A Changed Perspective

You know those times in your life when you look up at the sky, take a deep breath, and feel in your soul of souls that everything is how it should be?

Those small moments, no matter how brief, are what keep me going through life. Those moments are what help me realize that everything really, truly is going to be okay.

Regardless of where my life is trying to take me, you can bet that if it's not where I consciously want it to go, I will be fighting tooth and nail against the current, trying to keep my head above the waves. Even if I have to stop and tread water for awhile, I will fight it. But sometimes the universe just says "NO. THIS IS NOT WHERE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE HEADED, YOU IDIOT. STOP." And it stop me. Just like that.

My job is not to know where I'm being taken. My job is not to make my own path. My job is to let doors open for me, to let things happen. To take the ups and downs.

 

Just go with the flow...

When I was a kid, growing up in south Florida, we were taught that if you're swimming at the beach and you get caught in an undertow, you have to let it carry you. You CANNOT fight against it because you will tire yourself out and you can easily get yourself farther inside the current. 

It is not my job to know what is coming next, and honestly, if I did, how boring would that be?

All we need is to understand that we don't know right now. We can't know right now. And that's okay. Life is supposed to be shitty and breathtaking and exhilarating and not at all boring.

Life would be such a yawn if we didn't have the twists and turns and ups and downs and trials and heartbreak and everything that makes us human and everything that makes these lives into stories... then we can look back on our lives and say with pride, "I rocked that". 

Why do all of our frustrations and sad times have to be our be-all-end-all, and why do they always rub off on other people? Why can't we all look up at the same sky and realize that we ALL go through these hard times? We all go through trying times. We all have our heart broken once or five times. And we all wish things were different at some point. You wish you were skinny, or had muscle tone, or ate better, or ran faster, or had nicer clothes, or owned a car, etc. We are so often more focused on what we want in the physical world that we are blind to everything we do have. Your car is old? You have one. Your apartment is too small? If it's too small, it means you have so many possessions that you live large. You don't have much money? Well, you have some, now, don't you?

We all look at someone in a magazine or walking down the street, or maybe you personally know the person whose life you would love to live. Envy is a dangerous, all-too-common emotion. But if you think about it, that person who you look up to has a life they would rather live, or at least an aspect of it that they would trade for. But it's usually physical. Material. Disposable. Replaceable. What about the stuff we want on the inside?

Often what we don't see on the outside is what is the most important on the inside. 

Our heart. Our brain. Our nervous system. 

Our emotions. Our childhood. Our permanent bruises. Metal rods. Anxiety. The memory of a scent. Cancer.

We often wish things were different. But there is always someone out there who wishes they had your exact life, or at least large parts of it. 

Because we're human, often what we only see in ourselves is the flaws, the struggles, etc.

So, live like the person you want to be. Be gracious, thankful, forgiving, kind, courageous. Because in the end, what matters is not the new iPhone, the red sports car, the Michael Kors watch, the fancy handbag or shoes or whatever your physical self desires.

Your job is not to worry about getting this or that ... it's to not worry. It's to trust. To trust the universe, your God, your angels, fate, whatever word you want to assign to it. Trust that you are going through experiences for the sake of the experience.

You are exactly where you are meant to be at this moment.

Trust it.