INTEGRATING DAILY PILLARS OF VITALITY

February 3, 2024

TROY: Today's Lab is on INTEGRATING DAILY PILLARS OF VITALITY

I've asked Michael to share with us the most practical ways for us to integrate these Pillars of Vitality in a way that is easy to create as a habit or choice each day or as needed because it seems that we don't really pay attention to our Life Task or Pillars except as vague ideas.

So let's see what they have to say... Have a great session!

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MEntity: 

Hello to each of you. We are here, now. We can begin.

Most of you already have a clear concept of what we have shared for many years as your Life Task/True Work, True Play, True Rest, and True Study. 

These are your 4 Pillars of Vitality.

They serve as a foundation for your well-being, emphasizing the importance of aligning action, thought, emotion, and assimilation through accessible ways that help support the Life Task, which by extension helps Manifest Essence.

Life Tasks are born of ideas that come from your past selves and your Essence's assessment of where it is in terms of balance. For example, if Essence sees that a series of past selves missed out on Agreements due to avoiding the public, then Essence may choose a Life Task of "Being Available".

Life Tasks are chosen as a way to invite new experiences or to overcome challenges or to complete an arc of exploration. All Life Tasks are NON-urgent and non-binding. They are optional.

However, as the Essence grows in Soul Age, and when a student meets their teacher, the Life Task tends to become a meaningful consideration rather than an interesting idea.

This is because the more one is manifesting Essence, the more one tends to be curious about the Life Task, even in lifetimes when this terminology is unavailable or unknown. In those lives without a teacher or terminology, the Life Task may be described as someone's "calling."

Or purpose.

In most instances where one is describing a calling or a purpose, they have chosen one avenue for the Life Task to be fulfilled. The actual "calling" or purpose is just one path of many through which the actual Task could have fulfilled.

The Life Task is never restricted to a specific form, or any form.

True Work is the path through which the Life Task is fulfilled, OR it could be said that True Work is how one supports the Life Task. Either way, True Work is the mundane action you take that aligns with your Life Task.

When we offer up our suggestions for True Work, etc, they are suggestions that come from across many lifetimes where we have seen certain mundane actions help support the Life Task. We offer these up as suggestions and some may be helpful while others may not.

True Work does not mean what you do for a living, how you earn money, how you add purpose to your life. True Work CAN mean these things if they happen to be a part of how you fulfill the Task, but the Life Task is often broader than a career.

For example, Troy's Life Task is "to communicate to large masses of people, not necessarily from the podium." This could be said to be fulfilled through his work with us and the community, or through his constant voice in social media, or through his books to be published, etc. His True Work included "waiting tables," and other such suggestions, not because waiting tables is the place to fulfill his Task, but that waiting tables gave Troy direct contact with people in a setting that helped build up neurological pathways of confidence for speaking, communicating, and problem solving, which then help in his Life Task.

If you have been provided your True Work, they are suggestions that likely help to build some amount of confidence around your own Task.

Today, however, we invite you to toss aside our suggestions.

What we are looking for today is not Work, Play, Rest, or Study that you must commit to over time, such as "waiting tables," but to look for mundane daily ways to take action, receive inspiration, nurture confident expression, and learn what matters that day.

LAB ASSIGNMENT ONE: Life Task/True Work - for this assignment, without considering your Life Task, and without concern for any logical or obvious connection to your Task, we invite you to consider ONE THING that you can do daily that is rooted in ACTION that feels good, always seems to be meaningful, is easy to fulfill, and includes the body. For example, for some it may be as simple as "a meaningful walk," or "play with my dogs," or "clean house," etc.

Share your ideas below:

JanetH: Breathwork active meditation

BeccaTheStudent: I always feel invigorated by a walk

Uma: Playing with my cat/grooming her

wendymae: Dance for 5 minutes

Diane_HB: Taking a walk

Patty: Yoga, on my own or in a class

Jeroen: Each day, I like to feed the birds outside, give them warm water since its cold out, and power up my bird AI stations for detecting species (recent hobby).

BeccaTheStudent: or doing a silly dance in my living room

Uma: also walking around my garden, watering, weeding

wendymae: I like to exercise but I feel like committing to more than 5 minutes is too much

Jeroen: Also, going for walks outside.

PetraB: Any MOVEMENT

JanetE: Have a cup of coffee!

BeccaTheStudent: Oh yes, preparing and drinking a warm/hot drink, definitely!

Patty: Same wendymae! 😂 If I'm not in a group class, exercise only holds my interest for 15 minutes, tops

Maureen: Do the dishes throughout the day (no dishwasher)

wendymae: Patty I just don't have energy right now

Patty: wendymae I see, that is frustrating when you want to do something, and can't manage it.

