The Shedding- Snake Year's End

Name Three Things You LOVE:

#1

#2

#3

..

Beautiful, 

Now, 

Did you name yourself on that list? February invites us to understand the magic of knowing that Love truly starts from the Inside. 

Simply said yet misunderstood.

‘Where there is a longing, there is emptiness in the heart. Where there is desire, there is an expectation.’ These conditioned states of Being are pure in their essence. How does one learn the meaning of Love without seeking its meaning through Inner-Experience? 

How can one truly master the art of knowing what is considered to be Love and what isn’t?

Some will simply answer, “Love, just IS”, and truthfully it IS within.  

Just like they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder; I feel like love is in the eyes of the viewer. The ‘rose-colored glasses’ are the Maya of everything we believe to be, and when we take them off, the illusion lifts, and Lila performs. [Divine play of Existence].

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On February 17th, it is the Lunar New Year, meaning the shedding of the Snake year (2025) transforms into the year of the Horse, 2026. The snake acts as taking off the rose-colored glasses, the ones you've had on while staring in the mirror.

Can you feel its significance, to shed away a layer of your skin just like a snake?

How thick is the skin of the shedding snake?” Here lies the answer: The skin of a shedding snake is primarily composed of the epidermis, which is a tough layer of keratin that cannot stretch. This outer layer must be shed in one piece as the snake grows, as its rigid structure prevents it from accommodating the snake's increasing size.

This process is just as natural as the metamorphosis of the butterfly, as the rising of the Pheonix, and as the season's Springtime Bloom. Nature is so perfect, and since we are nature, our lives are also perfectly timed to certain deaths and rebirths. 

The snake outgrows its skin, and we outgrow our ways of being with conscious awareness.

We outgrow people, careers, rituals, and most of all, our Identity. 

Identity is the hardest pill to swallow; it is completely Selfish in its necessity to break karmic cycles, set personal boundaries, and Trust the new Unknown.

We are reborn every day, but the deepest truths arise from moments of stillness and the silence that asks to reveal beyond the superficial level of what we believe our mind, body, and life to be. It doesn't mean an existential crisis, in fact, it only feels like a crisis if you are unable to control your response to it. There is no crisis in the mind, just conscious awareness and the emotions that arise from this awareness. This is why the phase of shedding requires a long meditation.

‘I’ve been looking for you’, says the mirror of clarity.

The famous question- how long will it take? Well, how long do you want to give it?

Even selecting a time frame is a 50/50 expectation, one where there needs to be effort, yet the manifestation is out of control. It is an Individual experience to feel fully recharged after sitting in stillness. It doesn't mean that it will be easy, or that a guide isn't necessary, but the dedication and trust, is a skill of mind over matter.

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Unpacking in Stillness

The discipline to shed requires a bit of the two-sided perspective of Nature vs. Nurture.

Our instincts, biology, genetic code (Nature) has the opportunity to evolve just as much as the craving for change in our surroundings, environment, and social constructs/ conditioning (Nurture).

When the stillness feels interrupted by this kind of contemplation, celebrate the truth coming to light, notice what ruffles your Soul's feathers, rather than seeking immediate action, let it simmer, this is conscious observation.

Conscious Observation requires awareness in the physical form. How does the breath sound after an intense workout? How does the breath sound after an argument? How does the breath sound after having a specific thought? This type of deep observation is required through the journey of transformation.

Conscious Observation is measured by the quality of breath. Then one asks, where in my body is this breath flowing or stagnant? Where the breath feels like it has a pause, heaviness, a lack of mobility, is the place where one pays attention to.

This is the art of contemplation from observation. Without denying or neglecting the truth that sparks from awareness of rigidity, one must stay to understand, rational acceptance.

Rational Acceptance, a psychology term for emotional well-being, focuses on acknowledging reality as it is, without judgment, but with understanding. Recognition of what is Present, without denial or resistance. This is a delicate space to be in; it is confrontation of all that presently exists, some of which may flood the body with disapprovals of current ideas, fantasies, values, principles, people, and limits. This acknowledgment brings upon a humanistic approach, that kind that leads to harmony.

A Humanistic perspective shapes the observation into motion. It is where the observer is both the body as a whole, (the vehicle), but also the map and driver in the path. To have a beautiful mind and breath to re-create and change the cells of your human behavior and experiential environment is a trust with yourself required for this type of shedding. To transform is not easy, it is a deliberate calling to the Self, to love and respect yourself enough to want to change aspects of your internal and outer world. This means to appreciate the hardships, in order to be led into new, smooth waters of your existence.

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Inner Peace means Love. You may take great care of yourself physically, economically, and socially; however, the truest love starts with being at peace in your heart and mind. Where both are not at war, where both know that the truth is in alignment with experience, and all will accommodate into place.

The practice in re-inventing the sense of Self feels like growing pains. This is not the first time one will have to adapt into a new way of thinking, in the path of BEcoming. There is no need to get caught up in old cycles, and in the case the body and mind are resisting the need to evolve, it is best to come back again to the practice. The worries, the anxieties, the laziness, the cowardness, the shadow, fearful Self chooses to win the mental game according to what it is fed. 

Stillness, Silence & Shedding

The opportunity to rewire the brain, break the pattern, and attune to what is the truth, will bring in Inner Peace with the Presence. 

This requires a lot of patience, silence, and stillness. It is not a skill to multi-task, or to find quick fixes for, instead it is an effective practice with increasing effectiveness over time. Enjoy the contemplations but learn to release the clinging of what is no longer serving your purpose in the realm of 'Love'.

Step into the new ‘skin’ of your being; it is pure, it asks to start over, it asks to be mindful of choices and responses, it asks to shine in the color of red- the Blood that runs through your body filled with oxygen- watering all of your organs. brain, and depths of the Heart.

Start in a comfortable position, find stillness, find breath, and shed enough to find the true core of your Being. This will not be the first time, nor the last, this will be a gift that you must keep giving to yourself- the gift of Love.

So, tell me all of the things you love?

‘I’ve been looking for you’, says the mirror of clarity. The love is YOU, in its purest, realest form.