How to Navigate the Essence Map

It’s well over 20 years ago since the word essence first popped into my head. As did many things, especially around that time, it felt as if it was downloaded from the ether.

I was on a quest - for what, I didn’t know back then - but something.

A Lifelong Path

I’d been on this path for a while. Its roots can be found in the conversations I had with my Dad as a child. And in the books we read. A perennial favourite was the Readers’ Digest Book of Strange Stories and Amazing Facts. It was read and re-read, discussed and speculated upon. It still sits on my bookshelf.

My Dad and I shared a mutual passion for myths and mysteries, extraterrestrial life, and the unexplained. We were the original conspiracy theorists, always asking what if and seeking an alternative explanation to the mainstream view. We were sure aliens existed and constantly on the look out for UFOs. We believed in other worlds, lifeforms on different planets, were avid fans of sci-fi, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Star Trek, UFO, Blake’s 7, Logan’s Run and Doctor Who.

I gained a sense early on that there was more to this world than we are led to believe and that impression has never left me. I’ve always been open to possibilities, however theoretical or far out they might appear.

My Dad and I contemplated these ideas throughout his life. In later years, we watched the Stargate SG-1 series together and pondered how accurately it might represent available technology, and whether there was a secret project to go off world.

I’ve never ceased believing in alien life. To me, it seems entirely logical that we are not alone in the Cosmos but part of a wider Universe of other life forms. In fact, I believe that we evolved from other planets, which would make the human race extraterrestrial in origin.

An Esoteric Path

From my early twenties I was very firmly on a path that led me to explore the esoteric. Once the internet access arrived when I was around 31, I was able to dig deeper into the subjects I’d been exploring. I went down all kinds of rabbit holes. None of them were random. I was making connections and joining dots together.

I read about some pretty wild topics, many influenced by my interests as a child. Nothing was out of scope. I considered all options. Some ideas made no sense at the time and were parked for later. But the majority of the themes I explored continued to follow me around.

I was creating a huge jigsaw for myself. A random piece would amazingly fit into one of the gaps and connect with other ideas.

Loss and Change

It was during my thirties and forties that I made the biggest leaps forward. Thanks to some of my life experiences, losses, bereavements and other changes, I began to see patterns.

Job losses in my thirties, due to the ups and downs of the internet bubble, provided me with a rapid succession of endings and new beginnings. I started to see that, however much I dreaded the whole job hunting process, I always landed on my feet and each new role was a stepping stone along this path I was travelling.

I was being propelled forward by a series of pivotal moments.

Zero Point

A very on/off relationship in my forties was the catalyst that allowed me to make sense of this map. The endings and new beginnings were there but other factors came into play. I entered the Void.

A place, at first, of despair. But, then came creativity. It was in the park that I found my flow. I would spend hours and hours each weekend, walking with my camera. Accumulating thousands of photos, those hours of being creative enabled me to tap into another state, where my photographs almost seemed to take themselves.

I started to call this zero point. It felt like my centre. I was in alignment. There was no force being exerted. I just was. And my photography had an ease to it.

I was tapping into my essence. Unencumbered by whatever else was happening in my life, I’d found a place within me that needed nothing except just being.

It took a while to work it all out! I went to the park for months before I started to notice that I was entering a state of flow. I saw it happening when I photographed events in Manchester. I could feel the switch click in my head; there was a before and after period. Flow manifested in the photographs I was taking.

Building the Map

I journaled all the time. Some of my writing was cathartic, some of it was trying to work out this whole essence thing.

I attempted to create a logical sequence of events until I realised that we start at the end, not the beginning. It would take even longer before I understood the cyclical nature of, what would come to be known as, the Essence Map. But it wasn’t just going round in circles either. It was an upward spiral.

Around that time I had a website called the Whole Self. I talked about this map and the stages that we go through. And then I ran out of steam and didn’t know what came next. I needed more life experience and more information. The Whole Self went on a back burner and the Essence Map with it.

I became engrossed in my day job, the on/off relationship was finally over, my Mum became ill and died two years later, my Dad and I bought a house together, and two years later he also died.

The Essence Map still followed me around. It was there gently nudging me. In April 2019 I did the unthinkable and quit my day job. I had no firm plan, just a do or die kind of attitude. When was I going to live my truth? If not now, then when?

I’d launched myself on another cycle of my own Essence Map.

The Essence Map - An Overview

What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from. TS Eliot

There is a path that we walk each time we encounter change, whether this is through loss, bereavement, or another ending. It’s an eternal cycle that gives us an opportunity to recognise who we are, and to come face to face with our essential selves.

