When Was The Last Time You Had A First Time?

When Was The Last Time You Had A First Time?

I stumbled across this saying while reading other people’s Twitter posts the other night and it struck me to be a very simple but profound saying.  It has stayed with me for a week now and I finally realized why it struck a cord and I wanted to share it with everyone.

I find the biggest challenge in my spiritual journey is to remember to balance the physical part of myself with the spirit side.  Making room for the invisible or spirit side in the everyday, and allowing it to actually make decisions and take center stage.  I would consider myself to be a spiritual person and I am amazed just how often I forget about this other side of myself. This invisible spirit that we all have can be called spirituality, spirit, the invisible, the infinite, tags along with us in our day to day life.  It’s there with us without complaint or interruption and it will let the physical everyday side of ourselves take the lead if it so choses. Lately, I’ve been wondering if this ignored side of myself ever gets frustrated with the choices I make, or how often I forget that it’s there waiting to help me live a more meaningful life.

One thing is for sure; I can feel this side of myself more deeply when I am doing something for the first time.  Something brand new.  It is these times when I take on new challenges; dare to live my life differently from everyone else, or simply acting on an urge to do something out of the ordinary when I find I am living my best life. I find that when I act on these intuitions, and disregard other people’s options or possible reactions to these feelings, I feel more alive.  Its only then when I remember why it is that we are all here in the first place. We are here to have as many new experiences as possible, to love more deeply and to listen to our heart more than our head.  To live our lives with heart first, and allow our heads to work out the details on how to achieve it.  The mind cannot be the sole decision maker if we truly want to live your best live.  This I know for sure.

Recently, I was out with a group of friends and I brought up the quote “When was the last time you had a first time” to everyone. It was quiet interesting the different reactions I got. Some interpreted it literally, some spiritually, some didn’t get the quote at all.  After some explanation, I got some very interesting answers.  And so it goes with spiritual journeys. The people we love aren’t necessarily in lock step with our spiritual journey and this is ok. It would be nice if they were, but that’s not the reality. So, the people around the table started mentioning some of the “new things” they’ve tried in 2013. It ran the spectrum from trying a new phone app or new food, shopping at a different store, to totally changing one’s life, relationship, career and home.  What I found to be more interesting was that the people that had more stories of doing “new things” this year were more outwardly happy. Of course, I don’t know exactly what one is feeling on the inside, but I took their happiness at face value.  Shortly after everyone was done sharing their stories, I took a mental note to smiled to myself. I had a wonderful moment of self-congratulations and love for all the new things I had dared to try this year.  I recognized all the accomplishments that I had overlooked. For the first time in a long time, I silently had a conversation with myself like a proud parent speaking to their child.  I realized that I had listened to my heart more than my head this past year.  With every new year that passes, the topic of conversation with friends and family is what our New Year’s resolutions are going to be.  After some thinking, the most meaningful resolution for me has to be to live 2014 with my heart first followed by my head, and to think about this quote “When was the last time I had a first time” more often.  I hope you are living your best life!

Stephen