19 Nov Chamber of Sovereign Mastery #6 RECREATION
How does one re-create oneself? The answer is through recreation. The Idea of a Man™ is all about Re-creation. Recreating yourself into your Idea of a Man™ as opposed to the man you may have become in response to circumstance and situation. Or from external pressure to conform and contort yourself into an Idea of a Man™, the origins of which have long since been forgotten’.
So, when we began our discourse going through the 12 Chambers of The Idea of a Man™ in this process we covered ascertaining our identity by really digging deep and asking ourselves the questions; ‘Who am I?’, ‘Where do I fit?’ and ‘How do I go from Survival to Thrival?’, then we established how we intend to mind our own business and our finances. So we have arrived at a point in our conversation where I believe a reflection on re-creation is due.
The saying goes; all work and no play make Jack a dull boy, and invariably, life needs balance – moments of repose and restoration as well as moments where we throw ourselves into activities which enable other neurons to fire and different muscle groups to stretch and strain than we are most accustomed to use in our day-to-day activities and responsibilities.
How you choose to recreate yourself will be as diverse as your Idea of a Man™, and in many ways will likely be a reflection of your conclusions regarding what kind of man you wish to be and how you wish to live your life. But The Idea of a Man™ is certainly encouraging you to discover sources of recreation where you get to put yourself back together and reflect upon where you are with your aims and objectives before launching forward into whatever is your next move in the game of your life.
Recreation as we said comes in different shapes and sizes. And there are different forms for different seasons to meet the different requirements of life. However, the point here is when we are doing down-time it can be intentional down-time, just like everything else we do as Sovereign Men. As we evolve into beings who know who we are and what our purpose is, the fuel which will drive the realisation of our purpose will be intentionality. Therefore, intentional recreation where we engage in activities which enable us to draw inspiration, to bring ideas to our enterprise, and where we accomplish other aspects of our aims and objectives is the order of the game.
For example if your Idea of a Man™ is a man whose health and fitness is high on your values, when you are engaged in recreational activities that boost your health and fitness; exercise, outdoor pursuits, health practices and body building you are pushing the needle on building and cultivating your Idea of a Man™.
Likewise, if your Idea of a Man™ is a man in tune with your spirituality, the time you spend meditating and journaling and engaging in spiritual practices will be an investment into this aspect of yourself while also being recreational in nature. And literally these examples are opportunities we may use to re-create ourselves, to literally put ourselves back together as well as involve ourselves in activities which enable us to live out our truth and invest in our vision of ourselves.
Recreation as we said comes in different shapes and sizes. And there are different forms for different seasons to meet the different requirements of life. However, the point here is when we are doing down time it can be intentional down time, just like everything else we do as Sovereign Men.
Recreation is all about nurturance, and a lot about connecting with ourselves. It’s easy to forget that there are many moving parts within us, and recreation can also be a time to connect with the Four Male Archetypes within our Psyche spoken of in the men’s work classics; King, Warrior, Magician, Lover by Douglas Gillette and Robert Moore and Rod Boothroyd’s book updated for the 21st century.
By embodying your King, seeing him in your mind’s eye – your Higher-Self – your Idea of a Man™ – your Sovereign-Identity, and firstly letting it manifest in your imagination, then taking time to somatically, embody him and feel the presence of your Internal King within your physical body.
You can then do the same thing with the Warrior, the Magician and the Lover and interrogate these aspects of yourself to understand how they are faring, if there are any areas in their lives which need attention. To understand deeper what I am speaking of here you may need to read the books mentioned above, or discover articles and discourses on The Idea of a Man™ about the archetypes. But I’m mentioning this here because introducing these practices of acknowledging the archetypes as part of your re-creational routine can be a source of great healing and integration which will invariably enable you to bring your Whole-Self back into the world.
Speaking of spiritual recreational practices, recreation for you may be an opportunity to connect with your Soul, your Inner Feminine or your Anima; whichever term you use to describe Her. Or your recreation can be time spent connecting with The Source with The Divine which inhabits the universe and inhabits you. However, you wish to connect with the Spiritual energies which course through your being.
I personally use four modalities of Spiritual Practice; Meditation, Prayer, Devotional Reading and Journal Writing. I’m grateful that my journey has enabled my devotional reading to expand beyond the one book I was raised on. Therefore, now I get to discover the many gems I’ve felt drawn to from Swami Vivekananda, to James Hollis PhD to Charles F Hannel to name a few. Reading these books and letting my mind ruminate upon and digest the concepts I’m being presented with has continued to expand my consciousness and give me deeper personal insights to deepen this part of my journey. – By thinking intentionally and taking time to build practices which work and make sense for you, you can enhance your life exponentially and feed other areas of your life, and infuse your day to day life from the nourishment of these practices.
If we think of the practices I have just mentioned as practices which we may use to connect deeper with our Sovereignty with The King within, I also have four practices which I use to take care of my Inner Warrior; and they are; Diet, Exercise, Sleep and Self-Care. And this is not to say I have mastered any one, or all of these areas, but I am endeavouring (one breath at a time) to cultivate mastery. However, to be clear, what has been transformational for me has been applying intentionality to these practices. So even going to sleep at night becomes an event, and a thoughtful experience as opposed to simply flopping on my bed at the end of a day to rise again and start it over.
Another thing which I believe to be important in respect of recreation is engaging in physical activities which enable our bodies and minds to do something different to what we engage in day to day. A lot of modern men are stuck sitting in front of a computer screen for prolonged periods, barely moving a few forearm muscles to type or navigate the mouse. It goes without saying finding time and ways to move are critical to our health and well being both physically and mentally – and emotionally.
I know for me I rarely reflect on how little unbridled joy and laughter is operating within my life day-to-day. When life gets like this no wonder we feel grumpy. Bringing couscous hilarity and positive humor into our lives enables healing chemicals which our bodies create naturally to be generated and to circulate. By intentionally loosening up, not only will we bring more enjoyment to the fabric of our daily life, but if done with consciousness we can mine these experiences for the impact they will have on our emotional, mental well-being and the re-energising of our faculties, the rejuvenation of ourselves and the expansion of our capacity to receive inspiration and insights which can lead to clarity and direction regarding our journeys as we weave our way on this earth.
When we’ve recognised that our work is our business and we’ve begun to align our work with our purpose and the cultivation of our Idea of a Man™ and we’ve got our minds right in the matter of our finances which means our pockets are getting straightened out as well, – now it’s time to embed the habitual behaviour of hitting the reset button, whatever that looks like for you. Doing the things we feel are necessary to recharge, refuel and re-engage with our journeys so we can go back revitalised and motivated, literally re-created as a fresh version of ourselves, back on track to complete some more laps and make further headway toward our desired destination.
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