Spiritual Business

Venus in Taurus

I have been thinking about the idea of suffering and pain. We live a society where we never want the hard times. The 'dark night of the soul' stuff. We want what we want and we want it right now. All pleasure no pain.

Our parents and grandparents were much more aware of the mercurial nature of life than we are. We are cosseted from an early age, loved up and pampered, our level for resilience is sometimes lower than we think.

I have recently been researching my family tree. It is inspiring an heartbreaking all at once. My great- great grandmother had 11 children in a tiny hut in the centre of the Victorian colonial goldfields. Her husband could barely speak English and she could neither read or write.

There is a sad erratum to one of the birth certificates where the register notes on the bottom of the certificate that he cannot confirm the spelling of her surname “owing to her extreme nervousness and inability to “spell” or write correctly.” It makes me weep a little, whenever I see this note. What a life she must have had and how hard it must have been. The judgment she must have felt at that moment, as a young 21 year old girl from Scotland, who already had a small child, presenting her new baby for registration.

I live a privileged life, most of us in the western world do. The worst issue we have as a society is our need to get ahead.  Our intense desire to be the first with the latest and go one better than the one next to us.

Rejoicing in the simplicity of having all your washing done and drying on the line or dinner prepared early and a moment with a cup of tea, no longer has the weight of success it once had. I want to get back to these small wins.

A garden bed with no weeds. A clean house. Food in the pantry. Shiny, washed children with their tummies full. Holding hands with your partner of 10 years. A friend ringing you at exactly that right moment (thanks to The Good Doctor on Friday night).

There is joy and peace in these moments.

May you find a few in your day today.

2 Responses to ‘Venus in Taurus’

1. Sue says:

April 20, 2009 at 6:12pm

Yes I see that too! society is always looking externally to get ahead rather than turning inward and seeing that we are all where we need to be right now. The essence of who we really are remains the same regardless of the new promotion, bigger car and how much money there is in the bank.My partner and I recently downsized our entire life. Sold the beachfront home which was servicing a huge mortgage, sold one car and took the kids out of private school. Now there is less pressure to work and we have discovered our internal essence which surprisingly has always been there we just forgot it.

2. LifeLearner says:

April 21, 2009 at 7:44am

How true Kate! We spend so much time running on a treadmill of busyness, and for what? There is always a sense of incompletion, of being incomplete. The simple things help us get back to our core. My parents used to work hard but always found time to spend Sundays with family and friends - eating, sitting, listening, sharing. These days, in amidst the clutter of emails, sports and extra-curricula activities, television and computer games, when do we, or our kids, truly connect with what is within?

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