Saturday, September 21, 2013

Off-Roading

The road I'm meant to be on is becoming more and more clear to me every day.  I know I'm on the right path, or road, when everything flows.  I feel a resonance within.  My relationships are ignited with conversation and a high level of quality.  I feel at peace with myself and the events happening in my life.  It doesn't matter what the events are.  I am able to observe the ebb and flow of life with a foundation of joy.  Even events that I've defined as stressful or down right traumatic are now defined as interesting opportunities for growth.

Off-Roading is another story.  I usually find myself off-roading once I've been going in the wrong direction for a bit.  Have you ever had the experience of driving someplace new, you unknowingly miss the exit you needed to take and you don't realize it until three or four exits later.  I've even looked at the exit numbers and thought that the numbers were counting down when they were actually going up.  This is a great example of my state of denial.  Of course I didn't miss the exit, the exit numbers are numbered incorrectly.

My first indication of being off road, is when my moods become more challenging.  My daily routines
feel more taxing and I'm just plain old unhappy.  Another way to describe it is that I become uneasy or I have dis-ease.  It is impossible to feel resonance inside when there is dis-ease.  The lack of ease blocks the flow and throws us off course even more.  I can sometimes go as far as getting angry at my discovery of off-roading, knowing that I am aware of the difference between being on my path and off-roading.  As if knowing the difference will automatically keep me from ever doing it again.

As frustrating as this may be, there is a blessing to off-roading.  Having the awareness of the difference between being on the right path and off-roading is important.  When we notice we are off course...and it doesn't matter how far off course we feel we are, we just self correct.  How exactly do we do that?  Well, I'll tell you.  First think back to when you were on course, things were going well and there was an ease to each moment.  What were you doing and how were you feeling?  Most of us have self-care routines and we can stay on course as long as our routines are in place.  For example, I exercise every morning and if I miss a day or two, I find myself a bit out of sorts.  If I go back to the basics of my self care routine, I create a U-turn and get back on my path.  Constant self correction is a good thing.  Our inner GPS will alert us if we go off course and if we pay attention, we can 'recalculate'.  If we ignore the alerts we'll be way off course.  Expect that self correction will be something we will do for as long as we are evolving, so be patient, compassionate and kind to yourself through it all.  There is no need to get hard on yourself or punish yourself, just recalculate and get back on course.

If we didn't have the experience of feeling uneasy when we go off course, we wouldn't have the opportunity to correct our direction and get back on our path.  In other words, years from now, we'd be very unhappy to find ourselves in Alaska when we were shooting for Hawaii.  Or...at least I would.  I don't like the cold.


Thanks for reading, forwarding and following!!!
Terri


No comments:

Post a Comment