Fork In the Road
SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT
There comes a time in most of our lives where we start questioning what the hell we are doing here in this world. Not only are we questioning our own purpose, but we begin to question the world itself, what is it exactly? When we are small children, we are busy using our vivid imaginations, learning how to operate in the world, and being conditioned by our parents and the system that has been implemented here. We spend our time looking toward the future and discovering what we will do to survive, and hopefully thrive, as adults.
Maybe we are passionate about certain subjects and put our hearts and souls into numerous projects, maybe we pursue a career we love, or maybe we beat to a different drummer and take the road less travelled. For some of you, life is wonderful, you are happy, and you are completely content in your world. However, for most of us, there will be unexpected challenges and tragedies that will bring us to a deeper place. Whatever road you are on, there usually comes a time when life seems to lose its excitement. At some point, the tragedies and losses begin to hit us, and we are faced with questioning our own reality and mortality. You are waking up to the fact that something is NOT QUITE RIGHT, but you are not quite sure what it is. You just know something is missing. As much as the child within wants to believe the world is a magical place, it begins to show us something else. It begins to reveal how out of control it really is.
THE INVITATION TO SOMETHING GREATER
Because you are now aware something is off, that something just doesn’t feel right, you are presented with an opportunity. This opportunity may not be obvious, you may not notice it as an opportunity at all because you are so conditioned to fall into the trap of your mind telling you there is no way out. Your mind will tell you depressing stories and work to keep you believing in this game so you never leave it.
Eventually, life will toss you enough stress and chaos that a tiny little voice inside begins to speak up, that there must be another way to live, because this just isn’t working. Nothing here works! It doesn’t matter what you do, you recognize that the world is not to be trusted. Although it may not appear obvious at first, this is an opportunity, a wonderful gift, a personalized invitation to tap into a much larger mind, a vast expansive field that sees things differently. This greater intelligence field is beyond our own small identities. In the presence of this awareness, our identity self moves into the background, and the larger field becomes much more dominant.
FORK IN THE ROAD
How can we wake up if we don’t yet understand what we were conditioned to believe in the first place? It’s necessary to understand how our mind operates, why we believe what we do, and how as children we were conditioned to form these societal expectations. When we see how the mind functions, how it reacts, and why it is cleverly fooling us on a regular basis, then we can begin to see there is a way out of its repetitive and predictable behavior. We can begin to see there is an opportunity to wake up to something greater than ourselves.
If you have accepted this FORK IN THE ROAD as an invitation, and RSVP’d that you are absolutely attending, then you will slowly start accepting life as it is, without the unnecessary narrator. Instead of standing at the fork and choosing your small self’s point of view again, you take a hard right and choose the new path, the path you have not yet taken, which will ultimately lead you to an open mind, an open heart, and a more peaceful life. This path is patient, it is non-judgmental, it simply IS there, silently watching, without commentary. It is this field we are all invited into, however, it is up to us to make the decision to act.
This fork in the road will always present you with a choice, the choice in how you want to see these never-ending challenges the dual world perpetuates. You can continue down the same road you have been on, stay in the reactionary mode, or you can take that hard right, and learn to see things differently. You can see them from a much broader perspective, a non judgmental space that simply solves problems that are presented without getting overly attached to them. You begin to let go and feel liberated, rather than hold onto these mishaps and allow them to ruin your entire day, or your entire life for that matter. I mean, how many of us tell ourselves the same old story, and it just becomes automatic? We don’t even stop and analyze what it is we are believing and why. It’s like we are programmed robots that just keep on ticking like the energizer bunny! However, we do not have to continue living this way. We ALWAYS have a choice.
TAKE YOURSELF OUT OF IT
We are very attached to ourselves, whether we admit it or not. We love to point out how selfish other people are, but when you really stop and think, we are obsessed with our own identities. Everything we do is to protect our identity, to make sure we defend ourselves at all costs. This is the nature of the small mind, or the ego mind. It is simply obsessed with itself. Now, some of us present this selfishness out into the world and it becomes blatantly obvious to everyone around them, however, we are all just as selfish, but some of us are better at hiding it. We keep it hidden inside, like a personal little secret, except when you understand this it is no secret.
When you choose to see life from a larger awareness, you slowly begin to de-personalize everything. If you take yourself out of someone else’s struggle, you can offer them support without taking it on personally, right? This makes you more available to actually be of service and offer genuine help. If you also learn to take yourself out of your own cyclical thinking, you will start seeing other avenues to explore. The door will be open to other viewpoints and ways of seeing. But the first step is not taking everything so personally. This one is a challenge because that is who we think we are, our own identity, and when we feel threatened we will feel that on so many levels. We take so many things as a personal attack, but are they really personal? Ask yourself that question and really look at it.
BE A PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR OF YOUR OWN MIND
As you begin to recognize something is missing, and you are actively working to choose another way to see things, become a private investigator of your own mind. Investigate your thinking and why you believe in it? Research your persona and why you are so attached to it? Ask yourself why you are so attached to a particular belief or position, something that you really hold onto and protect? Is there something we are all protecting and why? If we are protecting our identities so strongly, what are we afraid of losing? This is where the path of waking up will start to take you to a much deeper place, into the subconscious treasures that we are probably not even aware of.
But for now, just be that private investigator and ask questions about yourself that are on the surface. Begin to wonder why it is you do what you do, or believe what you believe, or think what you think. Is it stemming from a genuine curiosity within yourself, or was it something you were conditioned to believe by your environment, your friends and family, your television, you name it and the external stimuli can morph your beliefs instantly. When you become aware of how quickly your belief structure is influenced by external events, then you can slowly begin asking the questions that will help you undo these layers, and eventually wake up to who you really are.