Sigh.
Do you ever get the feeling that the universe is stuck in a rut and needs a swift kick to bump it into the next track? In our life, we seem able to get our feet under us and build slowly and carefully just to the point of relaxing when kchk, kchk, kchk.... we're hip-checked back to the starting gate. It's never been more horrible than we can accept. Just a flag moving the ball back to the first down line.
Lying flat on my back recovering from injuries that were miraculously minor for the circumstances, I caught myself whining. A lot. And yet, I was alive enough to whine. To lie in bed in a solid little house in the middle of fertile fields with laughter coming from the next room as my family called Rock Paper Scissors for what music to play next. This is our Life, with a capital L. It's all I've ever wanted - to be happy and healthy with my family, together. After all, there really was no crisis, we simply had to rebuild. Again.
Sigh.
Each time the whining voice entered my head, so did the booming guilt voice. I was alive - by the grace of God, I was alive. What business did I have whining about anything - I who had so very much?
I finally snapped back at both the whining and the guilt: It wasn't about what I had - not about my stuff, my money, not even my health or the love of my family. It was about perspective.
You see, I really do believe that I am here for a purpose, that my choices matter, that things do happen for a reason. So, when we get knocked back to retrace the same steps over and over again, what is the point? What am I missing? What do I still need to learn about living in the moment, facing each day with a clear conscience and a positive attitude? We know how to start over, to be grateful and aware. We know how to re-assess, regroup, and create from scratch. We've proven not only that we can make-do but that we actually excel at it.
Wait. We ARE good at it.
Really good.
Just what am I still trying to prove? And to whom? Maybe it isn't the universe that is stuck in a rut after all.
More and more, frustration and fear color the observations from my friends, acquaintances, strangers in the check-out line, newscasters, and publishers. What if they lose everything? How can they possibly go forward if everything they've built up, counted on, worked for, is gone? We can help with that. Even more poignant are the voices of the We Generation on whose shoulders the future will fall - they struggle to even get a foot on the first rung of the status quo ladder. How can they find their unique niche in a saturated job market, put down roots in foreclosure neighborhoods? How can they build their own lasting Dream from the scraps of a system that has no use for them except as consumers? We can help with that.
Our framework for this weekly tutorial on a life lived differently is a short chapter from The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander. I've installed a permanent link to the text in the "Journey" button on the lefthand column and will be referring to it regularly. Just click the "Journey" button to read now and anytime. While I have long adored the book and this passage in particular, I only recently heard the persistent melody under and over the whining, guilting, snapping voices in my head naming it an exceptional synopsis of living on the abundant edge.
The world is changing - to what I certainly cannot tell. But all the ingredients for health and happiness are still at our fingertips. Becoming adept in your ability to see the resources and in your skill to implement a resilient life takes experience, good humor, and confidence. We can help with that.
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