Maureen: 

and I vacuum most days, as well.

I almost forgot. I also do runs to the stores (most days) to shop mostly for bargains on foods we eat. I feel this is one of my contributions to "earning by saving". It also gets me out meeting/talking and being around people which I like.

MEntity:

Whatever you have chosen, this is not a matter of high spiritual value or a matter of magical wonder. These are TASKS that help THE TASK. 

We will comment on your suggestions.

We have described the support for the Life Task in terms of Pillars. What we are discussing today could be considered Task Bricks, or bricks in the pillars.

All of your suggestions are valuable, and to shift these from being mundane tasks to being bricks in the pillars of your manifesting Essence, all you would want to do is bring intention, consciousness, and choice to the tasks.

When you do dishes, invite Essence. When you do breathwork, invite your guides. When you take a walk, invite us. Play with this mundane task in a way that makes it an intentional conscious participation in both the physical and your imagination.

When you clean, invite the fairies. When you feed the birds, invite the devas. 

This may seem like childlike silliness, and that is because it is meant to be.

Your lives are steeped and immersed in the pressures of serious circumstances and demands. We do not wish to add more of that to your life. Instead, we are inviting you to reconnect to the joys of LIVING even in your most mundane tasks because they are not as simple as duties or chores. They are bricks in the pillars of your vitality.

TRUE PLAY is how you, as Personality, ground yourself. How you ground yourself tends to come in how you express yourself, how you interact with the world around you, how you literally play. True Play does not require action, though it can certainly include action, but it will always require the intellect or mind. This means that True Play can be as intangible as the imagination, funneled through creative expression, or through interactions that help you feel connected and alive, as if that with which you are engaged is an extension of you.

We have offered suggestions, of course, but what we are looking for today is a brick in the pillar of True Play.

Uma: I scroll through facebook and share what I find beautiful, true, loving, funny and my opinions. I find that very restful and playful.

MEntity:

LAB EXPERIMENT TWO: an easy way to determine what may be True Play for you in your daily life is anything that makes you smile, laugh, or even roll your eyes; something that engages your mind in a way that feels good. The experiment here is to think about what "little thing" you do on a fairly regular basis that engages your mind and brings you a bit of a laugh, intrigues you, challenges your thinking a bit, etc.

This can be something as simple as watching people, checking social media, sharing memes, random thoughts that make you laugh with yourself, etc.

We suggest that each of you list one way that you can see how you make yourself laugh most often in any given day.

We do not mean that you laugh every day, but what you may have noted tends to make you laugh or smile.

JanetH: Interacting with my patients.

BeccaTheStudent86: Conversations with my current roommate.

Uma: Absurdity. I see so much of it. It always make me laugh

wendymae: This is kinda pathetic but I'm stumped

Jeroen: I like to engage in morbid humor with my two cadence mates when I see them or sometimes within my own thoughts. It gets a little out of control at times, but brings in lots of laughs. I like to say, Death keeps my going in life. lol

Patty: Podcasts. There are a couple friends that I know will always make me laugh, even if I don't talk to them daily.

Diane_HB: I would say certain accounts I follow on Youtube make me laugh each day

Patty: My students are amusing, and often very funny.

JanetE: Well, my dogs make me laugh often. But otherwise there’s nothing consistent about what makes me laugh or smile, although I don’t feel that I’m not fairly cheerful much of the time. 

Jeroen: Also, I like watching youtube videos each day of people who share interesting things they specialize in.

JanetE: My grandson (he’s 3) is ALWAYS good for a chuckle.

PetraB: I Invent stories in my mind about different characters that play all "me" and then I change the screenplay, sometimes I really have to laugh a lot about my characters, but more often then not, they make me smile.

Diane_HB: Tex also makes me laugh

Patty: I think I'm pretty funny. lol

MEntity: All of these moments where you smile or laugh are bricks in the pillar of vitality that supports your manifesting of Essence.

Maureen: The closest I get is I when I see the absurdities of, well, anything. This always brings me back to the wholeness of the bigger picture. I often laugh by myself... and probably with my Guides.

JanetE: Oh I know — my guide in charge of dreams frequently sends some stuff that have me laughing when I wake up.

Maureen: I often laugh, out loud, at myself. I'm often absurd.

wendymae: One of my client's dogs makes me laugh and smile consistently but I only get to see him twice a week if I'm lucky.  Not much makes me laugh or smile these days.

MEntity:

WENDY, it is not pathetic. 

Wendy, we do not say that to dismiss your assessment, but to say that it is normal. There are many days and weeks for many without laughter or even a smile.

