 Isn’t life such an amazing experience?! So many opportunities, moments of chance to be embraced and learned from. Space to broaden horizons, limitless scope to deepen understanding and wisdom. A gift in every sense of the word. IS IT? We know within our deepest self this is true, but sometimes it all feels so out of reach, available to others, but maybe not to us. The gift that life truly is may fall short of its target. If we are unable to recognise it, and make use of it, a gift is no more than useless. It may just as well have remained in its wrapping of ignorance: a present received, but never the gift, and what could be wondrous is wasted.
A subtle exchange
Daily life is governed by so many choices and challenges, both within and outside our control, and yet I am sure that, with reflection, we can each pluck from our existence a point at which time stood still, turned a different corner and became a defining moment. I don’t mean the major events like births or deaths, anniversaries or celebrations that mark the milestones of mankind, but the more subtle exchanges to which we respond with, or without, awareness.
A brief comment, given to me with a generosity I failed to accept at that time, remains with me today, twenty years on. In pursuit of its meaning I have learned so much and will continue to, the energy as vital as when I first heard it, but now with one difference: at first I did not understand the gift that it was. At that time I processed it as a rebuff, even a rejection; now I shall be forever grateful for its message.
It was at homoeopathic college where I met Maria: we sat next to, and supported each other for our four year training, and we have continued and strengthened our friendship to this day. She was, and is, one gift I have always been aware of. During one of the many lectures, my lack of confidence took a back seat, and my thirst for answers took hold. I raised my hand and asked what I considered to be an intelligent question, eager for the answer to my deepest desire for understanding. The question I cannot remember, but the answer given, I can: ‘Stand where you can see the view, Mary’ was the tutor’s reply.
Silence was my response, and I shrivelled back onto my chair, waiting until the lecture was over before sharing my disappointment and indignation with my friend. Tutorials were expensive, and this was not what I had been hoping for. Such is the folly of expectation, and yet, of course, it was truly a gift. It added vigour to my search to find my own answers, my own understanding and inner wisdom, to honour another’s point of view, but to own only my own.
Sidestepping
Stand where you can see the view? What does that mean? How does that change a situation, personal or public? It is the question I have repeated to myself countless times, in order to gain insights to not only my life, but to world events, too, both major and minor, celebration and catastrophe alike. Surely a view is a view? Unless you take a sidestep, and then it’s not – not the same, that is. Take another step and another view becomes visible, and soon, with every step, the original point of view becomes transformed. An idea, situation or scene now has an opportunity to be seen in a new light. Maybe to blossom, rather than be buried. The sun comes up and then goes down: the daily process is the same, and yet never the same – always a different view, sometimes obscured, sometimes revealed, but always there.
Nature teaches us to recognise what is vital to our existence and what is transient. What doesn’t serve you well as an individual doesn’t serve humanity as a whole. Changing a view can be as simple as taking a coffee break, or extended by planning a holiday, sabbatical or retreat. Changing a point of view may be not so simple, but with a change in surroundings, we can often see what familiarity held us blind to. Hindsight clarifies and brings the ability to understand what is needed and, with foresight, a future world view can be created, which will serve all needs and nationalities alike. At the centre of each one of us our hearts all beat to the same song, and our blood flows in the same direction.
With longer days upon us this time of year, use them to take an illuminated sidestep from your usual view, and see what even a minute change of perception brings. Use the longer hours of day to light the lamp that will shine through any darkness. What will you let go of, or gain, in order to alter your perspective? Living life with a panoramic view may be as distorting as one with blinkers or tunnel vision. It doesn’t hurt to tweak the lens every so often: you just might be surprised at what the viewfinder snaps up.
Opening our eyes
For sure, if we are not willing to make personal adjustments now, it is without doubt that, when we do open our eyes, the view will have changed so dramatically that life will never be the same. Equally, Mother Earth will continue to share with us all she has to sustain and enrich our lives, but to continue with our parasitic performance in the partnership will only fuel a future of more devastation. Where we continue to populate and pollute without respect, our greed will meet with ruin: the earth will survive, but we will not. The external world view will keep changing until the internal view gives way to humility.
So, if for any reason you find yourself looking at a different view this summer, be open to the possibility of a whole ‘new world’: it may be just the gift you wished for. Unless you are taking a holiday in space, this earth is the provider of both your leisure and living. Same planet, possible new view.
For my recreation, generally it is the call of mountains, moorlands or marshes, but this year it has been the sea that seduced me into re-creation, to enjoy gifts that, until now, have eluded me. With blessings to earth, I am now off to the beach. Not to build castles in the air, or on shifting sand, but to honour the constant, and yet ever-changing view. Time and tide wait for no man – or woman!
With love, the energetic vibration of life,
Mary
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