There comes a time for all of us in which we lose our sense of purpose. Life seems stale or meaningless, or perhaps we feel overwhelmed by all the pressures in our life. When times like this come, it helps to leave our routine and enter a quest to re-discover the motivating vision of our lives. That vision is ever changing as we grow, achieve our goals, and establish new priorities. Yet there is an aspect of that vision which does not change. It is the essence of who we are and what our life is about.
When we are aware of our essence and able to act on it consistently, we feel energised and sustained. But nobody is able to do this all the time. It is all too easy to become involved in the dramas of other people and forget why we are here. when we forget for a long time, something rises up within us and says “Enough! This won’t work any longer.” When that moment comes, the vision quest has begun.
When you begin your vision quest, you do not know where you are going. That is the nature of the quest. So don’t hang on to a routine that isn’t working just because you don’t know where to go. Of course you don’t know. That is the whole point.
You can do you vision quest in your living room if your living room is a nurturing place away from the stresses and routines of your existence. But most people find it helpful to go to an inspirational place. Wherever you go, choose a place that will feed your soul and allow plenty of time for silent reflection.
Understand that your journey is a spiritual one and that everything that happens to you on your quest is significant. Even if you don’t understand the meaning of chance events and encounters right away, you will have insights later. So be open and receptive. Take risks. Invite possibilities. Trust your hunches and intuition. Explore. Have fun. Don’t plan any more than you absolutely have to. Allow plenty of room for spontaneity.
Walk through the open doors even though you don’t know where they lead. Stay away from the closed doors even though you think there’s something behind them you want or you need.
Be in the flow of your life without expectations. If you let go, you will be guided donwstream. If you resist and swim upstream, you will find yourself very frustrated, but that is perhaps what you most need to learn: that you can’t control your life at the ego level. until your ego loosens its hold on your life, you might get your feet wet, but the rest of your body won’t experience the river. To know the river and be guided by its current, you must stop trying to control what happens to you.
A vision quest should last for at least a week, but a month or even a year might be appropriate. you’ll know how long you need. When you do self communion rituals on an ongoing basis, taking a week to ten days once a year is usually fine. But when you have been lost in the same routine for twenty years, you might need a full year for your vision quest. Some people call this a sabbatical. But that suggests you are coming back to the same routine. When you go on a vision quest, you have no idea where you are coming back to. You just know you have to leave.
When you return from your quest, you will have a strong intuition about what your life purpose is and how you can begin to honour it in the moment. Don’t worry if you only know what step one is. That is all most people know. The other steps will reveal themselves as you learn to trust your guidance and begin to walk the path of your heart.
Excerpt from “the ecstatic moment – a practical manual for opening your heart and staying in it” by paul ferrini, heartways press, ISBN 1-879159-18-X
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