As I travel down the lively and trodden path that I so often choose in my life, I will many times look up and see that I have stumbled in to a rediscovered but forgotten lane, teaming with memories and a completeness that I only know from having reached the end of this circle at a prior juncture. In some ways the story of my life is a story of repetition and recycling of experiences into a new and fresh moment and meaning. While I have seen the cycle of life repeat itself around me many times already and old things become new again...I always understand that it is with this insight and perception that I receive lessons and knowledge...however mundane or creative they might be.
Whatever understanding and knowledge I possess at this moment in my life...I do realize that it is with great leading by someone or something far greater than I. I have been gifted free will in this journey described as life...and I may choose how I perceive and view things about and around me...but it is with a great and profound respect that I humbly accept anything that has been bestowed upon me in regards to any ability to the understanding of any thing.
It is from this deep respect...this place of humility and reverence in my mind and in my soul...that I hold as a place of foundation. An anchor to those things in me that...in a moment of pride or arrogance...I might elevate to actually coming from me...but I know they do not. It is wrong for me to assume myself so superior to another...that I would believe myself more important...more knowledgeable...more understanding...more educated...more compassionate...more empathetic...more creative...or more valuable. I am not.
What I am...is unique.
There is very little that we actually know in this life. Most of the things we think we know...are things we take in through our abilities to perceive the world...our imperfect and often fallible senses. How is it that when standing on a set of railroad tracks...and gazing down the tracks towards the horizon...the tracks seem to converge? Do they converge? No...they do not. How is it that our memory of an event differs from a picture taken from it or a video long since forgotten which documented the memory? How is it that with given the right stimulus...we human beings remember things that never happened? Can we create pseudo-memories? Yes...we can...and we fully believe them. How can it be...that what things we hear...smell...taste...touch...and see...can so often be so different than the exact same things experienced by another standing right next to us?
It is because we are all unique.
But don't we all fail? Don't we all succeed? Do we not all bleed red and live in accordance to our own nature? Do we all feel the same pains and desire the same outcomes when faced with those pains? Do we not all love? So how is it that we are unique...if we are all so much the same? It goes so far beyond our senses and simply our experience. It goes down to the very core of who we are as individuals. Those things each of us sense as important. Those things that we...each of us...base our lives and existence on...what we stake our purpose in...what we anchor ourselves to...
Most of us are profoundly anchored in our sense of safety and security. We strive for attaining it and then work hard at maintaining it. We focus on it actually...at times...to our own detriment. But it keeps us anchored. There are some...for whom....safety and security only come by letting go of things that are held secure...things that are considered by the individual as safe...and it is there...without the appearance of safety and security that this individual feels safe and secure...because they believe that in their lack of safety and security...they are truly living...but it is an anchor all the same...
Our anchors are those things which keep us grounded and balanced. When an individual is most out of balance...it normally is coupled with their being untethered from their anchor...and away from their foundation. No matter how feeble our attempts at reconciliation towards balance come...we will not find our joy...our sense of serenity...our focus...our foundation...when we are untethered from our anchor.
So...I ask you...you who are reading this...what is your anchor? What is it in your life that anchors you?
And...
Do you have your joy? Your......joy....
Not your sense of safety and security...not your money...not your hobby or your profession....unless that is your joy...not your place in life...or your lot....not your accomplishments or those things you've amassed....
What...is...your....joy?
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Balance...
Life is funny ya know? Sometimes...it just seems like life is just raining good stuff down on ya from all angles and all is well...and sometimes one just feels like one is getting all wet. But therein lies the good stuff...the marrow...the place in between....and just when the image of altered balance comes into focus and one can see where their own mistakes lie...the lesson emerges and one has the opportunity to learn.
Out of all the things that we focus on in our lives and all the myriad of messages that are besieged upon us daily...we have a tendency to become very out of balance if we do not pay attention to our priorities and our focus. In the content of our lives there is a hierarchy of importance and yet...our emotions can lead us to a series of choices that, if left to their own destitute and infectious ends, can leave us in a query about the state of our purpose and the dilapidated sense of safety that we coddle and elude ourselves with.
