2023 August Issue 823

A personal note from Sylvia

The deep darkness of disconnection is no stranger to us all. It can come in many guises - for many and diverse reasons.

In my life I have long felt that to create, write, practice, refine and teach was a dream come true. And to receive invitations to travel to countries and communities was a privilege that was bestowed on me.. however, through circumstance, trauma and grief I have had moments of profound doubt - the thoughts coming - the questions - “would I ever again, find myself able to teach to the same depth and value as that which had brought life changing experiences to so many?”

In times of disconnect it’s possible to look but not see, to touch but not feel, to eat but not taste, to hear with your ears but not with your heart – it’s a numbness.

A numbness which feels like it just may be never ending.

And then I went to Bali. Recently I shared my experience in the deep green mountain jungles of that special place - all that intensity of life around me and I, the human…was filled with emotion as the wonderfulness of that life spoke so loudly. I recognised a reconnection with my inner spirit, the flickering flame of life that for months had been merely embers and now a re-igniting.

And in that re-ignition I felt an inner call to teach my leading programs – it was different, a deep joyous discovery, and showing the way forward to perhaps my best work yet.

So today I want to share with you that if you feel abandoned or cut off from your inner spirit,

please - know that it is always there, waiting for you to reconnect. Life does not disconnect from us - we simply forget the pulse of its love that surrounds us always.

The words of Ralph Waldo Emmerson,

to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived,
this is to have succeeded.

With heartfelt gratitude,

Sylvia Marina