We continue to repeat the same lessons until we finally learn them. The route map highlights the milestones along the way and shows us what we can expect.

Knowing this affords us comfort and helps us to understand the purpose of each stage. The journey never ends but continues so that we can become who we were always meant to be.

The word essence describes our unique blueprint, what makes us individual, and where our greatest gifts are to be found.

Connecting with our Essence is the outcome of navigating change and transformation, as well as a deep seated urge which leads us to experience fulfilment and a sense of purpose.

Our Essence is our soul signature, as unique as we are. No-one else in the world shares the same Essence. It’s what we are here to uncover. Our journey through all the stages of the Essence Map is intended to reconnect us to our truth.

One Man’s Journey to His Essence

Chris Fisher RPT is my husband and known, within woodturning circles, as the Blind Woodturner. He has been blind since 2008 when a condition called Toxoplasmosis caused him to lose his sight overnight, resulting in complete blindness in four weeks. His story is a perfect example of the Essence Map.

The End

When the heart grieves over what it has lost, the spirit rejoices over what it has found. Sufi Epigram

One day, in 2008, Chris had woken up with blurred vision. He expected it would clear later in the day. It didn’t. A visit to the optician the next day confirmed that there was swelling at the back of his eyes and he needed to go straight to the eye hospital. Four weeks later he was completely blind.

The End comes in a variety of ways. Usually in a pivotal moment. Endings are found in loss, love and life. Bereavements, relationship breakdowns, personal trauma. An End is the start of a new chapter in our lives.

The Void

It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure. Joseph Campbell

What followed was a period of rehabilitation – learning how to do the basics such as shaving, making a cup of tea or a sandwich, all over again, and how to use a white cane. Then, the anxiety kicked in.

Over the next few years Chris experienced muscle spasms, panic attacks, nausea, insomnia and hallucinations. His life was forever changed. He will tell you that he contemplated suicide, too – the only thing that stopped him was his young son and family. A series of sessions of bereavement counselling helped and eventually life improved.

We find healing in the Void. It’s a time when we retreat, take a step back, lick our wounds. We’re in a holding pattern. We can’t go backwards or forwards. It’s a sacred time when we regroup and transform. We are being recalibrated.

Letting Go and Decluttering

In his Void, Chris had to let go of who he had been, when he was sighted. He was no longer a motorcycle owner or student pilot. He lost his independence and became reliant on others. He was facing a new reality.

We almost always enter the Void after an ending. It’s a period of waiting for the new to make itself known. If we use this time wisely, we can start to heal from our loss and regroup.

A key element of the Void is letting go. It’s often cathartic to declutter and clear your physical space, as well as your mental space. We declutter to make room for the new, to start a new life. We can’t take everything with us into our new beginning.

When you emerge from the Void, you are changed. Everything has shifted and you’re no longer the same.

Finding Flow

The practice of art isn’t to make a living. It’s to make your soul grow. Kurt Vonnegut

One day, after being blind for 5 years, Chris decided to take up woodturning – because he wanted a vampire stake.

Chris spent around 600 hours listening to YouTube videos until he had created a picture in his head of what woodturning involved, and then he went out to buy a lathe. He turned his vampire stake!

Often, in the Void, we are nudged to develop an outlet for our creativity. We may use that time to pursue interests such as art, making or photography. Whatever our creative pursuit, it is here that we begin to experience flow, where nothing else matters apart from the act of creation. It is in this state that we begin to catch glimpses of our Essence.

Whether your gift is to be an artist or a creator, or you use a creative pursuit to help you access your flow, it’s in the act of creativity that we tap into our own magic.

Try: Find those activities that make time seem to fly. Do them as often as possible and take notice of what happens to you. These activities are where you will find your flow.

The Beginning

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished; that will be the beginning. Louis L’Amour

Chris had no idea that his woodturning hobby would become his profession. The process took several years. He gave talks, public woodturning demonstrations, accepted commissions, and evolved into a woodturning artist.

He became the first completely blind Woodturner to be accredited as a Registered Professional Turner. Short films and magazine interviews told his story.

If Chris had remained sighted none of this would have happened.

A new Beginning comes gradually. We might not be aware that we have crossed a rubicon until we look back later. We emerge, changed, on the cusp of a new life.

We are the same but different, forever altered by what has gone before. We enter a period of renewal. The brakes are off and we can start to move forward again.

New beginnings require patience. It’s a whole new phase and you need to take time to adjust and adapt, not only to the circumstances but also to who you are becoming. Just like starting a new job, it takes a while to find your feet and get to know the ropes.