True...we do have a choice as to how we lead or follow...our nemesis...our hearts...as opposed to the logic and rationale of our minds...yet it is truly in our feelings that we loose ourselves and have the potential to loose so much more. We are complex beings and to allot an importance to our emotional life is our destiny and is quite healthy...it can create balance in one who is overly rational...but the balance is one of a very fine line for if the importance allotted is overextended and overemphasized we will surely fall into a deep well of suffering and longing...the likes of which are painful and at worst deadly.
Balance...in and of itself is a simple concept...however to create balance in one's own life, mind, and spirit is a complex task. A task that involves labor and tenacity yet is as subtle as it is vital. A task with meaning and deep reverence to those things held as important but left in a state of graceful abandon and acceptance. A place of personal accountability and integrity holding a deep wealth of wisdom and yet having the ability to be open and flexible to learning new knowledge and new directions.
Balance...means different things to each individual but also has a collective meaning that we all recognize and own in our hearts and understanding. We yearn for balance and for many of us it eludes us with the cunning and stealth of a great hunter/warrior. Even when worked at...often...we come to realize we are still continually making mistakes and choices that although show effort and attempt...leave us no more balanced than before and therefore leave us in a state of question. Do we repeat the mistake and try again...or do we change our tactic and reverse our course? Are we ever to gain an ongoing balance? Is this even a real and true option?
Or is it closer to the fact to say that just as riding a bike...a straight line is actually a series of left turns to center followed by a series of right turns to center to create the illusion of a straight line. The wobbly straight line is actually a wavy line impersonating a straight line. It is only upon close examination that one can tell the true nature. Balance therefore is never a steady course but a series of waves and corrections to bring one back into center. Balance...without it...we have chaos...and with it...we can achieve serenity.
Out of all the things that we focus on in our lives and all the myriad of messages that are besieged upon us daily...we have a tendency to become very out of balance if we do not pay attention to our priorities and our focus. In the content of our lives there is a hierarchy of importance and yet...our emotions can lead us to a series of choices that, if left to their own destitute and infectious ends, can leave us in a query about the state of our purpose and the dilapidated sense of safety that we coddle and elude ourselves with.
True...we do have a choice as to how we lead or follow...our nemesis...our hearts...as opposed to the logic and rationale of our minds...yet it is truly in our feelings that we loose ourselves and have the potential to loose so much more. We are complex beings and to allot an importance to our emotional life is our destiny and is quite healthy...it can create balance in one who is overly rational...but the balance is one of a very fine line for if the importance allotted is overextended and overemphasized we will surely fall into a deep well of suffering and longing...the likes of which are painful and at worst deadly.
Balance...in and of itself is a simple concept...however to create balance in one's own life, mind, and spirit is a complex task. A task that involves labor and tenacity yet is as subtle as it is vital. A task with meaning and deep reverence to those things held as important but left in a state of graceful abandon and acceptance. A place of personal accountability and integrity holding a deep wealth of wisdom and yet having the ability to be open and flexible to learning new knowledge and new directions.
Balance...means different things to each individual but also has a collective meaning that we all recognize and own in our hearts and understanding. We yearn for balance and for many of us it eludes us with the cunning and stealth of a great hunter/warrior. Even when worked at...often...we come to realize we are still continually making mistakes and choices that although show effort and attempt...leave us no more balanced than before and therefore leave us in a state of question. Do we repeat the mistake and try again...or do we change our tactic and reverse our course? Are we ever to gain an ongoing balance? Is this even a real and true option?
Or is it closer to the fact to say that just as riding a bike...a straight line is actually a series of left turns to center followed by a series of right turns to center to create the illusion of a straight line. The wobbly straight line is actually a wavy line impersonating a straight line. It is only upon close examination that one can tell the true nature. Balance therefore is never a steady course but a series of waves and corrections to bring one back into center. Balance...without it...we have chaos...and with it...we can achieve serenity.
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