To Blow Life Into

Spirit derives from a very old word in Proto-Indo-European language *(s)peis meaning “to blow”. Thousands of years of this particular vocal vibration takes shape, grows and flows and morphs to go from a verb referring to the act of blowing to a word describing a human’s immortal essence and ability to be alive.

Humans long ago, I imagine, were in constant wonder of the sacred, precious life they get to live, honoring divinity for each day they survived, but not in the way we eat/pray/love today with our cushy lives. It was a practical norm to pray to Nature for luck and life and to appease it with thanks when it delivered. Humankind had a distinct humility with respect for the planet. There are some communities who keep this lineage and have these wonderful practices to this day.

An ancient person blows on a flame–it grows. They use their breath to continue to blow the flame to greater heights. What a beautiful moment when there are no TVs, phones, spreadsheets, errands, happy hours, road issues, friend drama to be creating a magical, dancing source of heat and light for the betterment of the creatures you’ve bonded with.

When a human can no longer blow out a funnel of air to cause this warmth, this possibility, this light, it signals that their particular instance of life is on its way out. An elderly woman’s breath gets less and less powerful. She can no longer be the one to blow life into the flame. When breath is gone, they are gone. Something beyond comprehension, some great Spirit, blows breath into a being, the being lives with that breath at their disposal, able to use their breath to generate action and life, until that breath reaches its finite end, and leaves the body, lifeless.

We see how “to blow” (s)peis becomes “divine, connected life within” spirit.

Consider your ability to blow life into whatever it is that you want to cultivate. What if you lived from a Spirit of Possibility or a Spirit of Yes? In modern life, we stand on the shoulders of thousands of generations of human beings progressing how to dynamically express and connect to Spirit. It’s no longer necessary to blow a literal flame each night for me to thrive; however, it is necessary for me to blow life into something that’s going to causing thriving in my life.

Where are you enacting spirits that do not create what you want, like the Spirit of Complaining or the Spirit of Impossibility? Blowing life into a bunch of shit and time wasting?

Use your spirit, your life force, your being to generate a reality of Yes for yourself and your world. Don’t overthink it, and definitely don’t let those spirits of no/complaining/impossibility haunt you. It’s not toxic positivity and it’s not spiritual bypassing when you understand that you’re only fanning the flames and building fire for the sake of your entire community. Just like humans in community have had to do since the beginning of time.