Author Archives: Jennifer K Miles

About Jennifer K Miles

I am an educator, researcher and writer, passionate about storytelling and its power to change perspectives of self. Through undertaking the journey of my own transformative learning, I now work with adults to support them in drawing forth stories of the strength and potential gained in their lives, as they move towards the creation of their stories as yet untold. My three beautiful adult boys are the most precious part of my story, and continue to walk with and support me in undertaking my PhD research. I write about story and transformative learning ... the circumstances of our lives and the stories remembered; influences on the construction of our self-identities - positive and negative; critiquing the assumptions and limitations we have come to accept about ourselves, our potential, and our place in life; daring to imagine a story untold.
Apr10

Tension before change – revisited

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A lot of the people I love are having BIG challenges in life at the moment, and I’ve been pondering how best to respond to their angst.

In one of my earlier posts I talked about the tension that arises when change is afoot http://wp.me/p1KRax-3S, and referenced Sanaya Roman’s exquisite ‘Living with joy’ (see link below).  I would like to revisit this with an extract of a couple of the thoughts expressed in Chapter 16 – Embracing the new that are particularly relevant to enduring these turbulent times.

‘Embracing the new means being open to having more in your life. Many of you think that what you have created up until now is the best you can do … Opening to new things means trusting and having faith in yourself and others. It means believing that the future holds joy and promise. It means believing in your growth and direction …

Opening to the new means open­ing your heart. Be willing to step outside of your nor­mal limits and viewpoints and see the world in different ways. Trust that the world is safe and know that you are the director and the producer of what oc­curs in your life.

Opening to the new takes a willingness to view the old not with hate or anger or disgust, but with compassion. Many of you leave a relationship in anger, or you buy a new car when you are mad at your old one. That is one way to leave the old and embrace the new. As you follow the path of joy you can learn to open to new things while you are in a state of acceptance and peace with the old.

When things are not going well in your life, some­times you gather the motivation and energy to change them by becoming angry or choosing pain. It need not be difficult to leave the old and embrace the new. If you start thinking of what you want, how you would like your life to be, you begin easily and automatically to draw the new to yourself. If you want something and it can only come when another person changes or acts differently, then you do not have power or control over that. The only power or control you have is over your own emotions and reactions.

If you want something new, be open to having it come from anywhere, any place, any person. Be open to surprises and new things. Keep your heart open.’

This book speaks to me of the courage and vision we require when we dare to imagine a new way forward, and it reminds me that the way forward can often appear somewhat fearsome and solitary. Sanaya Roman speaks of the tension that precedes change, and just like the arrow that sits quietly in the fold of the bow, its potential flight is entirely linked to the tension that is required.

‘What you call tension or anxiety before an event can be viewed instead as focusing your energy to prepare you for something new. It is a change in your vibration to prepare you for something that is finer and higher in your life.

 You may feel that you must first conquer fear and anxiety before you step out and accomplish something. But everyone has that inner feeling of tension to some degree before attempting new things; it la a period of gathering energy to make the shift into a higher vibration.

Every single thing that happens to you happens to assist you in bringing yourself to a higher level of evolu­tion. Even those things you call negative or bad are there to show you new ways of responding so that you may be more powerful in the future.’

If we are not living the life we were meant to live, my experience is that life gives us a massive ‘broadside’ that calls us to make change. We can cling to what we have known, and try to use familiar outmoded strategies, or we step outside of all that we have known to this point, and dare to imagine a great new way forward.

So breathe consciously, create a calm space. and imagine how your ideal future looks. Invite this reality into the now and change your thoughts and actions to reflect this new reality.

Make authentic life choices  for you, and embrace your future with joy and courage.

One more treasure I found when I chased up Stephanie Dowrick’s site … I have always loved her writing … was this little piece on staying calm and taking charge.

We can’t change what’s happening, but we can choose how we respond http://www.stephaniedowrick.com/frontpage/take-charge-stay-calm/

Living with Joy: Keys to Personal Power and Spiritual Transformation (Roman S. (1986) Living with joy – Keys to personal power and spiritual transformation H.J Kramer Tiburon Cal.) http://www.amazon.com/Living-Joy-Personal-Spiritual-Transformation/dp/0915811030.
See also http://orin_meditation2.webs.com/embracethenew.htm

Apr9

Managing life and all its complexities

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My goodness, isn’t life busy?

