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Everyone searches for and finds his or her own identity through a wide variety of experiences and expressions.  

Often a system of personal symbols can express that identity. A symbol is a term, a name or an image that contains specific associations in addition to its obvious everyday meaning.  For example, a rainbow can be a symbol for joy and hope of good things to come.

When we start to become more aware of personal symbols that influence us, we activate another avenue to look into our selves and become more aware of how we construct meaning in our life. A personal symbol will alert you to do something about your present condition; it will give direction to your life

How do I find my personal symbol? 

Sit quietly each day for a period of a few days. Reflect or journal questions such as: What is the new belief, goal, skills, behaviour, or routine I wish to establish? Is there something I want to let go of?  What is the feeling I prefer to have about myself at this time? What spiritual truth could inspire me right now?

Be alert to the nature and appearance of symbols 

Symbols often occur spontaneously in dreams and also crop up as symbolic thoughts, acts and even situations. Much of our perception of reality goes on at a subconscious level because we are so bombarded with stimuli all the time wecannot possibly register them all. Sometimes these events well up from the subconscious later on, through a moment of intuition or in a dream, and we realise they hold emotional significance for us. The psyche produces stories and themes cased in symbols like a plant produces flowers, not always presenting them in a storyline that makes sense, until we start to dig for the meaning.

Sometimes, inanimate objects are involved in symbolic events - for example, the clock that symbolically stops when someone dies.

Culture of origin and individual life experience combine to make the meaning of asymbol uniquely different for individuals. Many symbols are meaningful not just for the individual, but are collective. These are often religious symbols, such as the cross for Christianity. Animals and other elements of nature are often adopted as symbols. For example, the lion is widely accepted as a symbol of courage while the red rose stands for love.

The meaning of a symbol is not fixed and is often multidimensional. It develops overtime. It may lose or gain additional meanings in different social conditions andchanging states of the natural world. For example, the swastika was once a sign ofbeneficial cosmic power, but in the twentieth century, became a symbol of brutal force.

Different symbols will appeal to us at different times in our lives, yet, with a basic knowledge of the universal meaning of a symbol and applying patienceto doing inner reflection, we can work out what a particular symbol maymean to us when it appears in our life, however it may arrive.  We can educate ourselves to see the positive manifest in the symbol’s meaning as it unfolds in our life. 

Example of using a personal symbol

Of late, as I’ve been pondering the purpose of my life again and what it means to be happy, a phrase has come into my life - happiness is about ’someone to love, something to do, something to hope for’.  It appeals to me, thus it has personal significance, and what’s more, it’s easy to remember (very portable). So I use it to check where I am, when I am not feeling happy and ask myself how I can refocus on current situations to feel happier - how can I be more loving in my actions; is there something I need to change about what I believe is happening; what outcome would I like to hope for?

Regards

Frances