Essence

If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you. Gospel of Thomas

Today, Chris has been blind for 17 years. He’s been woodturning for around 12 years and is now a sought after professional woodturner who travels around the country giving public demonstrations, and is a keynote speaker.

He doesn’t want his eyesight back and will tell you that being a blind woodturner is who he was always meant to be.

Your Essence is your truth, your superpower. We peel back the layers to reveal our Essence over time, throughout our lives. Each Ending brings us a step closer to knowing who we really are, and living that truth.

We each bring unique gifts to the world and that is the way we can make the world a better place.

The Source

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. William Shakespeare

Chris’ mission now is to inspire and motivate both disabled and able-bodied people to achieve their potential, whatever their circumstances. He has faced change of the most traumatic kind but has been transformed by the experience. He has transcended that original pivotal moment and recreated himself.

Once we begin to connect to our Essence, we go through an evolution. Once we have seen the truth about ourselves, there’s no going back. As each new layer is revealed we see that we are not merely flesh and blood but part of a greater whole. We contemplate our own Source and that of the wider Universe.

If Essence is our unique soul signature, we recognise the unique Essence of others. We originate from the same Source, the creative energy behind the Universe. When we understand how we are all interconnected, we know that we are all one.

The Cosmic Self

Who we are extends beyond this planet and stretches out into the Universe. We do not exist in a Void. Our actions impact a wider Universe. We are not alone but part of something much bigger.

We are at a pivotal moment as a collective. I believe these moments have happened before. If you look at the essence map, all life is a cycle, and we are simply at the end of one cycle awaiting the beginning of the next.

Change is never easy but it is preceded by a catalyst of some sort, designed to wake us up to put us on a new path or to embrace a different way of being.

What I know for sure is that connecting to our truth, to who we really are, and tapping into our Essence opens up doors where previously there were no doors. And they lead us down a different road.

It can often feel as though we don’t have choices, but by finding our flow through creativity and reconnection to our essence, we can create the kind of world we want to live in. It starts with us.

The old is being slowly wiped away. The new has not yet formed. We are all part of this change.

Embracing Change

Change is the essence of life; be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become. Reinhold Niebuhr

The saying goes that there are two certainties in life, death and taxes. I would add a third – change. It’s been a constant in my life and has taken many forms but each time I’ve been transformed in some way.

As we revisit change throughout our lives, we begin to see that it can open doors, lead to new beginnings and can transform us in ways we could never have imagined.

The past is gone. An ending has taken place and there’s no going back. We have to make room for the new.

It may feel counterintuitive but be open to change. It is a catalyst and an indicator that, somewhere in your life, adjustments need to be made so that you can move forward or in a new direction.

This may seem harsh if you’re going through bereavement or similar loss or trauma and, at that moment, it can be impossible to view it as a positive. With time and the benefit of hindsight, you will be able to see a new chapter unfolding.

Hard or Easy Endings

There are two ways to have an ending – the easy or the hard way. Adapting to change comes with time and experience. Once you recognise an ending for what it is, the more equipped you are. Endings are all about surrender, releasing the old and making room for the new to take its place. The journey home always begins with an ending whatever form that might take. It usually involves loss of some sort.

As we all do, I’ve experienced many endings.

• I am where I am today because of endings. My Mum died which led my Dad and I to sell both our houses and buy one together. We decluttered and let go.
• I started a new job, worked with a new client. I met Chris at an event organised by this client.
• Two years later my Dad died. Chris and I had just embarked on our relationship. I decluttered and let go again.
• Three years elapsed and I resigned from my day job. Six months later we decided to relocate to the countryside in Derbyshire.

If my Mum hadn’t died in 2013, none of this would have happened. Her death set off a chain of events that have led me to where I am now.

Looking back over the past 9 years, I can see the route map that has brought me here. I found myself in the Void on several occasions, eventually emerging with each new beginning. These were often unexpected and surprising.

My alignment with my Essence came and went. Sometimes I was in flow, sometimes I wasn’t. But, what was very clear, was that each ending catapulted me to a new place, somewhere I was clearly meant to be.

See Endings as Milestones

Endings are part of your journey. If you can, don’t resist them. Allow them to happen. You are being guided on to pastures new. If you don’t heed this nudge, you will, ultimately, get a kick in the seat of your pants, and change may be forced upon you.

Our initial reaction to change is often resistance. We prefer comfort, the status quo. But, pretty much without exception, I’ve found that change leads to something that is better for us and is important for our personal growth.