My partner Jane absolutely hates the use of the word journey, when used as anything other than an actual physical journey! I must confess it’s a word I tend to want to avoid using when relating to my spiritual unfoldment. Jane’s made the use of the word annoying to me too!
The problem is confounded by the fact that the word journey is exactly what we’re on in this pursuit of spirituality. I have challenged Jane many times to come up with an alternative way to describe this life journey, and of course there are limited alternatives as meaningful and descriptive.
I used to have a similar hang-up about the use of the phrase ‘earth plane’ in mediumship and decided never to use it myself. But one day during transcribing of a message from a speaker in the spirit world, the person referred to us as being on the earth plane. I was annoyed, but decided to research why the phrase was being used and what it actually meant.
I soon learnt that the word plane was referring to a layer or level, of which there are several. There are the upper and lower astral plane, for example. So I realised that the phrase ‘earth plane’ was acceptable. The problem is that most people don’t really know what it refers to!
So what about being ‘on a journey’ of unfoldment? How could I avoid using the word journey in this context? Well, I still tend to avoid the phrase, which I feel is overly cliched anyway. I prefer to use alternative means to describe the process. One of my favourites is the title of this post – The Striving.
The challenge most people will have with the new phrase is in how they think of the word striving. It has negative aspects to it. It suggests never achieving, or struggling, or barely managing.
But the truth is the opposite. We should be all striving to become better people, to grow inside and out. We should be all striving to become better communicators with this world and the next. We should be all striving to become better healers, better educators, better students, better listeners and better at living the right life. All of those things, we should be striving for, every single day without fail.
So instead of just using the boring cliché “on a journey”, perhaps we should be saying “we are striving”. Imagine if someone asked you what you do and you replied, “I’m striving,” , what do you think their next question is likely to be? The answer is up to you!
Of course, the next problem is in keeping the phrases separate! It would be all too easy to find yourself telling people that you’re on a journey of striving! Oh dear.
But seriously, isn’t that what all of life is about anyway? Aren’t we all striving for something? Yes of course life is a journey, from point a to point b, from birth to death. It’s just that damned phrase of being on a journey that’s so annoying.
I like the word striving better. I am striving, every single day, in one way or another, I am striving. My time on this earth plane will involve me striving, from morning until noon, and then I often strive to sleep!
Look, I’ve been a little trivial with my message today, but you see, I don’t want to be a clone. I am me, a unique person. I hate it when others start every sentence with the word ‘so’. I won’t copy them. I hate it when people answer a question with ‘well, yes and no’. Make your mind up, yes or no! I hate it when someone says they’re on a journey of discovery. Really? How far you into it?
I’m just striving, me! (a northern thing!). I’m striving to change and to grow. I’m striving to live and love. I’m striving to become. Nothing more, nothing less. I’m just striving. How about you?
