones and new friends and my priestess energy. And so I am called to gather together 8 women in retreat - to create poetry, to dance and dream the collective new reality into being through each of us. Self- love, passion abundance and peace within us, a world of love, passion, abundance and peace around us – all coming into being. How wonderful it will be to go back invigorated and charmed back into our lives to flow with ease and wonderment and help more do the same.

Alison Smith – The Garden Way

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So far Alison Smith has created 8 blog entries.

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What is Freedom?

When we look for definitions many turn first to the dictionary and there we find these answers: ‘the condition or right of being able or allowed to do, say, think, etc. whatever you want to,

What is Freedom?Alison Smith2020-01-08T14:26:00+00:00

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The answer to everything

I feel wonderful today as I write this, and not because my life is perfect, or even because the sun is shining, but because I am alive, and I have the gift of another day

The answer to everythingAlison Smith2018-05-18T10:35:44+01:00

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Bravery

Eric Fromm said that ‘Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties’. In my own creative process of writing a poem I recognize the stages of this. It all begins with an idea, a

BraveryAlison Smith2019-12-20T15:50:05+00:00

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Authenticity

I first came across this notion in the work of Carl Rogers when I was doing my training in person centred counselling. Authenticity, or ‘congruence’ or ‘genuineness’ is according to Rogers, and he spoke and

AuthenticityAlison Smith2018-02-07T20:15:37+00:00

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Follow Your Calling

I’m a great believer in starting anything new with a settling into the NOW. How am I feeling right now, this moment, what thoughts are arising, what do I observe within and around me? As

Follow Your CallingAlison Smith2019-12-20T15:51:41+00:00

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