Contemplating Naudiz

On November 4, 2019 my daily rune draw was Naudiz, reversed. The message I was given is:

“Today think about how necessity has shaped your life. Was there a time when you did something because you absolutely had to? Also, think of times you came to endings in your life because you were blocked or restricted.

What have you learned about limitations and necessity from these experiences? How can you use that wisdom now?”

Let me start this by saying that everything I do, and have done, is by choice. Before you start with the whataboutisms, I will acquiesce to the inability of children to truly make choices. There are two things that a person has no choice in – birth and death. Aside from things everything is a choice. I have not always seen the choice in the matter and some choices are made based on not wanting the alternative more than not wanting the choice I make, but the choice is mine none the less. For example, I go to work because I do not want the life that I would have if I did not get the rewards from choosing to work. I want to provide for myself and my family. I have not always made the best choices in this aspect of my life, but I have made the best of the choices I have made.

Some choices I have made without understanding the consequences until much later. Some choices were made without even considering the consequences – like those made in anger. The choice was still made, and it absolutely was a choice. Choices are not always made consciously, though it is typically better when they are. Understanding that I always have two choices in every situation is empowering. The two choices are always between doing or not doing something. There are elements that determine which is the right choice, but I must remember that all situations can be broken down to one of those two choices. It is also important to not get discouraged when I do make a wrong choice. Choices can only be made by considering the available information, the known factors of any situation.

Choices in life are finite. There is only a certain amount of choices I will be have my lifetime. The Norns weave the fabric and the choices are presented. Once a choice is made it can not be unmade and all the options for that choice are also consumed. There is not a possible way to go back and make the other choices again. There may come a time when a similar choice will be presented, but it is not the same as it was the first time.

There will come a day when the choices run out; when I make my last choice. That day, place, and time is set. It cannot be changed; it is not a choice I can make or even affect. Well, that is not exactly true. I can affect the day/place/time my life ends by the choices I make through out my life. There is a number of possible ends but with each choice I make the possible endings are eliminated until only one remains.

So, life is pointless and there is no purpose, right? Wrong. The purpose of life in this realm, this existence, is to increase our hamingja, our ancestral luck or fortune. I can not not live my values. Whatever I do, what I spend time on, are my values. What I can choose is what those values are. I can define the values I want to live.

I have never done anything out of necessity, though some choices I have made have been necessary.

I am Back….am I Back?

I’m back

Wow! Over a year since my last post…slacker!

Since I don’t believe in making excuses, because you don’t care, and because it is simply boring, I will not go into why I have taken a year off. I also will not be making any promises, implied or explicit, as to how often I will be writing these posts.

So maybe a little updating is in order. I have gotten more involved with The Asatru Community (TAC). I became the Arkansas State Ambassador in January. In April I accepted the Lead Ambassador assignment for the South-Central Region. This includes Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana and Oklahoma. Right now, we are restructuring a bit. We have three ambassadors (2 of them are in the same state). So, we are working on getting new ones trained and operational.

I have set a goal to focus on/explore one of the 9NV each month. To spend the entire month with a daily reflection on that virtue. I post a quote in our regional FB group and journal about that quote. Some of that journaling may end up in these posts – again there will be no promises made.

To tie in with Pride Month I am focusing on courage this month. Courage is the foundation of a Principle Centered Life and is what those in LGBT+ community need to be who they were born to be. I was privileged to be born a straight male and blessed with finding my soul mate and best friend. I do not have the perspective to truly understand what being born with the sexual genitals that do not match my gender, nor do I understand what it is be attracted to someone of my same sex. I have no basis to understand what it is like to live in a world that is unaccepting of me because of how I was born.

However, because I have been blessed with the privileges I enjoy, I choose to be a friend to the community. To use my (the little I have) influence to help people like me have a little more empathy and to seek to understand as best we can. My sphere of influence is relatively small, but I have a little audience (my readers – both of you) in my role as ambassador for TAC. Since my primary role is in the Asatru/Heathen community I have focused my work on this task in this area. My daily courage posts are dedicated to those in the LGBT+ community.

Another focus I have dedicated myself to is being grateful, showing and expressing gratitude. I am not good at this. Sure, I am good at telling someone “Thank you” like my mother taught me. I am good at being polite (when I choose to). What I suck at is being grateful for my life and the blessings I live with. The opportunities – earned and gifted – I have been given and the results of the choices I have made. I write three detailed and specific gratitude, blessing, humbling experiences or something I am proud of in my journal every day. This is my plan to switch my thinking and behavior to become more grateful in my life. I believe that lack of gratitude is the source of why I not allowing myself to choose the better path. I am choosing to be depressed and angry – to be an asshole.

That is where I am now. I am back – at least for this post.

P.S. If you are interested in TAC – http://www.theasatrucommunity.org