The Ashram Within
—Julie M. Daley

Everywhere you look these days there is mention of the new mid-life crisis...for women. Time magazine's May 16th, 2005 issue is all over the topic, including a tongue-in-cheek essay titled, Crisis? I'll take mine to go. I'd Love an Inner Journey, but who's got the time? by Claudia Wallis. Wallis speaks of how women begin to change in mid-life, with a deeper desire to begin to know oneself, but she jokingly states that she doesn't have time to get to the ashram because life gets in the way.

Well Wallis should take note: Wild Creativity is all about this. Wild Creativity is about taking this inner journey right in the middle of life, by realizing and stepping into one's internal creativity as the source of self-knowledge. You already have the ashram within...it’s just a matter of learning the tools to help you find your way.

For those who aren’t quite sure what the term ashram means, it comes from Hinduism and means a place that houses a spiritual community and its guru. An ashram is a center used for practices and goals of a spiritual nature that lead to a deeper knowing of one’s authentic Self.

As we get older, we long to awaken to our inner voice and own unique rhythm. It’s as if we’re a snake shedding its skin – a skin of conformity, following other’s wisdom, and wanting to fit into the accepted image – so that our wisdom and self-understanding can emerge fully into their own. While we know we want this awakening, it can feel like a crisis because we don’t yet know who we are. How can we be this if we don’t know it or how to get there? We get there by trusting our own nature. We are naturally creative beings and we actually really enjoy being creative. While our more fearful side might argue with this, our creativity is where we find our true essential nature. It can feel daunting to find an opening into what is really true. After decades of following and living the status quo, taking care of others, and working to make our way in the world, we haven’t flexed our own muscle of self-expression and understanding.

To know more fully who you truly are and to be this authentic self is the purpose of life. Your internal creativity is your own amazing ability to live a life of personal, conscious choice. In each moment, you are free to choose whether to express your essential self or to express your socialized self, the self that was taught from a young age how to be, what to say and how to act to be accepted by society’s norm. Along with midlife comes an awakening to this essential self and the desire to fiercely own, speak and act from your truth. Your creativity is your natural resource with which to do so. Your creativity is the ashram within.

While creativity itself can’t be easily defined, it is through your essential self-expression that your creativity is made known in the world. It is through creative inspiration and action that what is inside you churning to be said, danced, shared, drawn…in short created…is brought into the world. It is by sharing this inner you that you begin to really be you, and in turn to more fully know you. This is the creative path of self-discovery and the path is within you.

In all human beings, there is a longing to know oneself – not the self that was taught by mom and dad, teachers and society to fit in and achieve, but the totally unique essential nature that is deep within. While this longing is felt in our adolescent years, for many of us it goes underground while we focus on achieving goals, such as our education, raising a family, making a living. This longing gets louder as we reach midlife.

It is through your internal creativity that you can invite your true voice in. As you choose from this voice, you give it ways to express and extend into the world. It is by this expression and extension that you begin to see and experience your true nature.

Finding your authentic voice is finding your ashram within. It is all there, but where do you start? Right where you are. Many of us believe that creativity is art, and that some are creative and others are not. That’s what we have been taught. In truth, creativity shows up in everything we do: parenting, relating to others, business, finances, they all take some creativity, unless you are completely following established rules without allowing your unique expression to be a part of what you are doing. It takes trusting that you have your own resource inside to count on and allowing it to guide you in all areas of your life. By paying attention to this inner voice through active self-expression, you can actively begin to be and know your essential self.

So embark on this inner journey to your own ashram within. Begin to notice your own sparks of creativity, because when you pay attention to them, they ignite into flame. Notice when you choose to express your creative impulses by taking action on them, or when you choose instead to act from the status quo. It’s always a choice; but when you choose to follow your own lead and have the thrill of seeing what comes from expressing what is inside, you will have opened the door to your ashram within.

 

copyright 2004-2005 Julie M Daley and Creative Wellspring. all rights reserved.
Limited duplication or distribution allowed with prior permission from and credit to Julie M Daley and Creative Wellspring.

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