Among the clouds

Among the clouds

Late one rainy  afternoon I took a flight for a short trip. The jet roared off the runway and we ascended rapidly. Looking out of the window I noted the ground  getting further away and shrinking as we reached cruising altitude. We traversed through many cloud formations. Some thick, some grey, some thin, some light (almost transparent). Soon I could see the earth, the horizon, the cloud cover all from a beautiful vantage point. Clearly not a bird's eye view since we were already at 34000 feet, too high for the birds ! This got me thinking, as these moments sometimes do. This ascent and the eventual  descent is not unlike our conscious mind.

The cloud cover is variable at different altitudes. Thick and possibly stormy closer to the ground, and thinner and even  lighter at higher elevations. Lower layering clouds represent our lower layers of consciousness and higher layers of clouds represent the higher layers of our conscious mind. It takes a lot of effort for the plane to ascend to these higher altitudes and so too is it with our own personal spiritual growth. We keep at it every day, trying to do good, trying to be at peace, trying to focus ourselves at the seemingly impossible daily task of our personal ascension.  We sometimes have to go through stormy and rough patches and perhaps even setbacks before we clear the thicker and "Cumulus ( thick and fluffy)  or cumulonimbus ( rain bearing) " cloud formations. We ascend higher and higher as we stay in the moment. Focused and in sync to our truer nature, this is possible. Turbulence is always expected. On the way up and sometimes on the way down, turbulence is unavoidable, as it represents the forces of life that travel with us at all times. 

We travel to a different altitude as we  get free of worries, troubles and mundane pursuits, reaching the stratus or flatter cloud formations. Sometimes it is necessary to travel at that altitude for a while before we decide to ascend yet again. At times we descend too, trying desperately not to go back through the Cumulus or Cumulonimbus clouds of anxiety, despair, frustrations and anger. I persevere every day to reach the cirrus clouds ( thinnest and wispiest of clouds). These are the lightest layers of consciousness high above the earth. Free from the cares of life I long to stay at this altitude, yet the inescapable gravity changes my course, yet not my destination. The nature of flying has always been the pursuit of mankind as it heralds an effort of exploring other realms of consciousness. As the layers of consciousness are traversed so are the layers of self realization. 

High up I look down and see the earth. I recognize its presence as it looms below me as if to say " You up there, don't get so lost in the clouds that you forget to ground your Self." Respectfully I acknowledge the call and we land safely, as I am alerted to the fact I am may be Spirit yet I have to be grounded in physical form for now. My chance of flying high will come again. Realization and practice of daily meditation helps in this lofty pursuit. 

Do you know what altitude you are flying today?

Traffic woes

Traffic light woes

Every day I reach a traffic light at an intersection. This is  nothing new to anyone who sits behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. If red I stop (most of the time) and ponder. Periodically, I use the 3 minutes at the red light to text, catch up with emails,  eat some munchies, write down some thoughts, or simply allow my already wandering mind to wander.  If green, continue to travel at my speeds with the intent of beating the yellow or amber sign. Eager to get through the green light I become focussed and not waste a single millisecond of my acceleration on other matters of life and simply just go. The dreaded yellow amber sign is the worst of all. It abruptly forces you to slow down or speed up depending on how close you are to the traffic signal and the usual thought is " is there a police patrol nearby, and can I make it?"  

This is not dissimilar to our daily experiences in all matters. The red is the life altering experience that makes us stop. Whether it is illness, a tragedy, a shift in family dynamics it does not really matter what the cause is that makes us stop, it is the effect, STOP and take an account of your life choices.  The green is what we do constantly, simply just keep going. No concerns just keep cruising, yet hopefully we make sure of our speed limits lest we burn out. The yellow is the in between that enables us to pause and really think about what we are doing. If we bypass this step we usually will get caught at some point to make a life altering decision. In traffic, beating the yellow light sign, we may end up with a speeding ticket, yet another life lesson to teach you  to slow down. 

