The Boulder

When your heart is open and you try and live life with inner intent and soul searching serenity…you come upon many chances to discover something new about yourself. 

I have always seen this journey as a path, a path where I am moving forward.  I imagine a quiet dirt path, meandering its way through a tall wooded grove with sunlight streaming through the leaves searching for contact with the underbrush.

In a recently hard episode in my life - I felt that my journey became a shambles and I wasn't strong enough to stay on the path.   This recent incident derailed my journey for a couple of days, but with the insight of my close friend and confidant Erica - she reminded me of some very important thoughts. 

She so kindly said "I have not fallen off track but rather my journey is still happening and the episode is part of the journey."  Visualize the episode as a boulder that has been placed on the track and it has halted your forward progress.   It is true, my lack of forward motion made me feel stifled and congested in my thoughts.

"Use the boulder as an opportunity to learn something about yourself."

Her words resonated.  When I realized I hadn't fallen off track, and the many years of aspiring to be true to my core self weren't as fragile as I imagined…..I was enlightened and heartened.  I no longer felt off track, frazzled or like a failure.  Instead the boulder was a gift, an opportunity to look within, to halt, to reevaluate the path.   If we could all look at what is halting our journey with a soft heart, we would have some wonderful lessons to learn.  

She mentioned there is no way to go through the boulder or ignore it.  If I wanted to keep moving forward on my path I needed to address it, meditate on it. Accept it as a chance to grow.

Basically, in order to begin forward motion again the boulder needed to be moved and to move it I needed to shower it with my deeper understanding and love.   To find this I would have to meditate on the boulder, but first get to know it's size, weight, structure.  Then during the meditation - focus on what the boulder is, why it is there and how it could be moved with love through a singular focus.  To move it without an offensive measure but with tenderness.

This meditation had amazing results and gave me calm, strength, and highlighted my true essence, which ultimately lead me to the idea of how to move this boulder.  My resultant answer on how to move this particular boulder was genuine and came to me with insight, love, tenderness and giving.  I also meditated and envisioned how it would be received by the other person and hoped it would be felt the way in which it was meant to be.

I learned a lot about myself during this recent episode.   For one, I was reminded that all boulders give us a chance to stop and reevaluate our path, and if soft hearted we have the chance to learn some wonderful lessons.

Feeling eternally grateful for the episode, the guidance and the chance to address that boulder with love and focus.  I am a better, stronger person for it.