Don't take off your wet-suit, just get out of the water...
Sitting quietly on the beach and watching surfers on a cool Autumn day, (this has become a habit I can't seem to break) I smiled inwardly, as a beautiful analogy of life played out before me in real time. Surfers with different levels of expertise were being thrown around, some rode those waves with ease whilst others could barely stand up on their boards. Experience and knowledge are not necessarily safeguards against turbulent terrain. Even the most expert of riders have encountered situations that tested their acumen. Australian pro surfer Mick Fanning, the world number four and a triple world champion, was quoted as saying, he would be happy never to compete again after going head to head with a shark and escaping carnage by the skin of his teeth. Some experiences can potentially throw people off their personal path and purpose. The awakening soul however, knows that the path cannot be evaded and sooner or later spirit will adjust the GPS and redirect one exactly where they need to be.
Life is this vast open ocean, sometimes calm and sometimes insanely crazy and most certainly unpredictable. Hidden under the depths are things we can't see from the surface and often when we least expect it, something will emerge and throw us completely off path, or so we feel. It doesn't matter how experienced one is at surfing the tumultuous waters of life, there are things we just have no control over and these things can send even the most conscious of beings into an abyss of new territory with no sign of where it's leading. Even with astrological predictions of impending energetic influences, no two souls experience the waters the same way. We are all at different stages of our evolution. When our oceans get rough it can be very difficult to be a shining light during these times. Like the saying goes, even light houses shut down for maintenance. Sometimes one has no choice other than to get out of the waters and retreat from life.
I've written and spoken about this subject on many occasions as I truly believe it can get very confusing, especially for the neophyte stepping onto the path of awakening. The emphasis in spiritual circles is mostly on positivity and smiling and unicorns and rainbows and all that stuff and I can vouch for the ecstasy all that brings, however, sadness is not a dirty word... It's perfectly okay to feel sad, to feel disconnected to everything around you. More often than not, its a sign of change, a time to disburden oneself of all that no longer serves and this doesn't happen overnight. Sometimes you can have an epiphany that literally changes your state in an instant, other times you are forced to slowly move through what can feel like never ending sludge. Navigating this state consciously and being extremely vigilant in curbing any need to project this state of discomfort onto others is another matter. This is where a disciplined practice of meditation, driven by a need to know the divine comes in. Walk towards the shore, keep your wet-suit on, lie on your board and look to the sky and breathe or shout or cry or turn over and punch the sand, do it until you fully acknowledge all you're feeling and then just sit in this space and allow whatever needs to come through to flow into your awareness. Whatever you do, don't cover up the discomfort with platitudes.
The idea of gratitude can feel pointless during these times, I personally know of many that have confessed to keeping a gratitude journal but practicing this robotically and without authentic charge to the words they were writing. In other words, in these moments, they felt anything but gratitude as they had yet to understand the gift that the discomfort they were feeling was bringing to their life. That old adage about lemons and lemonade would serve as an aggravating trigger for those in the throes of transition, the lemons would better serve as weapons to anyone suggesting they make lemonade.
In this world of distraction, those not committed to a spiritual path, are instantly sidetracked when they hit a wall and quickly look to fill that God shaped hole with one of the many things available to us in an attempt to feel, everything from sex, food, drugs and all things that shine in the world of form. Of course none of these things satisfy the emptiness one is trying to fill, (volumes have been written on this subject) and those stubborn enough or just simply not at that stage of questioning ignore the call of their soul, time and time again, the only solution they know is to continue to shove all they can into this hole until all the treasures of the world just aren't enough. The only thing that fits that God shaped hole is GOD :) The Divine, Universal Creator Energy, whatever you want to call it...
I was interviewed recently and asked a whole bunch of random questions pertaining to the issues we all face during these times. All my responses came from the perspective of the soul. This didn't go unnoticed by the interviewer who questioned me on this. Over time I have come to realise that any answer that addresses a problem from the transient nature of our current human identity always felt incomplete and at most, offered a short term solution to a pending issue and a superficial one at that. When you get to the core issue, which is almost always connected to spirit, a more complete picture is painted that offers an opportunity for authentic healing and growth.
The soul has incarnated into this body to experience, the soul is the pilot. Handing the reigns over to the body, the fragmented identity, is a bit like handing the controls to the drunk executive sitting in the last row up the back of a plane that's singing bad rock songs in the wrong key. Okay I know that sounds like an exaggeration but let me tell you it isn't far from the truth.
Whatever it is you're feeling, feel it, without restrain and when you're ready paddle back out there and ride those waves like a pro...
Love and heavenly blessings to all
LV xxx