For a long time I knew that I had a “black cloud hanging over my head.” I felt that bad luck always found me, storms always followed me, and “why is this always happening to me?” I was filled with frustration when things didn’t work out. It took a one-way ticket to the other side of the world to really change my mind and show me that it was a personal decision of how I reacted to the world.
Have you every really listened to life? Heard its subtle nuances? Gone with the flow and seen where it can take you?
Today, I know without any reason of a doubt that there is more than the physical embodiment to life, though I am more than happy to hear your interpretation and thoughts (ie. please feel free to comment below). My interpretation has boiled down to a sense of what I call Unity. I believe in God, though I believe God is a way for us to describe something that we have a hard time describing; connected-ness and collective conscious. I have experienced first-hand the coincidences, the perfection when you live in the flow. I have listened to what you might call the Holy Spirit; contemplated and meditated with Buddhists; prayed with Jehovah’s witnesses and Jews; read Sanskrit, and rocked out with snowboarding Christians. It is remarkable how similar the basic essence of beliefs are. Strip away the culture they are built in and the traditions formed over time to find the same skeletal structure seaking to explain life’s seemingly inexplicable. A search for truth, purpose, connected-ness and understanding.
One very important lesson I learned is that you are balancing your desires and needs with those of others around you. Sometimes your mission takes precedence, though most often, “You can’t stop what’s coming; it ain’t all waiting on you.” Frustration comes from being hell-bent on control. 90% of what happens to you and around you, you don’t truly have control over. You consciously have a say in life, but your subconscious is smarter than you and everyone else’s mind has a say too. I believe life (and you can call that subconscious, interconnectedness or God) gives you solid signs, it has an ebb and a flow for timing if you listen; the problem is that most of the time we do not listen. I am not advocating for the sake of giving yourself up entirely, but for balancing what is best between your desires and what is best for the whole. I am reminded of the Governing Dynamics scene of A Beautiful Mind:
It is hard to remember to listen, to calm the mind and the spirit today, but it is essential. The communication channel is there, waiting and open, but we forget (or have never learned) how to use it. I urge you to take the time to let the mud settle out of your mind. Constantly stirring a cup full of muddy water will keep it opaque; it is only by removing the spoon that we can clearly separate the dirt from the clear water. It takes time for the mind to settle, but whatever time you can afford it will afford you back.
When my mind is clear, even for a short while, I have a much better appreciation for what I have; and somehow my goals are always that much more straight-forward and clearly defined.
I have found that everything is not always going to be perfect, to think otherwise is erred judgement and delusional; so enjoy it when all is right in the world. Even when stuff doesn’t work out, there is still so much good in this world to be happy and thankful for.
“When you’re happy like a fool, let it take you over.”
OneRepublic – Good Life
Maybe we’re just so disconnected from reality as a generation, refusing to except what is in front of us, wanting to live in a dream world (digital or floating in the clouds). Everyone wants to share their story, be heard. But the good life is right in front of us, “please tell me what there is to complain about.”
Thank you for reading my back-road, dirt path, far from the information super highway blog.
I welcome your rebuttals, comments, criticisms, rants, and one word answers
a long as you accept mine in return 🙂
– Daniel S. Herr.
DanHerr.com 