Why does it matter? It seems odd sometimes to think of showing up to regular rituals. To join in community to celebrate. To meditate daily. To sit with primordial elements, guardians, gods and spirits. To offer ourselves up to be of service, to be life giving, caring and to face the world with the bravery required to see it for what it is: Beautiful and utterly terrifying.

Meditation is an easy one. It is sold to us all the time as a way to achieve success, solve anxiety and stress, feel calm and at ease. We are so full of anxiety and the tension of unwritten rules of society that exists outside of us and also within. We are caged outside of ourselves and inside of ourselves.

We meditate in the same way we take an aspirin. Drop the pill, watch the headache go away and wait for when it comes back. We go to ceremonies led by indigenous elders, to festivals and dances. Our lives are forever changed until, like clockwork, our need to work for money, our schedules and to-do lists, our worries and unhealthy patterns catch up to us. Each day fades into the next and our life changing experience becomes something we talk about during dinner with friends as we yearn for a wondrous life that could have been but that we believe never can be.

Why is it that we fall back into lives that leave us anxious, tense, stressed and unfulfilled? Is it because we think that is the only option? Because we believe that this is the way? Or perhaps we come from a culture that still writes off ageless wisdom as superstition and modern logic as being above all. Often it takes a very large leap of faith in modern, Western society to do something for your own well-being.

So many of us grow up thinking somehow we are not good enough and the only way to be good enough is to be productive, to be something, become something but that innocent sweet being we were born as is definitely not sufficient.

Here is a good place to come full circle, back to meditation, that is sold to us so we can be better and hopefully that better person is good enough. Even if it makes us feel better, it is hard to keep at it because simply feeling happy and fulfilled is not what society wants of us. It is definitely not what corporations want from us, or we might stop buying the better life.

This leaves us with another option: To show up to a spiritual practice, not for ourselves but for that which is so important and so much greater than the sum of the parts we call self. To begin with, any spiritual practice is good enough.

It is not about a goal or even doing things the right way, it is just about getting started. It can be as simple as wrapping your arms around yourself while taking a deep breath and smiling as you give yourself the most loving hug ever.

We have one last circle to complete: What thing that is greater than ourselves are we even doing this for? If we look around at what is happening in the world, being a human on this planet can feel absolutely heart breaking and terrifying. There is so much destruction, extraction and violence. So much pain, hurt and grief.

When we take the time to listen to elders, wisdom carriers, and indigenous leaders who carry the living memory of what it means to live in harmony with the world, they all say something very similar. What they say is that in order for this world to be a good place for everyone to live in, we need to traverse the greatest path we possibly can. This path is the one from our heads to our hearts. Only then can we truly thrive.

It all begins with you and a simple practice. Every great journey is made by taking many small steps.

At Magic is the Key we have a great library of simple practices and extensive courses all aiming to support you on your journey of traversing the distance from the head to the heart. Join our magic community today and get a 30% off forever by signing up to our magic newsletter below.