Currently I find myself in a somewhat quiet space of contemplating life and living. In considering the most authentic and resonant way forward for me, I have been brought back to the now. Back to me.

As I breathe gratefully in the space that this spiritual season has provided, I’m thinking deeply about how easily we can get caught up in our perceived priorities, in powering towards whatever goal we have set ourselves … and how easily we can lose sight of, and connection to, our truth.

Over the holiday weekend, I’ve been sifting through some of the treasures that come through to me on Twitter, reflecting on the messages they bring.  And what they bring me is food for my soul … so I thought I’d share a few of them with you:

Soul Seeds have been an amazing discovery for me, insightfully identifying and responding to the complexities of the human condition.

“You are perfect as you are, and you could use a little work.”

http://www.soulseeds.com/grapevine/2011/08/know-yourself-self-awareness-and-change/

“Never regret. If it’s good, it’s wonderful. If it’s bad, it’s experience.”

In ‘Meditation, then and now’ http://youtu.be/xRMf4z8Cs8s, a delightful little snippet has reminded me of how simply I can source the answers to the questions and challenges that plague me. It’s as simple as going within.

Joseph Campbell (through UniverslSpirituality ‏ @unvrslsprtlty) inspires me to never be afraid of facing my fears: “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” Again, as simple as holding onto love, and going within.

And finally, two thoughts that link to my passions around storytelling and perspective transformation:

I’ve remembered that the time is always right to stop whatever terribly important thing we are doing, to go within, and to reconnect to our higher wisdom. It is only through going within that we can recalibrate our guidance and find our ‘True North’ to move forward most authentically. What a simple truth.

So for now I will sit quietly and reflect on words brought to me by Sherry Gillam ‏ @grapechick :

 “How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then to rest afterward.” ~Spanish Proverb

Mar4

Words to inspire

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Today I’ve been reading, researching and immersing myself in the theory and practice of Satyananda yoga, as part of my yoga studies. These exquisite words from Swami Satyananda Saraswati were lying quietly, awaiting my discovery. After losing myself in their poetic beauty, I would like to share a small extract with you.  I hope they inspire and lift you as much as they have me.

I am an invisible child of a thousand faces of love,
That floats over the swirling sea of life,
Surrounded by the meadows of the winged shepherds,
Where divine love and beauty,
The stillness of midnight summer’s warmth pervades.

Life often cuts at my body and mind
And though blood may be seen passing,
And a cry might be heard,
Do not be deceived that sorrow could dwell within my being
Or suffering within my soul.
There will never be a storm
That can wash the path from my feet,
The direction from my heart,
The light from my eyes,
Or the purpose from this life.

I know that I am untouchable to the forces
As long as I have a direction, an aim, a goal:
To serve, to love, and to give.
Strength lies in the magnification of the secret qualities
Of my own personality, my own character
And though I am only a messenger,
I am me.

Let me decorate many hearts
And paint a thousand faces with colours of inspiration
And soft, silent sounds of value.
Let me be like a child,
Run barefoot through the forest
Of laughing and crying people,
Giving flowers of imagination and wonder,
That God gives free.
Shall I fall on bended knees,
And wait for someone to bless me
With happiness and a life of golden dreams?

No, I shall run into the desert of life with my arms open,
Sometimes falling, sometimes stumbling,
But always picking myself up,
A thousand times if necessary,
Sometimes happy.
Often life will burn me,
Often life will caress me tenderly
And many of my days will be haunted
With complications and obstacles,
And there will be moments so beautiful
That my soul will weep in ecstasy.

I shall be a witness,
But never shall I run
Or turn from life, from me.

Never shall I forsake myself
Or the timeless lessons I have taught myself,
Nor shall I let the value
Of divine inspiration and being be lost.
My rainbow-covered bubble will carry me
Further than beyond the horizon’s settings,
Forever to serve, to love, and to live
As a sannyasin.

~Swami Satyananda Saraswati (Saraswati, S., 1993, p.29)