The three P’s of life

The path of life appears to some of us as a lone walk that never ends. With, every step and breath we take our medicine wheel keeps on turning and eventually we realise it will never cease to spin the silken threads of life. It does not matter what we choose to do with our lives, whether it be our education, exercise, faith or spiritual understanding we will always have to face the challenges, which life brings to us. However, when we excel in our chosen disciplines, without doubt we will always encounter obstacles, which prevent our ability to move forward or slow us down. These obstacles are self made whether we accept this or not. It becomes far too easy to lay blame on others for our mishaps and lack of self responsibility. This you may find a very strong view and not fair to state that we are responsible for those who stand in our way. Consider how many times in our lives we have overcome our restrictions, obstacles and others deciding for us. These factors will always be present in our lives and the affect they can have on our hearts can become powerful if we allow them to be. So how do we truly move along our path and learn to navigate the terrain of the medicine wheel. This is where we should take a close look at the three P’s of life.

Patience, Perseverance and Practice.

Patience. The greatest reason most of us cease to progress is lack of patience, especially in this age where we desire everything to happen immediately. We have slowly lost our ability to wait, or just slow down. Especially when we attempt to follow education, such as a new line of work, or exercise in Tai Chi, Qigong or any other form of movement which aids in the unfoldment of our minds, body and spirit. We look for instant results, even if we have only been learning something new for a couple of weeks. We will have learnt something, but without patience we become just an observer of knowledge. To progress correctly and smooth out our path will take time as there is much to undo and renew.

We must try our best to teach ourselves to become patient and afford our hearts the time to change and heal correctly. Imagine a newly planted seed of a tree. There is nothing we can do to make it grow faster. It will grow within in its own time frame. Patiently the roots of the tree push and bypass all the obstacles it encounters under the soil. Eventually its roots will come into the light, fulfilling its destiny, bearing fruit for all to enjoy. All of nature follows the timeline of the universe and we are no different, therefore changes in our lives only come at the right time and not when we want them, but when we need them. For, this reason and above all things Patience is without doubt a virtue. I recommend looking up the meaning of the word ‘Patient’ and then we understand that becoming a patient of the Creat Spirit reveals our relationship with the heavens. Ever wonder why hospitals and doctors call us patients.

Perseverance. The shift of our vibration is the key to unlocking our true nature. By teaching ourselves to become patient, we can then become patient with all of life regardless of what is going on. Please do not confuse being patient with doing nothing. It is instead to do everything. We calmly apply the second self teaching by persevering with our lives, but in the correct way, which is to calmly walk ahead without disturbing the lives of others and without doubt and expectation… just persevere. Become an ocean of endless energy cradling your heart and gently guiding yourself to where you need to be and doing something you love. Understanding the meaning of the word perseverance, will let us know why walking our path with this approach is important. If we take and understand the second part of the word ‘Per Severance’ we learn, to persevere with complete focus and with correct heart. We should consider nothing else other than what we are doing. This is the way to raise and unlock one’s vibration by finding this mysterious key that all teachers talk about. Let me explain what this key is. It is nothing other than a musical note produced by the heart that is sounding in a certain key. The same as playing an instrument or singing in a certain key. Our vibration moves up and down the vibrational scales of the heart and sometimes becomes stuck, as a musician just learning to play all music in one key.

These days there are many variations of the word ‘Perseverance’ such as determination, empower, motivation and so on. However, once again I ask you to look up the word ‘Perseverance’ and you discover it means everything we need to know about moving forward with our lives. By teaching ourselves to become patient, then learning to persevere in all aspects of our lives, we will feel and become more rewarded. This I call breaking through.

Persevere with all of your heart. Sometimes I have moments of doubt and lack of faith. As soon as I begin to feel this way, I return to the three P’s and restore patience with my life and the Great Spirit. From there I persevere with my walking my path bringing me closer to the truths of my life, which now brings me into the third and final ‘P’ ‘Practice’.

Practice. Practicing our chosen arts I believe is the most troublesome part of our journey for most of us. Some enjoy the time being in the mental state of perseverance by working hard to improve themselves. Consider all the reasons why we cannot practice. I will not list them all out here, because as a teacher I have listened to every reason why someone does not practice. Some reasons are acceptable, but the majority in reality are because it is simple to associate any event in our lives whether it be daily or erratic as a reason not to practice. The first thing to learn is the western terminology of the word practice, which we all use. However, the far east use the terminology ‘Playing’. I prefer this word because the time spent on our practicing (Playing) should be joyful and relaxed. Once again there are many words used to describe the word Practicing such as training and working out, to name a couple of them. However, I always find the time to smile when I am playing, it shifts my vibration and brings a calm to my surroundings through my happiness to be where I am and to just find the time to play. Playing is just not for children for we are all children at heart.

Be patient with ourselves, persevere in what we believe to be true and then playfully apply everything we learn to every aspect of our lives. Now isn’t this simple and true happiness.

Patiently the butterfly waits to join with life again and to raise its vibration. The door of its cocoon will soon open and her perseverance to transform  will become her new way of life. She will leave her shelter behind and play as a child flying everywhere, for she has grown and become ready for the next door to open.

Love and blessings. Vasilios Firippis © 2022