Pathway Back

We can find time to appreciate. We can clear our minds of future expectation. Life is a sea of opportunity, each wave passing over us with cycles of low and high – trough and peak – to listen then speak – to learn then present.

Appreciation is up to us. Recognize the power you have to promote someone else’s hopes and dreams, for you are part of their experience. You are some component of the force that propagates their waves. They are part of yours.

In each moment, we have the responsibility of choice – the choice to accept and engage with our presented destiny, where we begin to understand that our perception is the product of our moments as well as our reflection and appreciation for these individualized lessons in this life; or the decision to mitigate responsibility and mindfulness, turning our backs on ourselves and our ability to progress into the heights of our potential.

The morning light brightens us all, but the choice to rise is mine alone.

Being in the moment, leavening your performance by removing distractions. So many of us wish to find focus to take on our ambitions, yet rarely do we feel cognitively refined in a way we expect.

The secret to focus is that it comes from beginning. The hardest part of any task is starting, overcoming our duality; our subconscious obstacles nagging us to take it easy, to pursue recreation, to relax when we recognize that there is a desire somewhere else within to get something done.

Disregarding temptation opens the gates of opportunity. Like a failing dam, a trickle of current grows stronger as it breaks down the walls. Eventually, that stream becomes a river. Getting involved is the only way forward. Everything around us is dynamic. How can we expect to initiate change if we aren’t willing to be the arbiters of our own experience?

We can sit around all our lives waiting for the moment to feel right, or we can make this moment work.

Like so many before us, we find ourselves living in a time of civil dispute. This culture war is not inherent. We do not naturally hate each other or cast judgement when we are in harmony. Some things are influencing our society.

I love my neighbor, as I believe all would had we all been blessed with a warm community. We are molded by our experience, and many of us have experienced depraving moments.

Why isn’t everyone involved with resource allocation focused on ensuring positive upbringings and fostering healthy environments? Why don’t we prioritize forever compassionate settings? Why do we individually give into frustrations and vice? We know we lead ourselves astray, we recognize we can do better. Something is pulling us towards corruption, but we can walk away.

Language, structure and art are limited forms of expressing thought and intention. Do we really believe it is possible to put an individual’s exact mental state into words from a language limited in vocabulary. Our perceptions are infinitely variable, unbound by the limits of speech and characters.

When we read testimony that has been translated, it is important for the sake of intellectual honesty that we not put our trust in the literal words, but trust in our intuition of what the author has been quoted. We can extend translations to numerous languages and check their resulting translations to English. We can assess the phonetic similarities and attempt to make sense of the shared synonyms across related languages.

Without trust in language itself, which should be the standard approach to antiquated testimony, we should rely upon collections of similar claims. Consistent dialogue from numerous sources reveals validity in history.

This is particularly noticed in the study of reoccurring petroglyphs highlighted by Dr. Anthony Peratt’s work. The similarities in form recorded across the entire planet by artists assumed to be from completely isolated civilizations is evidence that there was a shared experience by all man. A picture speaks a thousand words, and those pictures speak the same words.

“Self-control is the highest virtue, and wisdom is to speak truth and consciously act according to nature”

Heraclitus

As a coach I have many conversations with my athletes regarding sacrifice and commitment. They recognize that to achieve their best, they need to practice self control and sacrifice the things in their life they view as unworthy temptations. This microcosm of athletics is an ideal analog to the rest of our pursuits.

Heraclitus is quoted stating that self control is the highest virtue. Virtue is the embodiment of our character within our actions. We are the best versions of ourselves when we act as consistent agents, choosing not to withhold from service to each other or the best course for ourselves. The struggle against temptation is undoubtedly a key aspect of the human experience. The ability to resist allows man to logically and intuitively (if they truly are separate) perceive our situation and plan against our animalistic desires. Acting virtuously is to offer your best self to the world, and to be open to receiving the best things in return. The satisfaction of aid is above all else.

Life offers us opportunities, not prizes. We live life for the experience, not the result. The result is but an instance; once achieved we realize there is more life to live, more experience to gain, more perception to develop and more moments to appreciate. We attribute the meaning the moment, we place value in the result. We derive such attachment through the efforts taken to arrive, and the moments of revelation along the way. Let us not spend all our psyche focused on the end, for that is a shallow life to live.

“Losing love is like a window in your heart“

Paul Simon

We are all graced by experience and the chance to take on the learning of life’s lessons. My heart was swept away by a whirlwind, but what a blessing it was to have known and lost. It is in our extremes that we learn what we are made of, where we reveal aspects of ourselves that are seldom engaged with. To be enlightened to the colors of our character is a wonder, and we should appreciate those who draw them to our attention.

I choose revelation, for I wish to know who I am.

Here with you, I cherish. Moments are fleeting, so I try not to look beyond. I like being here where life is good, as it is supposed to be.

“Its sons have the love of unsung excellence: their hearts and bodies derive strength from a massiveness that is slow to move, whilst in their faces dwells the boy-god Love.”

Manilius

November came with Zeus near Aldebaran. The last period of significant revelation I experienced was when Mars’ quest brought it between the bull’s horns. Affirmations emanate from the luminaries. The stars streak at my request.

Righteous Passion, Just Desire

To all I have wronged, all I have lost, all I have frustrated, all who’s happiness I have cost, and all I have hurt,

I’m sorry for the turmoil I wrought.

