Your Excuses are the Gateway to Growth
Only two things do I actually know, one of those is that I will die, perhaps even this afternoon, because my when is delegated to the unknown, which is what gives its’ power. Not knowing our expiration date is the urgency, the intrigue, the mystery, and the inspiration to fully experience the only other thing that I actually know, which is that I am alive in this now moment.
When my dad transitioned from his physical body into the essence of all that is, I was confronted with the stark realization that the Andrea of this physicality, with her swirling kimonos and dreadlocks and bare feet, she will not always exist. She has been given this here and now to feel her aliveness amongst your aliveness and the planet earth’s aliveness.
Our willingness to feel our aliveness is the way that we will determine our joy or our misery. Now hold the phone, this is so important, I will state it again, we can determine our joy or our misery. I would go so far as to say not only can we determine our joy, it is our responsibility or maybe even our purpose to do so. Perhaps the word joy is a trigger, or you are rolling your eyes and believing that joy is only for sale at Neiman Marcus or hidden in an ashram in India. And it very well might be, if that’s where you are, because your joy is only wherever you are. Or maybe you have been convinced that joy is only for other people because other people don’t have your problems. Problems of which can be exploited as convenient excuses or employed as gateways of growth. So what if we re-defined joy as: the journey of you. So now we can free ourselves from all of the fuzzballs that may have been stuck on any previous notion of what is joy.
If we whole heartedly dedicate ourself to joy, to being alive for the journey of ourself, then the belief of what the journey is supposed to be like can begin to dissolve into the background. Now we can concentrate on finding the foothold of the particular rock we may be standing on, or choose backstroke instead of breast stroke so as to experience the ocean and the sky all at the same time. And yes, there will be waves, some might even wash us ashore, but it is in the waves that joy is fertilized. The waves are our best joyguru. It is here where we learn how to willingly participate and proficiently navigate the ups and the downs. Here we may even discover the downs aren’t so down when we choose to open our eyes underwater and willingly explore the feeling of suffocation or the turbulence of sand and seaweed smashed in our faces. This teaches us to come up for air when we need it and that seaweed is actually tasty AND nutritious to boot! When we choose the journey, when we choose to commit to being alive before all else, then all of our so called problems become simply another wave to ride in joy because we have prioritized the journey over the job or the marriage or the whatever the hell else we have allowed to dictate the essence of our days.
This means we must sincerely commit and resolutely re-commit to pack our satchel with our two knowns, our expiration and our aliveness. Only then can joy overwhelm us with her rich delicacies interlaced with belly laughs and tears, smiles and eye gazes. Good and bad, like and dislike will fade into irrelevancy as we begin to understand that it is the depth of our engagement with what is today that correlates directly to the quality of what we get to journey tomorrow. We can live as slaves to other peoples ideas or we can live as the grand ushers of joy. Avoidance or participation, numbness or feeling, misery or joy, slave or superhero…..how will you choose to journey this actual moment of which you get to be alive?
Thank you, thank you, and thank you one more time. Where you “pay” your attention matters, and the fact that you chose to engage with my musings on life will absolutely never cease to amaze me. May you feel all of your aliveness and all of the glory of you and this crazy ride called life.
Blessings and Namaste,
Andrea Dawn
