Coming Home To Yourself
On rock bottoms, trampolines, and the ongoing unglamorous work of a life lived from the inside out.
‘Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.’ Carl Sagan
And that somewhere is within you. I have been teaching meditation and living this philosophy for just under three decades. I have studied with teachers across India, Japan, England and the United States. I have sat in Zen temples, studied in ashrams, learned from some of the most extraordinary minds I could find. And what every single discipline points to, at its core, is the same truth: who you actually are lies within you. There is a natural intelligence connecting all things, and you can access it and live in alignment with it. And it starts in the heart.
This past week has been a really interesting one where I notice a flow of familiarity in each conversation whilst onboarding new clients for Integrated Coaching programs that include private Integrated Meditation Courses. Currently these are all men in demanding - sometimes excruciatingly so - positions within enormous businesses that they are at the helm of. They have families. Many have new babies on the way in the coming months. They’re exhausted and overwhelmed. They are often bumping around in the boot of the car as it hurtles down a freeway and it’s my work with them to get them back in the drivers seat. And one of the questions I ask is where do you want to be? What do you want life to look like. Sometimes they’re hitting the road and running so hard they have lost complete site of this.
We have all been there, where we lost our vision, our purpose, and alongside that our inner trust. So we first work on defining that, and the relaxation starts to come to them, an out breath just in the conversation. They realise they’re not as far from this as they previously thought, once we begin a mapping process. And none of us really are. But we need support, accountability, and a deep desire to move from our hearts again. To work with our intuition and inner intelligence that has been muffled with stress and adrenalin. And sometimes it’s from a rock bottom, dirt under our nails, bruised and weary that is the best place to begin again, as we are at this point, totally committed to the process even if it comes from desperation. My god have I had my own rock bottoms. I have hurtled towards them holding my breath in a blind panic, only to find out it wasn’t black concrete I was approaching but a spongy trampoline to something else entirely. The relief of coming home to ourselves cannot be underestimated. But these are not detours from our own cosmic map, but they are a part of them.
This is not a ladder to climb or a standard to perform to. It is the ongoing, imperfect, often genuinely unglamorous work of discovering what is truly you and letting go, consciously and persistently, of what is not. It involves honest looking. Releasing what has accumulated that no longer serves. And the consistent, patient, curious return to refine and recommit. Not once. Continuously, for the rest of your life.
This is not grim news. It is actually the most alive and interesting project available to a human being.
What I know, from my own life and from working with thousands of students, is that when you begin to access your broad place, that deep, still, expansive place beneath the noise, everything else starts to reorganise around it. Not because circumstances magically change, though sometimes they do. Because you change, and are actively involved in your evolution. How you respond to things changes. What you reach for changes. The quality of your attention changes. What you need to feel okay becomes genuinely less.
You begin to live from creativity rather than anxiety. From connection rather than performance. From a contentment that does not depend on what is happening around you.
This is high-grade living. A life lived from the inside out, with the tools to navigate whatever comes. A life that is, in the truest sense, yours. Your broad place is not something you need to find. You have already been there. You simply need to learn to live there.
A Practice: Your High Grade Vision
Sit quietly and imagine yourself one year from now, having done the inner work consistently: meditating regularly, living from your values, responding to life from your deeper self rather than your reactive one. What does your daily life feel like? Not what does it look like from the outside. What does it feel like from the inside? What has dropped away? What has arrived? Write it down in as much sensory detail as you can. This is not fantasy. This is direction. Return to it whenever the path ahead feels unclear.
And if you know anyone floundering right now, or having a tough time, please share this with them from a place of love.
One of the things I have been witnessing increase is the amount of men especially that are supporting each other (women seem to be naturally open about this) and saying, hey this Letter shifted something in me. Hey, have you tried meditating, it’s helped me a lot. Mate, I am here for you. I have even had many men paying for their friends, brothers and colleagues to learn meditation with me, or do a few coaching sessions as it helped them so much and they want to be better leaders, kinder humans and help more. It gives me goosebumps to witness this. The care, the attentiveness and the generosity. These people are true leaders. They don’t hoard for themselves, but are vulnerable, open and expansive in their owning what they do to move the needle and keep that connection going even deeper. Honestly, what a fucking joy all of this is. In a current world that proclaims men to be the worst, I am seeing the opposite every single day.
With love,
Jac x
I want to extend to you an invitation. If you’re ready to commit to your higher self, and are ready to be accountable with someone in your corner, I would love to have a conversation with you about what it might look like. I have a few spots opening soon as I close off one on one programs with clients and students after large bodies of work. We might chat meditation, or coaching (which integrates therapy at times when needed), or a different program altogether based on your needs. You can read more HERE or email me jacqui@thebroadplace.com.au
Love this Jac and your previous letter too…❤️❤️❤️