The goal here is to either identify known sources that may already be at play for you, or identify a lack of those sources and begin to nurture one.

wendymae: That recognition made me cry so thank you.  The reason I am doing this workshop is so I can become more engaged with life again

MEntity:

In your case, Wendy, we can suggest that you try this: 

Randomly surprise yourself when you notice something interesting. A bug in the window. A woman's bad hair do. An idiot on television. Your own absurd thought that went spiraling out of control. A leaf on a plant. Anything that catches your eye for a moment, bring a quick note of play to that dynamic and let those moments be a reminder to laugh with yourself, to befriend yourself in that moment, to enjoy the moment "for no reason."

wendymae: Okay, I can do that 😀

Maureen: I just remembered you told me this. This is why I often laugh when I am "alone". These Guides are funny as fuck. "Your Relationship, or Emotional Guide, appears to be two fragments, one a Sage, and one a Server, both seeming like "drinking buddies" as far as their playfulness and humour, and this is where we think you might sense the humour. There is a theme of "absurdness" in their humour, and this contributes greatly to your capacity for rising above more difficult people and relationships."

JanetE: “Coincidences” often make me laugh.

MEntity: 

Make note of each of your Pillar Bricks. You have two now.

TRUE REST is how one restores, calms, revitalizes, inspires oneself. This is an emotional pillar and, again, does not require action, though action can be involved. True Rest is how one returns themselves to the center again.

The bricks of this pillar are often revealed in how one responds to stress and what one does to "escape" this. For some, this is watching tv, eating, sleeping, masturbating, showering, a bath, etc. Anything that feels for a moment outside of the momentum of pressure or movement in the life.

LAB EXPERIMENT THREE: Consider what gives you that much needed break from the momentum of the day. It may vary on some days, but there is likely a general experience that you may "reach for" when you need a break. You need not reveal these if they are personal. That is up to you. What might be considered a brick in your pillar of Rest?

JanetH: Connecting in and with nature.

Diane_HB: Video games, painting, TV/Youtube

Uma: music and weed and chocolate do it for me. Dependable hits of delight, joy, happiness

BeccaTheStudent86: Definitely drinking hot chocolate. I can't drink it right now, and I'm finding it a needed moment of calm and comfort in my life; so -- drinking a hot drink, the warmth of it in my hands.

Diane_HB: Playing the piano

BeccaTheStudent86: Listening to music

wendymae: Watching tv at the end of the day, reading at the pool if I can fit it in the day.  Reading novels at bedtime.

Maureen: Watching TV

BeccaTheStudent86: reading/watching stories

JanetE: I like to listen to binaural beat music, with or without suggestions supplied for meditation.

Patty: I see meditation as a prophylactic against feeling like I need a break during the day. But music also works.

BeccaTheStudent86: also asmr

PetraB: To fall into Silence, that even the sounds of Nature sound like Silence.

MEntity: For Rest, it is often the case that one tends toward more variety, so you may find yourself with a few bricks to consider.

Jeroen: Being in nature; observing sunsets and sunrises through clouds, eating good foods, having good conversations when possible, listening to unique kinds of music from different cultures

JanetE: Oh I like sunsets, too, Jeroen. Lots of good ones where I live. 

Uma: turning off the news really helped me de-stress. now only tennis on mute is on the tv and music is playing either loudly or in the background

JanetE: For that matter, watching the colors of clouds as the sun comes up is really nice. 

Jeroen: JanetE, The sunsets are especially amazing when the sun sets behind a mountain through the clouds. I imagine you see that often in the mountains of Colorado.

Maureen: Looking out the window at the trees (in any season) and (as I do this) breathing deeper.

wendymae: Cooking just for myself sometimes is a great de-stressor for me too

MEntity: What each of you is describing is something accessible to you daily in some way that can give you a momentary boost of empowerment, particularly when you add your consciousness to the equation. It is one thing to watch tv, and quite another to do so mindfully as a gift to yourself.

JanetE: Yes, clouds are a really good thing when the sun is going down. Such a show of light and color!

Patty: catching up with friends, restorative yoga, getting in water (any type!), reading, sitting in a hammock or out in the sun.

BeccaTheStudent86: What is it about Rest that tends us toward variety?

MEntity: Becca, the variety tends to be due to the variations of the days. Much of what gives one a moment of rest may be available one day, but not another. This leads to having several "go to's" that give one options for rest.

BeccaTheStudent86: Got it

MEntity: 

Of all of the pillars, Rest tends to be the pillar needed most on a daily basis.

Make note of the bricks in your pillars. You now have bricks for 3 of your Pillars.

