I suppose I always knew the The North Path; it has been this soft yet undeniably certain whisper, always waiting there deep inside like a dear old friend. But I did not begin walking The North Path until just two years ago.
It all began on a smoldering dusk in late July in a little city in northern Germany, while I was shuffling down the side of a busy road. I looked up at a few stars struggling to appear and a voice, like a loud whisper inside me, said: “Your marriage is over.” And after this I began what I now refer to as The Dark Years … a period just over two years, in which I faced a deluge of constant events leading to the the most profound suffering of my existence, all beginning with separation and divorce.
Saddled with major depression accompanied by a feeling of abysmal trepidation that the personal chaos was not going to end, I began searching for unique solutions. I journaled feverishly during this time, filling up two large volumes.
When one begins to lose hope in external solutions, one is almost nudged forcibly by some invisible hand of Nature to look for internal alternatives. I was blessed to have arrived at, through much personal reflection, some fascinating eternal human truths (shared in more detail in my upcoming book, The North Path). Also, with the support of a very dear friend, I came upon some powerful books, such as Lost Connections by Johan Hari, which dives into many plausible, unique, and hitherto relatively unexplored causes of depression.
However, it was not until I came across the ideas of perhaps the father of individual psychology, Alfred Adler, through Kishimi and Koga’s book, The Courage to be Disliked, that I truly began to walk. Adler’s ideas seemed to give endless arms and breath to the ideas with which I was already grappling and writhing during The Dark Years. Afterwards, I began to study Adler’s philosophical psychology all on its own in more depth.
When a whisper becomes a voice, then one is no longer only aware of a path, one is walking it. I am walking The North Path now because I am combining those cherished eternal human truths I have discovered with action. I have changed dramatically both how I see L.I.F.E. (acronym to be defined in my upcoming book, The North Path) and how I engage with it. I made a phoenix out of the ashes of The Dark Years and I am now flying. I am riding the wave of my suffering, rather than being pummeled by it … and I am experiencing the first real personal joy I have known as an adult.
Let me share my truths with you. Let me help to give you phoenix wings as well. Please follow my blog and we will learn to fly together.
Yours in the infinite joy of “I,”
Phoenix Richardson.