I’ve slowly come to the realisation that there exist many universal truths – thoughts, ideas, and meditations that appear and reappear in our collective writings, teachings and even consciousness. Service to humanity; gratitude; a sense of self and purpose are just a few. Pity we seem to keep forgetting all the good ones!
These are the ideas that regardless of religious, political or moral orientation seem prevalent in the human psyche. We humans just keep coming back to them.
These Truths are all around us, if only you know where to look. They can be found in biographies, fables, novels and stories. In religious texts, historical events and even everyday cliches. When reading a passage, recalling a moment or penning a realisation – I aim to find, synthesise & categorise such Truths into a system I’ve developed. A system of Symbols.
I’ve come up with 15 or so phrases, represented by these 15 Symbols, to act as umbrella terms. Like recurring themes are to a novel, my phrases & symbols are to the Universal Truths I find in my one and only reading of the book of life. I will continue to add more symbols just as fast as my mind continues to be blown.
On certain days that I want a particular theme to be top of mind, I will draw that symbol on my hand.
My big goals stay the same as do the daily actions I take to achieve them. However, prompted by the symbol on my hand, my mindset and focus for that day shifts to the idea/theme I feel most appropriate for the day.
And herein lies the reason the back of my hands are always such a mess! When I catch a glimpse of a symbol I’m reminded of the examples, lessons and ideas housed beneath it. I then personify those Truths and go on in an optimised state. At least, that’s the theory!
My list of Symbols below are simply the headings. Each pack a lot more meaning and represent the countless ideas and instructions housed beneath each one.
To date, they are:
- Positive Thinking
- Mindfulness
- Relationships
- Habits
- Willpower
- Breath
- Gratitude & Attitude
- Love
- Story
- Arete
- Learning
- Confidence
- Connecting
- Visualisation
- Doing
- Writing
- Mantra
- Purpose&Passions
What are your guiding stars and where do they guide you?