TRUE STUDY is how one prepares for the Task and supports True Work. True Study can be anything of interest. 

For this lab, however, this is a bit different.

The bricks of the pillar of Study tend to be in terms of how one makes sense of their day.

This is one of the most vital pillars of the pillars of vitality.

All students will tend to make sense of their day at some point in their day, even if that is saved for dreams.

For many, making sense of the day simply means determining how one feels about that day and that is it. If the day sucked, it sucked. If the day was fun, it was fun. If one is too exhausted to care, then one is too exhausted to care.

Uma: My Life Task --To Study Masters--and True Study overlap, so there is a lot of focus on recognizing mastery wherever I find it, mainly listening to masters of opera or jazz or looking at masters of painting

Maureen: No matter how bad one’s day is... there is always another day.

Uma: but also recognizing people who have mastered their field in some way, like Roger in tennis

JanetH: "Journaling" in my mind; active reflection on a daily basis.

BeccaTheStudent86: Yeah, I'm blanking on this one.

MEntity: But what we suggest is that you need not change the natural patterns of your assessment of the day. This should remain organic and as flippant or as profound as is normal for you. The only thing we suggest bringing to your making sense of the day is intentional awareness. This is what will help add another brick to your pillar of support for Study. Simply deciding the day sucked or that the day was brilliant and then moving on can leave that day out of the collection of resources used for study.

PetraB: I reflect with my Nature friends and talking to my Partner, and my daughter, and of course with myself.

wendymae: Mostly too exhausted to care. But I guess I can bring awareness to that

Patty: I suppose talking to my mom in the evening is how I reflect on my day. For a little while I was keeping a gratitude journal.

Maureen: 

No matter what my day is like I always learn so much. The learning keeps me going and I'm so fucking curious... about everything. Even the not so good stuff.

You (Michael) said this to me and it makes so much sense: Maureen, "Learning" as a form of rest is a process rather than a destination in this case. There are many days that you go to bed perplexed, agitated, frustrated, or even worried, and these are elements of Learning. You are in the process of growing, changing, evolving, trying to understand something, trying to make something work, etc. This is Learning. Taking great peace from within that process helps bring Rest to the patterns that eventually lead to what has been LEARNED.

Jeroen: I found it helpful to write down what might have been meaningful in a day even if it was only one experience that lasted a few moments. Sometimes even awful days can have meaningful moments and those moments can be kept.

Patty: what do you mean, "it can help leave that day out of the collection of resources used for study"?

MEntity:

LAB EXPERIMENT FOUR: when you find yourself in that moment of assessment and sorting of your day, making sense of it, consider singing it out loud. This may seem absurd and random, but that is the point. Most assessments and making sense of the day tend to happen passively and are left on the floor of a life. However, if you sing it, even briefly, you are quite awake and the assessment is then made meaningful enough to add to the pillar of Study. This means that other dimensions of you can be working on solutions, ideas, directions, support, etc. 

Every time you find yourself commenting on your day, remember to sing it at some point. We have seen many of our students come to find this surprisingly enlightening and almost becomes a game to play with oneself.

JanetE: There you go — being silly and smiling while singing/sorting your day all at once! It would be ideal to have a cup of coffee at the same time, but caffeine at the end of the day doesn’t work for me!

wendymae: LOL I love this.  I can totally see myself singing about my shitty day and how tired I am and how nothing was fun and finally making myself laugh!

BeccaTheStudent86: I randomly sing things all the time; would that take the consciousness out of singing it for me?

MEntity: Becca, no. Becca, you are likely storing many moments of your day already in that way.

BeccaTheStudent86: Oh I see. It must be instinctive

Maureen: This may be why we get "ear worms".

MEntity: 

What we shared today is an experimental approach to bringing more vitality to your pillars of vitality and by extension, more fulfilling paths of exploration for the Life Task. Even if the Life Tasks is unfulfilled or not the focus, bringing these little moments to your days WHEN YOU CAN (they are not to be made into chores for every day), will help bring a kind of balance that may not have been experienced before.

We wish to suggest these ideas not as something new to add to your already busy or challenging lives, but to add a slight dimensional boost to something you already do that can be harnessed as support for your lives.

Upon these bricks of the pillars, you can then play with the ideas we suggested for your True Play, Rest, and Study, or add your own.

Bringing more balance in these simple ways helps bring more accessible enjoyment of one's life, even while life is challenging.

We can continue this conversation in your dedicated Space that Troy will create and invite you to join. We must conclude here for today. We sing to you in a harmony of 1050 souls, good day to each of you. 

Goodbye, for now.