The lights are there for traffic control, yet not just for our cars yet metaphorically  more the traffic of the mind and consciousness, as they more than anything need the guidance for control. We have the faculties to provide the control from our soul, the eternal driver. We take no regard of the driver who is as valuable to our journeys on the highways of life as the other two, namely mind and consciousness. The yellow light I believe is the most important  of all the lights as you are "cautioned" to make a more safer decision. Go faster and leave the care to the wind and beat it or slow down and be safer. Especially at the intersections of life's roads when the "yellow light" really plays a role in determining your next course. If you let your arrogance blind you then unfortunately this is as bad as being color blind at the traffic signal. There are traffic signals, traffic  lights  and guiding signals all over the place. the big question is whether you are awake enough to see them before it is too late, before you "accidently" make the wrong decision or turn. 

It is sometimes great while I am driving I get every signal to be green, and my mind says lets get through them  all very fast. My consciousness plays the devils advocate and replies that watch out that based on timing of the lights and distances you are probably going to get all reds! My spirit calmly notes that some lights will be red to stop and change my decisions, some will be green so I can go through my life plans without hinderances, and many will be yellow so that I may pause and make the most appropriate choices, it is a balance not a race to the light. 

Traffic light coming up shortly, I wonder what color it will be when I get there....

Why me?

Why me?

The age old question when something does not go our way or  is unexpected. Why me?  Usually this is dependent on a bad experience as it enters any aspect of life, home, work, family or personal. "Why me? I never did anything to anyone". Numerous examples of this occur on a regular basis. Some experiences more extreme than others, and hopefully infrequently occurring all at once. Yet always 100% never wanted. 

Flat tire in a rain storm.

 Parking ticket or worse yet car towed away when you left the car for not even a few minutes.

 Failed an exam that you were prepared for. 

Getting bad news about a loved one, or worse yet about yourself from the doctor. 

Your boss dumps more work on you that has to be completed 5 minutes before you were to punch out and meet your family. 

Air-conditioning unit breaks on the hottest day of summer.

Power loss and you lose all your unsaved computer work at 3 am.

Been there done that. And the list goes on and is uniquely selective in your life. You feel like stepping out of your world and looking up at the sky with arms reaching high up and yelling " WHY ME?" Again been there done that. 

 This is not about the universe playing tit for tat with you or I. In fact it is not about me at all. It is about the opportunity to learn from the experience. What comes next after the initial jaw dropping flabbergasted look,  is what matters, namely the reaction. Do you take it lying down with anger, feelings of hurt and despair or do I rise above it and choose to learn from the experience and rise through to the other side. You or I can treat anything as a disability be it mental, physical or emotional. Yet all that serves is to keep me in the smaller place that I am in while hiding in fear from a larger purpose that my Spirit awaits to embrace.

You can learn from blind person to see, or from a deaf person to hear, or from a mute individual to speak, or from  your broken heart to  learn to love in the face of adversity. Imagine the following individuals to name but a few who have traversed their "disability" and learned to embrace their greater purpose. Andrea Bocelli or Stevie Wonder, blind musicians who have given themselves to their gifts of music and song. IIike Wyludda from Germany, with a leg amputation who won the Paralympics, or Beethoven who was deaf yet wrote some of the greatest compositions ever.  The list is endless of those people living or dead who have used their disabilities as a stepping stone towards greatness. It does not have to be just a mental, or physical illness that may hold us back. It can be the emotional state of gripping fear in depression, anxiety, or  worry that keeps us from achieving the next level. Yet it can be done.

Once you shrug off this defeated, pitiful mentality of "why me?" that prevents you from the state of bliss, you are on your way. Whether it is an issue at home, with your finances, your job, your career, your family situation, your unwell child, it does  not matter. It is easier said than done, yet I would argue that it is easier done than said as you realize the state you are in and CHOOSE to move ahead with changing the situation. The change may itself take time to manifest into a better outcome, but in the end it is coming out of that pitiful and anguish-full saga and realize the truth, you are greater than the adversity before you. 

Why me? Why not? I can handle it.