Sunday, May 2, 2010

BEYOND WHAT YOU CAN SEE

May 3, 2010

Two deer together.
One is by the woods. The other has ventured closer to the highway.
On one side: green trees and quiet.
On the other: 8 lanes, hundreds of cars going at least 60 miles an hour.
They are animals, they do not know the concept of death.
We are human. We do.

We choose to take the highway. When we make it to the other side, we can revel in "wow, look what I did, I made it through that!" We get hit over and over; broken legs, broken arms, mostly broken hearts. It doesn't seem quite as thrilling to get to the other side of the woods because we can't see what we'll be facing until we chance going in. What we face in the woods is ourselves. It's so much more thrilling to be able to see the cars and hear their roar and say that that is the thing responsible for our suffering. We pat ourselves on the back, lick each others wounds and revel in what we conquered. "Oh yours was a red car, well, that was nothing, mine was a semi, can't you hear the roar!"

As humans, we know that we will die. We can give ourselves the false hope that we are in control, by choosing the same tangible obstacles, over and over and over and over again. My clients are always ready to think that a question is about how they are going to be made wrong, it never occurs to them that it so they can know for themselves why they are right. They are always prepared for the cars, the bruise and the pain. They have been on the highway. Now that they have begun to venture into the woods, they are always surprised by their new experiences of peace.

One thing about the "highway" is that the result is always the same. Some form of pain, suffering, and fear gets constantly repeated no matter the job, the relationship, the house, or the amount of money made. No matter what happens externally, the internal sense is the same; "there is something wrong with me." We are afraid to go towards the woods because we think that our greatest fears are going to be confirmed. We are afraid to face anything except the the roar (bills, job, relationship, etc.) because we think it is going to confirm what we already believe. By going into the woods, I have discovered that our greatest fears are not true. In the woods there is plenty of food, beauty and peace. Less dodging and fighting, less of what we know already. There are few cars. There is ourselves, beautiful and free. The wood and the highway are always parallel, it is up to us to choose to go beyond what we can see.

The young deer near the highway, I pray it goes towards the woods. It does not know about death, so it may not. We do. We most often choose the highway. But our bounty is right there waiting for us, beyond what we can see, the wood parallel to the highway, ourselves beautiful and free!


PLAN OF ACTION:
Identify what is the wood and what is the highway in your life.
Choose actions that will allow you to have peace. It isn't enough to want peace, you will have to experience it. You will have to have the courage to take actions that may go against your habits. We have the perfect barometer. The fight with yourself is simply that you keep taking actions that are in reaction to who you thought you were or against who you are. Take actions that lead you to your peace, it will be beyond what you can see. It's scary at first but well worth it! Go away from the roar of the highway and towards the quiet of the woods.

Did you get your taxes done? Give yourself the experience of the woods. Get off of the highway before the end of May!