Making Inner Maps of Meaning: Exploring the intersection of fate and destiny, digesting your life, and opening the way forward.
A 6 month journey starting January 2, 2027.
Lately I have been tracking the cyclical nature of life, and the intersection of fate and destiny. I find the topic fascinating and have been immersing myself in it for some time now over the last couple of years in my own personal work. My query has been around: What part of my life is written in the stars, and what part of my life do I actually have agency over? Am I truly sovereign, and what do the ancients have to say about the matter? It turns out quite a lot, and having lived enough trips around the sun to become intimately acquainted with and able to track some of my inner patterns, I've started to notice on a deep level the relationship between fate and destiny as it unfolds through a human life. I've found myself curious about the cycles they take, and the nature of getting stuck, even when I have enjoyed cycles of expansion. It is also curious to me how I can experience stages of expansion and fullness in one area of my life while simultaneously experiencing contraction in others.
It seems to me that many disciplines have a reverence for cycles, and I often turn my attention to the secrets of life that I find hidden in plain sight within the breath. For example, the breath has an inhale, then at the top of the inhale a natural pause, an exhale and then at the bottom of the exhale another pause. On the inhale we expand and grow and bring in life force energy. On the exhale we release, contract and reset. What I find the most curious is the pause at both the top and bottom of each breath; it seems as though there is a great teaching in the stillness that exists there. This cycle of expansion and contraction occurs whether or not my mind participates (fate) and, sometimes if I become aware, I can get involved in the direction of my breath, and therefore the shape my body and life takes (destiny). Somehow my inner state shifts and that seems to affect the outer world around me. What I have found is that to truly open to destiny I have to be willing to sacrifice the way I used to see and do things. The old way doesn't work - not because it is wrong, but because after many years of consistent inner exploration, I am in new terrain. This terrain called for a new map and I would like to share with you what I have discovered about making a new inner map. With this in mind, I invite you to my 6 month exploration beginning in January. It is called: Making Inner Maps of Meaning: Exploring the intersection of fate and destiny, digesting your life, and opening the way forward. If this resonates with you, I hope you will join me, more details and specifics are outlined below.
Making Inner Maps of Meaning
Exploring the intersection of fate and destiny, digesting your life and opening the way forward
Each of us has an inner map that we use to make our way through the world. These internal directions on how to navigate life were formed in the very beginning. Some of them were responses wired in before we even had language, and some of them are part of our inherent nature, or possibly even our karma, and we've added to them every day of our lives. Making these internal maps of meaning keeps us safe and gives us direction. The trouble is, if we outgrow our maps of the world, or destiny is calling us onto a new path and we refuse to reorient ourselves, we can start to have the experience of suffering the same looping patterns over and over. We may feel stuck in certain areas, repeating over and over what we call in yoga our samskaras - deeply grooved patterns in the psyche and body. We may even cognitively understand that we need to update our inner map, that we've outgrown certain roles and ways of being. We may even know in our bones where and how our inner way of relating to the world is outdated, and still, we cling to our old way.
As Jungian analyst, writer and scholar James Hollis puts it:
“We begin to realize that the reconfiguration of our plan and the reconfiguration of our worldview are how life grows and changes, how we mature, and that different understandings and maps of the world are appropriate for not only moving through different terrain but also different stages of our journey. One of the saddest…things to observe is when people are stuck in a previous role, stuck in a previous map, hanging on to it at all costs.” James Hollis - page 33-34 A Life of Meaning.
And so we can dig into it, why do we cling to our old maps even when we know it is time for a new way? We cling out of fear. We cling because we do not know that there is another way, or maybe we know another way, but we don’t know how to move in its direction. We cling because we are tired and making new inner maps takes effort, intention and a lot of follow through. And perhaps there are energies of life that interrupt us in our quest of moving forward in a good way. Quoting Jung, Hollis illuminates in his book A Life of Meaning the depths to which we can be paralyzed by fear. He says: “The spirit of evil is the negation of the life force by fear. Only boldness can deliver us from fear. If the risk is not taken, the meaning of life is violated.” And so, to really change how we relate to life, beyond the layer of our waking mind, we must be bold. Bold enough to make acquaintance with fear, with where we get stuck, and with our outdated ways of being that prevent us from reaching our highest potential. We need time and space to enter into relationship with these things, and then we need to act on the impulse and instinct of our souls' deepest urges and knowing. We seek to know our stuck places and our fears, so as not to be governed by our stuck places and our fears. We all have fear, but does fear have to have us? Does it keep us in old roles, old maps and old ways of circling the same circumstance and lessons, again and again? Looking around at the world, it does seem that the time for boldness and action from the inside out, is now.
So now we turn to the very important consideration: What role does fate and destiny play in all of this?
To consider this, we have to define and get acquainted with what fate and destiny are, which is exactly what we will do in this 6 month exploration together. To understand how the hand we were dealt intersects with our greatest potential is liberating by nature. By accepting our fate, we can truly prepare to show up for our date with destiny. By refusing to receive our fate, (the circumstances well beyond our individual control that life prescribed for us), we sit stagnant or trembling at the door of destiny refusing to walk through, even if it is open right in front of us.
And so, my offering to you, through this 6 month journey, is to gather together in community and work in the spirit of sharing with and witnessing one another about your life so far; and to sort, with great care and intention, what remains unreceived about your fate, to open the door to your destiny, and step into the life your soul has been calling for. To receive, finally, that which you have not seen, that sits in the energetic knots and the bodily tissues, patiently waiting for the full light of your awareness to shine upon it.
A healing circle has many components that determine its effectiveness. Sharing (being truly seen ourselves) and witnessing (truly seeing the other) are two very important parts. We will meet 6 times, for 4 hours each time in order to have enough quality time for the layers we are reaching towards to unfold naturally. Time allows us to access greater depth without force. We will work together, with new tools, to track the patterns that led to experiences and the experiences that reinforce our patterns. Ultimately we will thread together our experiences to reveal the larger arc of our lives so far, uncovering meaning where it exists, and integrating and releasing our hold on the past where it doesn't. Each month follows an arc of progression that will help us to identify the maps we have been carrying and eventually make new ones from a place of greater clarity and choice.
Making Inner Maps of Meaning: Digesting Your Life and Opening The Way Forward
We will begin our journey together with an extended six hour gathering on January 2nd, allowing us the time and space to begin deeply exploring and mapping the life we have lived so far.
From February through June, we will meet for a four hour gathering each month, with each gathering building upon the last to create a six month arc of reflection, mapping, integration and emergence. After each meeting, a specific activity and guided meditation/inner exploration related to uncovering and enhancing your own life map will be offered, allowing the work to continue unfolding between our gatherings. The work in between sessions will not be overly taxing and can easily be folded into your daily life.
Monthly Explorations
All sessions begin at 9 am pst and are 4 hours long except for January.
January 2nd *6 hours
Receiving the life you have lived: Understanding your fate.
February 13th
Mapping your patterns: How we can mistake fate for destiny.
March 14th
The making of meaning: What has meaning, what does not, and what to do when you discover the difference.
April 10th
Digesting your life: Your body knows how to integrate your life into the present moment.
May 16th
Updating your map with destiny in mind. Integrating your life's meaning with your path forward.
June 12th
Opening the way. Saying yes to yourself and your destiny.
I hope you can join me and look forward to welcoming you into our circle if it feels right for you.
Pricing:
$750 when paid in full and by October 15th (this pricing is only available to current pod members - super early bird)
$850 when paid in full by November 1st (early bird)
$900 is regular public price