Life is full and meant to be lived - Insights in Taurus

Meditation, mindfulness, nature-based practices, yoga, journaling, and other practices are becoming increasingly common for people to turn to. Often, we're told to engage in these things to feel more at ease, calmer, and better able to manage stress, with the promise that they'll fix us...

But what if there's a subtle distortion in our belief that we need to do these things? What if we realize it's entirely impossible not to be triggered, not to be affected by what life brings us? The truth is, we're all affected by everything, all the time. Life will trigger us, throw curveballs, and present challenges that we may feel we've already processed or dealt with, only for them to resurface at a new level for us to face and learn from.

In truth, having some sort of daily self-care practice isn't a tool to escape the intensity or learn how to manage it. Instead, it can be a gateway into how we are with what life brings us, allowing us to learn, grow, and evolve both individually and collectively.

As well as supporting us in how we're able to respond, the more we give ourselves this space and recognize its value, the more efficiently we can return to a state of balance and reflect on and integrate our experiences.

Life is full and meant to be lived. To me, this doesn’t mean constantly striving for more outward experiences, going to more places, doing more things, or gaining more knowledge (though of course, these things may happen too!). Instead, it's about fully witnessing and living what is here right now and the lessons being shown to us.

The process of seemingly linear time that we all live through, from birth until death, is a series of initiation doorways: from the egg and sperm and a spark of potential, to baby, child, teen, adult, and all the portals of change that occur at each stage of our adulthood - each is a threshold to be live through, not as something that is happening to us, but as something that is us.

So often, we distract ourselves, or push ourselves, and suddenly months or years may have passed, leaving us wondering where the time has gone, or we find ourselves burnt out and lost.

What would it be like to subtly shift our focus to be fully present, to witness each stage as we move through it, and then, beyond just witnessing, to willingly live into each gateway — to embrace the dark, challenging times when they come as much as the joyful and the bright?

I love this abundant time of Taurus. Along with it being the astrological sign I was born under, the rich, abundant sensuality of delight and pleasure it brings is impossible to bypass. With the relief of the wet, cold weather finally breaking and the new moon on Wednesday, there is a slowing of pace right now for me in my inner world, even if there is still the same amount to tend to in the outer life.

The earthy rootedness of Taurus invites sinking feet deeply into the earth and enjoying the abundance of flowering all around. It very much feels like a time of year when nature takes care of itself, and all we really need to do is sink in and bask in its delights.

Taurus is a fixed earth sign. Earth is the anchor that roots all the other elements. Being in Taurus gives us permission to sink in, to be present, to take stock of what has happened, and reflect on what may be coming. To deeply witness what is here right now, because of all we have lived through and where we may be going.

In the same way, the plants always offer this anchor point back into what is here right now for us to see, witness, reflect on, and grow from.

And of course, life is full, hectic, and unpredictable! My ideal would be to get up at 5 a.m. every day and have 2-3 hours of solo time for dropping into self-practice and nature connection — and if I’m honest, another 2-3 hours every evening — and maybe even an hour or two at lunchtime to take a nap (I truly am a Taurus and love the slow life!). But life doesn’t always flow like this, and I actually find myself here writing a blog at 6 a.m. or responding to clients at 9 p.m. when I’ve run out of time during the day (or decided to take that extra-long afternoon nap).

What I have found invaluable is to give myself non-negotiable anchor points. For me, this is regular bodywork, taking solo time around my monthly bleed, and not using an alarm clock — instead, trusting and listening to my own body clock of when I need to get up each day. And, of course, I have some plant or several plants that are with me each day, serving as a gentle hand on my shoulder or warmth in my heart, an anchor in my belly, guiding alongside me.

With these in place, it becomes so much easier to reorientate again when things are inevitably thrown off kilter.

And this is something I encourage in my clients: to find those things that deeply nourish and serve them. Not what they think they need or should be doing but what is true for them as an individual. And that they are always there to return to.

Insight Herbalism can be and is, for many, that anchor point. The plants have zero interest in who we are as a personality or if we've 'got it wrong,' been overwhelmed, or triggered. But they are quietly, compassionately there, ready to gently nudge us back into our own centre and our true trajectory again.