Inspiraelevation

There are so many lessons to learn on our journey upon earth. Some lessons we learn the easy way and some come the hard way.  One thing is certain, those lessons we fail to learn from others we learn from life.  As it has oft been quoted and well reasoned, while life is the best teacher, life is also a hard schoolmaster.

“Experience, that is the most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.” -C.S. Lewis

Those lessons that we learn from living, stick with us for a long time.

The bumps and bruises of experience etch those lessons deep into our soul’s rendering them ones that we will not soon forget.

Presence

One of the most important lessons that one will learn from life experience is the importance of time, and being present.

Time passes so quickly that many fail to stop and take notice. Most people only realize the outcome of millions of decisions made over accumulated time. In fact,  one would be amazed at the number of changes that occur during the seconds, minutes, hours, and days of a year.  In fact, the number is so astronomical that one would be in perpetual awe if they were to sit, meditate, and think on such.

Life altering things are happening in our lives every second.

To think that there are 31,536,000 seconds in the frame of a year.  This is unfathomable, especially when thinking about time relative to the number of decisions that are being made each year. It is truly eye-opening.

When thinking about decision-making many only think of the more complex decisions that are made on a daily basis. The other more minute decisions which also shape the outcome of our lives are less often considered. Such thoughts do not occupy much space in one’s thought life.

These decisions work together to form the miraculous nature of our present and are worthy of purposeful contemplation.

Life satisfaction begins with mindfulness.

It is often the failure to choose mindfulness that leads to some of life’s most poignant lessons

Every now and then we are awakened, and we are forced to become present.   We experience something so significant in our lives that all else ceases to exist, and we are forced to come face to face with time,  fragility, mortality, and the relative scope of our lives, which is a mere microcosm of life in the big scheme of things.

It is in those times of intense and sudden change, that we are given to the contemplation of the importance of being present (aware), Present (aware) of time down to even a fragment of a second.

For it is within seconds that life is created, that the loved one we cherished and may have lost ceases to breathe, that the war that we may be fighting began, and the love and relationships we may be now experiencing begins, ends, or mends.

In a blink of an eye;

Life is shaped, formed, repaired and destroyed

 

A very few seconds can change our lives in meaningful ways, forever. That is why being present is important.

 

Be mindful, live in, use, and fully experience your present.

The more present we are the less worry, anxiety, and fear we have.

A wise person said that anxiety stems from spending too much time thinking about the future and far too much time dwelling in the past.

 

As often as you can, remind yourself of the significance of time, and let that remind you of where you are and the importance of now.

 

 

We all have a vision of how we see the world.

 

That vision is a carefully crafted ideal that we have been taught to develop. It is our image of a perfect life lived by our perfect selves, and it becomes our mission, whether advertently or inadvertently, to reach that standard.  While for some that carefully crafted vision is a stepping stone to achievement for other it is a weighted anchor.

Failure to measure up, obtain, or simply missing our ideal fosters feelings of dejection or unworthiness,  casting constant shadows.  Despite what many tell themselves, living in the shadow of un-fulfillment binds.  The stigma that is associated with not measuring up fetters the spirit.

This piece is especially for those who struggle with feelings of incompleteness or un-fulfillment.

This is for those stuck in an in-between state with feelings of failure or inferiority.

 You don’t have to stay there, you can be free. 

 Lessons on dreaming and achieving are commonplace, as this has been drilled into most from childhood up. I’m sure it easy to recall such questions as;

• What do you want to be when you grow up?
• Where do you see yourself in 5, 10, 15 years?
•  What is your ideal body shape, career, companion,  or life?

I’m sure it is equally easy to recall the pressure that came along with crafting an answer. Perhaps you can recall being driven by the fear of condemnation powered by your uncertainty. Those monumental questions served as the first blueprints for a mastered and successful life and directed your choices and decisions from that point forward.

Essentially, there was nothing wrong with these questions or the premise that these questions were tools that taught us steps to achievement. As Robert Browning once said, “Ah, a man’s reach should exceed his grasp…”, meaning we cannot hope to achieve that beyond which we reach for. However, the instruction was one-sided. One of the most elemental lessons went untaught; living life in the in-between.

Life in the In-between

Life in the in-between is a life filled with dreams and ideals not fully realized, a state where one is always in the process of reaching but not yet achieving. Unfortunately, many of us live life at this stage, but yet have never been taught how to fully live at this stage or how to answer such questions as;

• What if I fail to achieve that which I dreamt?
• What if I never reach my ideal body shape or meet my ideal companion?
• What if I am not the measure of the man or woman I once desired to be?

