The Ladder of Success

To Live Is To Create

Important announcement below - keep reading!

Dear Soul Friends,

I can’t believe it’s already June! Time seems to speed up these days. I will be travelling to my home country soon and while I tried to explain the time shift to my mum, I again, realised how strange this concept of time truly is.

And yet, we measure our value in time. We ask for hourly rates and think that if something comes easily, it is worth less. Why is that? Because we have learned that it takes effort to succeed. Success is not a ladder we climb. Success has no top and no bottom. Success is the steady growth that we experience in ourselves or in our work. The German word “sukzessive” (successive) means bit by bit - success simply means growth. How often do we work towards something and when we reach it, we discover that it felt so much bigger, so much better when we were working towards it. Our imagination, our dreams, often exceed the manifested reality.

Picture Credit: Author - Climbing The Ladder

When we climb a ladder we can’t jump to the top. We need to take it step by step. We can’t climb a mountain by bypassing the incline. We can’t grow a garden by expecting the fruits to grow without tending to the soil. Everything takes time. Is our impatience for things to manifest in the physical the reason for measuring value in time? Is our fear of not fulfilling what we came here to do the reason for the “time is money” belief? Is our fear of dying the reason why we push against time? Why are we impatient to get to the top of the mountain rather than enjoying the hike?

On my way to build a slower pace of living, I often find myself still rushing. I don’t enjoy rushing. I enjoy listening to the rain until I feel part of this big earth shower. I enjoy watching the birds building their nests and feeding their little ones. I enjoy sitting in silence at the ocean, letting the steady roar embrace my whole being.

Picture Credit: Author - The ocean shows us our limitless potential

I am currently teaching English to a German child that can’t read or write. We listen to songs together, and we recently listened to a song about hobbies. The lyrics were something like this: “What do you like to do? What’s your hobby? What is fun for you?” As the earworm was greeting me the next morning, I wondered about what we teach our children. Why do we divide our lives so rigidly into work and hobbies?

“Art's not a luxury, it's sustenance. We need it. Human creativity is nature manifest in us.” Ethan Hawke

I can’t tell you the number of times I have heard “You can do that as a hobby”. Every time I only expressed the thought of being an artist. Now I realise that this sentence somehow diminished how I felt within my human body. My soul knew that I already AM an artist. As always, language points us in the right direction, if we only dig a little deeper.

Let’s have a look at the word “art”. In German, the word “art” is translated as “Kunst”, the adjective is “künstlerisch” (artistic) and is often confused with “künstlich”, which translates as “artificial”. Art has gained the reputation of being unnecessary and a luxury. Yet it actually is part of us, and just while I am writing this, I realise that the word “art” even hides in the word “part”! But let’s get to the root. The old English word for “art” is “eart” and means “to be”. I remember vividly the affection I felt for the word “art” when I was given the task of learning Shakespeare’s Sonnet XVIII by heart:

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate (...)”

Here the word “art” is used for the word “are”. Thus, to be artistic means to just be!

Here is a little word play:

Though art
eart
of the earth
in your heart
art
your very hearth

I vividly remember that feeling in my body, when I was being told to choose something else for my life than making art. It was like a punch in the gut and then anger arose. I remember that I fought hard, not wanting to believe that I couldn’t pursue my art and live happily and nourished. Looking back, I realised that it was not fear, but the Love for the surrounding adults that made me choose a different path. Pleasing is a harsh word, and I believe that the biggest people-pleasers are the sensitive people that feel the fear of others deeply in their body. In an unconscious attempt to make them feel safe, we give in to their needs, neglecting our own on the way. Everyone just wants their loved ones to be happy, healthy and safe. However, it is mostly our own needs that we project onto others, trying to control the outside when all we can do is look inwards to tend to our own needs.

“Reading and writing cannot be separated.

Reading is like breathing in and writing is like breathing out.”

― Pam Allyn

If “art” simply means “to be”, we are all artists. We are all creators. We are creative by nature. Humans are built to create, to invent new things and think new thoughts. If we can manage to disentangle from the web of patterns, to follow our own heART, to be who we want to be, not who others want us to be, then we can fully experience the power of our inner creator. We shift from a state of powerlessness to true power. Our ladder expands like the one in Jack and the Beanstalk, and we rise towards infinity, exceeding the limiting beliefs of what is possible. To discover our innate ability to create our lives, instead of reacting to it, we need to be courageous, we need to live from the heart, the heART, the state of being - presence. Our breath is the tool with which we plug into the sacred well of being. Connected to the pulse of nature, we expand beyond the limits of our mind.

Picture Credit: Author - When we slow down we begin to truly see the beauty of this world

Here is a little poetry prayer that I wrote to manifest the life of my dreams. I hope you enjoy it:

Bliss

I want to greet
the light each day
and kiss the sun
goodnight 

I want to sit 
and sip
a tea
or coffee in delight

I want to watch 
each tiny bird
and hear 
their tender moves

I want to breathe in
clean fresh air each day 
in sun, hail,
rain and snow 

I want to listen 
to the sea
until I feel 
that she is me

I want to smell
each tiny bud
I want my feet
in sand and mud

My arms around a tree
I want to howl
towards the moon
until she is out of sight

I want to walk 
this precious earth
with every step I want to grow
closer and closer
towards her core

Until I sink
into her arms
as fertilising ash
until my body
is no more

Sadhbh Adamea

Picture Credit: Author .- Tourmakeady Waterfall

NEWS + NEWS + NEWS

To create is to be, to be is to change. Again, I am shifting and shaping my way to be in this world. While another move inside of Ireland is on the horizon, I will also move my newsletter a little. Life keeps nudging me towards pursuing my writing more, and although my ego is still very resistant, trying to tell me that in order to change the world it is far more glorious to host big retreats and workshops, I know that every day I don’t write is a day on which I haven’t fully lived. Therefore, you will see more of my words in your inbox soon.

If you are reading these lines, you are already subscribed to my newsletter. Welcome to all new subscribers! Thank you for breathing in through my words. When I started Substack, I created two different newsletters, because I have a diverse audience and I wanted to give my readers the option to only receive the information they care about. With this wonderful evolving platform, there are now so many new possibilities that I can’t wait to explore: video posts, podcasts, chats and more. To tend to my slow way of living, I need to simplify things. At the same time, I have some big dreams and to open a portal to their manifestation, I will put these dreams into words first, so that the spells can work their magic.

If you are receiving my newsletters only via mail and want to continue like this, there is nothing much you need to do. Once I have set up everything ready to go, you will receive an email in which you can tick some boxes to opt-in for the things you want to see in your inbox.

If you are reading this on Substack, you will have the opportunity to adjust your section settings. You will find detailed descriptions of what to do in the welcome post that I will send out once I have set up the structure. If you are browsing through my page in the meantime, it could happen that you stumble upon some new sections. Please wait until you get my post/email with the announcement to adjust your settings.

Most posts and offers will still be free for you to read, but there will also be options to get a subscription and see even more of me, my poetry and my offers.

So bear with me while I am once more digging my garden to make room for new growth. May the dirt underneath my fingers speak of transformation, grounded heArt and oneness.

Thank you so much for reading!

Lots of Love,

Sadhbh (Nicole)