If you are over the age of 30 and have some career background and/or kids behind I assume you know what I am going to talk about in this guide. I guess you already know that you can’t see yourself going through 20-30 years of this life you are living right now and you are bracing for an impact that will come eventually. When you tell yourself you can’t take it anymore, hopefully before a breakdown actually comes.
Some people call this “mid life crisis”. We all know the popular movie character of a working class man who suddenly realizes there is not so much time left to live. Kids have grown up, the career is steady but draining and boring, life is mundane and gray, so the man in crisis buys a motorcycle, starts a dangerous hobby, divorces his wife. quit his job to go traveling and search for a new purpose armed with a new tattoo, haircut and maybe some self-help books if he is into that stuff.
It might be similar to the adolescent crisis when a child is no longer a child yet not a full man. Having raging hormones, ambitions and desires for freedom and independence but no economical power and real freedom or accountability for themselves, as they are trying to form themselves into adults.
Your situation isn’t that different from what you have experience in adolescence, the mature adult which was formed by the stress of daily life, family needs, his upbringing, culture and society is trying to break free for the (maybe) last attempt in his lifetime for freedom, genuine living, following a long lasting dream or an inner call for authenticity. But even your economical freedom and accountability as an adult can’t break down our inner blocks easily without an inner struggle.
While these crises are “normal” in our society and come at a predictable age range. And while each struggle is a gift to discover one’s hidden powers, desires, priorities and true value. We need that drama to evolve, we need that hero quest to forge our new abilities against reality through struggle. And I hope that this is what led you to read this guide.
But what if you’re stuck, what if you can’t even find a goal to pursue. a passion to follow. What if life has drained you so much that you have no power to fight against the machine for the last time?
What if your biggest wish is to have a wish, to have a drive to start a new hobby, to find out a new purpose and not waste your life making money just because it is needed. Some people can watch life wither by and slip between their hands without any energy to do something about it. They can talk and search and go to therapy but it will take years or forever to find a new direction and motivation to go out of their comfort zone. It is indeed scary and energy consuming to reinvent yourself and break free of inner shackles, especially when a career and/or other family members are involved.
Here comes the shamanic worldview to look at these blocks differently from how we see them in western culture.
Below, you will find my summary of the main blocks that can be identified and resolved though shamanic healing. Usually they are interconnected, influence each other and more than often appear together as roots of the same block.
Blocks and problems
Low fire – lack of desire for life
Trauma to the heart chakra – Soul retrieval
Based on a broken model of relationship with a parent. No ability to follow your own heart, to follow your intuition and desire because there is always a more logical rational need that is overridden by someone else that has authority over you. There was always someone else’s voice that dictated what you need to love, to eat, to do, to study, to be passionate about. Usually for the good motives of social integration, promised income, or just cultural trends and the personal trauma of a parent which shows up as fear of their kids failing in the same way. They are all valid survival or defense mechanisms but they are now not serving you anymore. To the point that some men don’t even know what their own intuitive voice sounds like. How can you follow your heart if you were never given the opportunity to do so, it feels scary and strange and like you are supposed to appease someone else for your life choices and disregard your own. If you have done so for a big portion of your life, it can be very difficult to rediscover and trust this inner voice which was often shut down. Not to mention the usual cultural inheritance of suppressing emotions as men.
Self analysis: If you lack drive, motivation, passion or fire to do something that you love for yourself or don’t even know what that thing is. If you do think you know what you love but consumed with fear and excuses of following through and doing something about it.
Low confidence – heavy emotional baggage
Negative relationships leftovers – Cord cutting
When you are stuck on a specific model of life / manhood / fatherhood which was forced by a parent(s) or lack of one. This means that there is an invisible imprint on your subconscious and energy field that is operating automatically in this key issue. Whether you have grown to be aware of these or not you are often controlled by these patterns like a vicious karma cycle which is very hard to pause and reroute.
This usually is because you cannot forgive the past so you can move on without the baggage and negative energies that are pulling you down. So even if you detached from someone emotionally or physically 20 years ago, the fact that their name still brings memories, emotions or triggers you means that there is still a cord connecting to that person. and that there was still no complete closure on the subject.
For example, if you divorce your wife they will forever be your ex-wife. you can’t deny that and all the emotional baggage that comes with that. The relationship or lack thereof will always be there but the negative effects need to be cut off so we can clean the table and move forward with new ideas and ambitions.
Letting go of the victim image of yourself will enable you to cut the cord holding you to the ground and allow you to start flowing towards your new goal. But this takes courage to forgive and thank the gratitude in the grief.
Self analysis: if you have resentment, grudge, repulsion or just simple avoidance regarding another person, or a specific event that involves that person.
Lack of vision – Feeling lost
No clear vision for life, sixth chakra block – Meet your spirit guide
Usually related to an energy disconnection between the heart and the vision center. or that the vision doesn’t come from the heart because the heart is silenced. Even if the vision comes from the mind, you know it, but you don’t feel it. There’s only 50% of the motivation to act on that vision. The vision will seem very rational but there’s no emotion and positive body sensations that actually cause you to act instead of just thinking or talking about your vision for years without any actual step taken.
Another option can be that the mind is actually too strong and you cannot see anything that is beyond your definition of rational, practical or realistic. you are so focused on the mechanics of life that you are lacking a sense of risk taking, faith, courage and providence to follow your heart since it is not rational. This means that a very rational and judgmental voice is dictating your vision and is actually limiting its potential to only what can be perceived from the standpoint of the present or the very near future. it is unable to feel the potential that is still beyond the horizon and be guided by faith and signs from the universe.
self analysis: if it is difficult or impossible to imagine yourself living a different life, if you won’t see the details of your dream vividly, if you don’t have a plan on how to achieve this because you are distracted and unmotivated from your rational mind’s excuses, details and “real world” restrictions.
Lack of connection – intuition is silenced
Not connected to signs from universe – Future tracking / Ask spirit for signs
Maybe your heart is open and the fire is burning, you know what you want from life but your spiritual sense is dulled and you can’t see the gentle signs and nudges the universe is sending you way in opportunities, coincidences signs and warnings to keep you on your path.
Men are usually trained to dull their feelings and emotions to “take it like a man” and basically don’t utilize their intuition because there’s always someone else’s rules or missions to follow, and to do this mission means that is hard, maybe dangerous or super logical or plain boring, and you need to be able to shut down emotionally in order to succeed. Within a man’s perspective you are being praised when you succeed from a very young age which means you know how to automatically shut down your intuition or emotion when needed in order to please your peers, parents, gym coach, boss etc. until to a point where you don’t know how to turn it back on. the universe might be shouting at you but you have invisible earplugs that block all the guidance. it is not difficult to take it back. It just takes practice and dedication to feel the gentle feelings in the body, to trust a hunch, to practice meditation and introspection. To write down dreams, coincidences, ideas and keep track to see which manifested and which not.
self analysis: you don’t feel spiritual, you lack any spiritual discipline or practice, you perceive the world as only materialistic. You think spirituality is a sham and spiritual people are stupid hippies.
Moran Chaimovitz is a shamanic practitioner and energy healer at www.originhealing.net