How does one survive a life of almosts and in-between’s?

The world is full of inconsistencies and inequities. Life is complicated, and we are flawed beings living a flawed existence.   It is quite difficult to measure up to an imperfect standard in an imperfect world.  Quite naturally many will not fulfill ideals set.

I believe such sentiment drove Langston Hughes, famed author of  poem Harlem,  to once pose the question, “What becomes of dreams deferred?”

Assuredly not all dreams, “sugar over like a syrupy sweet,” some, in fact, many, “fester like  sores or stink like rotten meat and a great many sag like heavy loads.”

But that’s okay.

If you are living a life of in-between’s and almost’s, don’t be too hard on yourself.

Let this in no way diminish your life,  value, or ability to live a joyful existence.  Therefore, if you never reach the ideal put forth understand that some things are not meant to be no matter how bad you want or work for them. That does not make you a failure or incompetent. You are not lesser because of this. You must rather learn to live a fulfilled life in spite of this.

Play the cards you are dealt and play them with panache.

 

True masters learn to skillfully play the hand they are dealt and still win. 

This is not a lesson easily accepted. The hardest thing for one to do is to let go of what might have been, should have been, or should be,  and embrace what is. However, true fulfillment comes from recognizing and accepting life as it comes, and failure to do so results in a life of abject unhappiness.

Beauty is and always will be in the possibility. The most joyful moments are crafted in the process of living not in the obtaining. When it gets the toughest say a little prayer for understanding

This world is full of people striving, trying, working, and pushing to achieve; to excel.

You are not the only one.

As an unfortunate part of life there are situations and circumstances that make succeeding difficult. You may have the unfortunate task of climbing gargantuan mountains to reach your goal while others are positioned at the front of the queue.

You may have been born under concrete with poverty as an unwelcome bedfellow.

No matter where you are, or where you come from, you must realize that you have to want it to win it.

No one can push you or prod you to achieve.

No one can do it for you.

You have to do it on your own.

You have to give it everything you got.

Others can desire and do only so much for you.

You may have some amazing people in your corner who do all they can to make your dreams possible.

They may set you up with the right connections, get you to the right places, and offer overwhelming support.

Only you can take the opportunities.

Only you can brush yourself off and keep trying.

You have got to want it more than anything if you wish to achieve it.

Remember you are never alone. Anything is possible; if you work, trust, and believe you can achieve.

 

 

When you decide.

When you make the choice.

When it is evident by your walk, talk, your every breath.

When you have fully come to an understanding that you are purposed and internalize that this is it,

and your heart, mind, and spirit sing in unison.

When you have nowhere to go but forward.

When everything within you moves you and everything without bears witness.

Life whispers to you.

Inspiration elevates you to put away what you once were and to walk towards becoming all that you were destined to be,

THIS is where transformation begins.

THIS is the point in time when you begin to shed the chrysalis that has been cocooning you for so long.

You can stand and behold that which you are about to walk into because all old things are now passed away and with your new vision, you can behold that all things have become new.

” I believe but help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

 

Looking ahead and accepting change that will bring about transformation requires faith; a determined belief that things will work out for our good.  It requires letting go of the past and letting go of those things, which no longer benefit you.

Thus, moving toward greatness requires that you “Lay aside every weight, which does so easily detract and distract you”(Hebrews 12:1).

Choose to live unfettered.

Sometimes that means letting go of people, places, habits, and things that you hold dear.

That is not an easy thing to do.

For though we say we believe, there sometimes remain pockets of unbelief, un-surety, timidity, and hesitance.

It doesn’t matter that everything within you and without is saying let go, I got you, and this is your time.

We have a hard time of letting go and believing.

However,  in order for transformation to occur; we have to give up crawling.

One simply can not fly grounded or without wings. One has to sprout wings and then decide to fly.

In other words, receiving that which awaits you requires releasing that which you now hold in your grasp and moving forward and onward towards the promise.

Come to terms with the fact that the time to walk through the door, although you cannot see what is within, is now.

Thus, my hope for you today is that you look forward to what is to come.

That God will help your unbelief.

My hope is that you will boldly answer the door when all that you have worked on and all that God has done within you to prepare you, intersect at opportunity’s knock.

I also hope that you will be free in body and mind; and that your hands are outstretched so that you can grasp what is yours.

And finally, It is my sincerest hopes that there will be no anchors or fetters which disallow you to use your wings.