You are who I shared the moment with in my most defining times. You have been the greatest teachers of my most important lessons. I see not means to an end, I recognize the wealth of wisdom and opportunity for reflection you have provided.

I see you and your place among the fair. I notice your ambitions and love and desires in this life as being the most worthy they could be. Your confidence deserves nourishment, your person deserves support. How wrong I was in the moment to be an obstacle in your path forward.

Though I believe all is good and right which has passed, I want to tell you I will forever feel the weight of my past.

You deserve the world and all its wonders.

Thank you for fulfilling my life and bringing me to the light.

We are that which we practice. Our bodies become efficient at what we spend time doing. Our minds become confident in what we consistently engage with. If we want to become better people, we must incorporate better actions.

We will never become the person we want to be before taking on the qualities and practices of that individual. Rather, we must adopt the regimen of such a hero. We must begin doing what that person would do, eventually recognizing that we embody the image we once desired to be.

That person is not a different you. They are not someone you force yourself to be. That vision is of yourself being who you were meant to become, the real you. We all have something great to offer to the world. We all can strip down our pride and resistances to find the light within that beckons us to keep searching for who we can be.

If we desire to take control of our ambitions, we must take on full responsibility for ourselves.

To grasp this will-power we must find acceptance and appreciation for all that we are. Who we are is nothing short of all the moments, decisions, interactions and outcomes at every point in time throughout our lives. Every obstacle has had meaning, every laugh a glimpse of bliss. You are the only you possible at this moment. If you want to control this destiny, you must be willing to accept your entire self. You must lessen feelings of regret, of dissatisfaction and frustration, for appreciation for the contrast in where you are and what you desire to be is fundamentally the vision that will drive you to become a being of higher state.

How could you hope to take on and navigate your entire self if you are resistive to embracing all that you are? The parts of you seldom investigated must be considered and their weighted attributes dissolved.

To rise and fall… chasing the heights of experience is often accompanied by worries of regression away from the peak. We all recognize balance as an integral part of our lives. We are anxious of the common thought that the higher you climb, the farther you fall.

Yet we should not be overwhelmed by such anxiety. Our progress has no promise of being matched by stumble. Only when we entrust pride in our ‘accomplishments’ do we begin to limit ourselves. We are not the material we’ve gathered, we are not the goals we have attained. We are inherently worthy from the moment we begin.

The nagging voice of looming failure remains in our ear until we remove our sense of worth and pride from the moment. We deserve to find foundation in our person from the perspective of eternity, recognizing that our love comes from within, not in the capture of some sensation.

In times of internal struggle, batting against worries of disaster, the best practice is to lift your psyche above the pendulum, beyond the swing of emotions. Find a place of bliss where you remind yourself of the best aspects of yourself and your experiences. Find a lighter, brighter headspace that makes you smile. Don’t feel pressed to engage in the turmoil, it can work itself out without your attention.

We deserve the world. We deserve to enjoy the heights we’ve reached, and to enthusiastically venture onward without being weighed down by fear. Life asks us to have faith in ourselves, and the unknowable nature of the future is what makes it all worth it in the end.

This physical journey is bound by highs and lows, bliss and fear, love and grief. All of these times are for a reason, they all craft us into who we will be. It’s human to be critical of the difficult moments, just as we all have affinity for when it’s easy.

The warm glow of hope sits high beyond our fears. Like the sun, we can trust that its provision will light our days. Somedays we bask in its beauty, some we find clarity obscured behind obstacles in our minds. We have the ability to rise beyond the swing of our extremes. We can search for the strength to be patient and trusting, to have faith.

Let us not wear ourselves with fear of frustration. Instead, let’s be excited for the wonder that awaits.

Being present in this instance is the way. Hopes and dreams are the key. Appreciation for the endearing is the answer.

I hope to spend my days atop the summit of experience I now know.

The current of time provides the avenues of our ventures. We may find the ability to soar beyond the bounds of the sea, yet most of us find ourselves, most of the time, within the confines of our personal vessel.

We can choose to steer the ship, to determine our ideal path through the waters we find ourselves in. Yet the seas will always throw in the unpredictable. Bracing for impact is giving in to the anxiety which accompanies our lack of control of the future. Why tense over what has yet to happen? When we shrink with fear we limit ourselves from taking in all light available to us, all revelation in the moment.

We are capable of conquering the situation at hand. We can recognize our deficits once we arrive and then deal with the obstacles once they are in front of us. We do not know exactly what hurdles will present themselves, how intense their provided frustration will be, or how we will solve the puzzle until we are there, so why fill our minds with anxiety when we could use that energy to be here, now.

Refrain from bracing for impact. The future is meant to be hidden.

“Destiny… is not arbitrary, but acquired. Every man makes his own Fate; and nothing is truer than the saying that “Character is Destiny.” For that which in one existence is Will, becomes in the next Fate.”

– Anna Kingsford –

We are not the subjects of action, of our own or another’s, lest we choose to be. Destiny presents the field of opportunity. Our Will, our agency, determines the route.

Where we lead ourselves is our Fate. Karma is the balance, where we veer from the temptation of righteous Providence before deciding to act anew, not for the sake of redemption, but through the gradience of our character towards the hue of the soul.

Being at peace with progress removes the weight of indignancy, allowing space for us to accept the vigor to become more.