This is exactly what will happen to you when you walk your one true path. There are going to be many moments when you find yourself smiling, laughing, skipping, dancing or singing for no other reasons than simply because you can, and simply because you feel like it. There will be moments when you feel such an up-welling of positive life energy, that people will look at you as if you are mad, and perhaps you are! After all, only mad people give up the normal daily grind of life to go off and follow their hearts in search of adventure, and to seek out true meaning for themselves - right? When you are on the path, even doing jobs that might be considered trivial, mundane, or even viewed as being beneath you back in the ordinary world, will become important and integral parts of your life and you'll face them with joy, gusto and happiness, rather than doing them begrudgingly or with a sense of resentment.
The first time I can recall experiencing this, was during my time in Malaysia. It must have been sometime around April 2006 and it had been perhaps five or six months since I had left my job working at IBM, where I had held several management positions. One morning, I was sweeping the sand off the decking of the dive centre where I was training to become a PADI Dive Master. I can remember vividly, looking along the arc of perfect white sand, lined with palm trees that was Long Beach, on the island of Kecil Perhentian. In this moment, I smiled and laughed to myself in the realisation that I had never been happier than right then and right there. I laughed to myself at how my life had changed so drastically in those few months. I had exchanged designer suits, shirts, silk ties and expensive shoes for a pair of board shorts. I had exchanged my daily commute through traffic for an easy walk along the beach. I had exchanged my office for a beach. And I had exchanged my laptop for a broom. This was the first time that I knew I was walking my one true path and I felt an up-welling of pure and simple joy that I was unable to prevent. It did not matter that I was only sweeping sand off of a decking, because sweeping sand was a necessary part of living my dream.
This joie de vivre permeates into everything that you do. It is like an infectious disease that will invade your body and mind and it will invade the fabric of your very soul. Whenever I am at work, or around the customers that come to scuba dive or snorkel with us, I become animated and alive. I smile and laugh a lot, I engage with them and take a personal interest in them and their enjoyment. I want to know where they come from and how it is there. I enjoy exchanging stories and anecdotes about places and experiences. I make silly jokes and I try to keep them entertained. I do not ever feel like I have to do this, or that I am working. I don't have to think about it. It comes naturally and I know it comes from within my soul. I do this for no other reason than because I feel alive and completely at one with my heart. I am unable to stop doing it because the energy and love that I feel inside of myself needs to flow out and be released back to the universe. When my heart sings, it is impossible not to sing along to its beat, to its rhythm and to its song.
It is not the same for every person who does the same job that I do now. Some people will find talking to customers difficult, they will view it as part of the job that needs to be done because ultimately, we are in the entertainment industry. They might resent that they have to lift heavy scuba tanks up and down the beach, sweep sand, or have to wash and rinse scuba gear at the end of each day's diving. And this job is not every person's dream job. I changed my life and discovered my own dream. I know what it is like to walk on the path that is not your own because I did that for thirty five years. But because this is my dream, when I am doing it, I feel completely at one with the universe.
There will always be moments and there will be days when things do not go so well. Even on the one true path you are still going to hit bumps in the road and suffer setbacks. This is the inevitability of life. Without setbacks we can never learn the lessons that are necessary to progress in life and to evolve our spirits. My life has not always been easy. In fact, I would never describe it as easy. It is too easy to look at someone who seems to always carry a positive outlook in life and to think that they had it easy, or that they have always enjoyed good fortune. This will never be the truth. I suffered when I was young from being overweight and all of the problems associated with it and as I have written in previous blogs, I still carry those scars with me to this day. However, I no longer recall that I was overweight or relive the days of suffering from teasing in the school yard. What I choose to remember is that I had the strength to change my life and to do something about my physical appearance. That taught me an incredibly valuable lesson: that I was able to accomplish anything that I put my mind to and I possessed the inner strength to change. I have spent much of my adult life alone and without the love of a partner or companion on my journey. That still causes me a lot of anguish and I wonder often about whether I will ever find that special person to share my life with. There are times when I think about how alone I have been, or how much time I have lived without the love of someone special in my life and I cry. But I tell myself that she will come when I am ready, she will come when I reach that point along my path. I have moments during my working day when I need to deal with difficult situations or with difficult people. I have a boss and just like all bosses, he can be a jerk at times and leave you wondering what is going on. In my old life, even the smallest of setbacks could quickly snowball into something much bigger. Each setback seemed to add to the previous and it could sometimes seem like an endless stream of them. I would torment myself about being alone and without love in my life. I would struggle to understand my purpose in life and I would ask myself why was I even here? My life held no real meaning for me. It was so easy to be pushed off course and to become lost in the dark void of despair.
All of that changed as soon as I began to walk my one true path. Now, even if I suffer a setback, I am easily able to deal with it. I either fix the problem or, if I am unable to fix it, I quickly move on and leave it behind. I have a balance and a centre of gravity within my soul that was completely lacking before. Even when I suffer a major setback, such as my recent relationship break-up and the loss of love, I am able to deal with it, without it causing me huge amounts of sorrow and pain. In my old life, I would fall into darkness. I would be lost in a chasm of sorrow. So how am I now able to do maintain my joy in life and my positivity even though I still suffer setbacks? Simply because by walking my one true path, I have found an inner peace and stability that did not exist previously. I know that when I am on my path, doing what it is that I love to do, I feel the joy and happiness of which I wrote in the preceding paragraphs. That is my core. That is what gives me my belief and faith in the universe. Walking my one true path makes me so incredibly happy, it is almost impossible to feel any other emotion. That is not to say that I do not. It is just that any negative emotions seems to fall away, like the droplets of water sliding off a duck's back. They try to stick to me but they are unable to do so any longer. My happiness cannot be contained. My happiness cannot be dented. My happiness cannot be stopped. As long as I stay true to my heart and continue to walk my one true path.
I walk my one true path and because I do so, everything becomes one. I am immersed in love. I walk in the light. And when I do, I know that I am part of the miracle of life and the universe. And at the centre of the universe can be found the most simple thing. At the centre of the universe there is just one word written. And that word is love.
_________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment