It was a chill yet bright Sunday morning. I had re-fueled my soul with a long sudarshan kriya, but returned home with a head ache (all the accumulated stress and depression surfacing to leave me).
For hike lovers (I don't call hikers as they are a few notches serious compared to 'hike lovers'), a non-rainy weekend is an opportunity, so two of my friends decided we go hiking. Even though I wanted to stay back home and rest out my headache (and more so be with my sadness), they forced me along with them. I was in that state where I refused a couple of times, after which you don't have the energy to even refuse. So I tagged along.
I was short of breath even before we started the hike. That's how low in energy I was, even though I had recently run a marathon and maintained a fairly active lifestyle. That's what a broken heart, and being so tied to one's own emotions can do.
The hike kept getting worse as I took each step up the steep mountain. It was as if my mind, thoughts, their weight, and the heaviness in the heart were all coming down at me, making each step as hard as lifting a rock!
I decided to take a break after I saw the first bench on the trail at a 1.7 mile mark. My friends were just warmed up, so I asked them to continue with the tempo. Had they stayed any longer with me, I would have pulled them down with my energy. So they went ahead and I placed this heavy rock (myself) on the bench.
As I sat there, not alone, but accompanied with flashes from the past, emotions, pain, and multitude of thoughts, I observed them all, and soon before I realized I started meditating and fell 'asleep', so I thought. Woke up after about 30-40 minutes of wandering away in trance, nothingness, emptiness, don't know, can't put a word to it. Magically I regained strength and decided to start climbing again.
Each patch of up-hill felt like the challenges in my Life. As I hiked past each one of them, slowly, steadily, at times stopping to catch up on breath and strength, I couldn't help but think of how similar this was to hiking past all obstacles in Life.
I came across other people hiking up the same mountain. Some breezing past me across the up-hills, clearly having trained themselves for it for long now; some of them matching my pace; and some much slower than me. But all trying to get past the up-hills and get up there...
After reaching the top, it was beautiful and peaceful. I could see the view from top, and the uphills vanished. They didn't look like uphills any more and I smiled. The silence filled up everything, it completed everything. I sat there for good 20 minutes. And then it was time to head back. You can't stay on top forever, can't hold onto any moment forever. They all have to pass. You are what remains same through all those moments.
As I was hopping, skipping, running down-hill, happy with myself, it occurred to me that I could never experience the peace and silence at the top and the wind breezing through me while coming downhill, if I hadn't endured the up-hills. They became my strength. No matter how long I took, how slowly I climbed past them, what mattered is I didn't give up.
Oh and yes, I came across my two friends as I was on my way up. They were making their way back down. They were so happy to see me there. One of them decided to re-climb the last patch with me to the top. God always knows when we need help and sends strength.
The high times in Life are a blessing, the low times are a greater blessing! They break you to recreate you - a You with refined knowledge and strength, ready to climb the next uphill.
Situations and People in our Life that are not as we desire, are nothing but an uphill to help increase our strength, a blessing, giving us an opportunity to refine ourselves. Knowledge resides in us when we experience it. Meditation lets us tap into our infinite potential, awakens our consciousness, and we act then with awareness. Knowledge of the unchanging Truth, Friends, Love, and a Smile on the face makes you sail through Life.
For hike lovers (I don't call hikers as they are a few notches serious compared to 'hike lovers'), a non-rainy weekend is an opportunity, so two of my friends decided we go hiking. Even though I wanted to stay back home and rest out my headache (and more so be with my sadness), they forced me along with them. I was in that state where I refused a couple of times, after which you don't have the energy to even refuse. So I tagged along.
I was short of breath even before we started the hike. That's how low in energy I was, even though I had recently run a marathon and maintained a fairly active lifestyle. That's what a broken heart, and being so tied to one's own emotions can do.
The hike kept getting worse as I took each step up the steep mountain. It was as if my mind, thoughts, their weight, and the heaviness in the heart were all coming down at me, making each step as hard as lifting a rock!
I decided to take a break after I saw the first bench on the trail at a 1.7 mile mark. My friends were just warmed up, so I asked them to continue with the tempo. Had they stayed any longer with me, I would have pulled them down with my energy. So they went ahead and I placed this heavy rock (myself) on the bench.
As I sat there, not alone, but accompanied with flashes from the past, emotions, pain, and multitude of thoughts, I observed them all, and soon before I realized I started meditating and fell 'asleep', so I thought. Woke up after about 30-40 minutes of wandering away in trance, nothingness, emptiness, don't know, can't put a word to it. Magically I regained strength and decided to start climbing again.
Each patch of up-hill felt like the challenges in my Life. As I hiked past each one of them, slowly, steadily, at times stopping to catch up on breath and strength, I couldn't help but think of how similar this was to hiking past all obstacles in Life.
I came across other people hiking up the same mountain. Some breezing past me across the up-hills, clearly having trained themselves for it for long now; some of them matching my pace; and some much slower than me. But all trying to get past the up-hills and get up there...
As I was hopping, skipping, running down-hill, happy with myself, it occurred to me that I could never experience the peace and silence at the top and the wind breezing through me while coming downhill, if I hadn't endured the up-hills. They became my strength. No matter how long I took, how slowly I climbed past them, what mattered is I didn't give up.
Oh and yes, I came across my two friends as I was on my way up. They were making their way back down. They were so happy to see me there. One of them decided to re-climb the last patch with me to the top. God always knows when we need help and sends strength.
The high times in Life are a blessing, the low times are a greater blessing! They break you to recreate you - a You with refined knowledge and strength, ready to climb the next uphill.
Situations and People in our Life that are not as we desire, are nothing but an uphill to help increase our strength, a blessing, giving us an opportunity to refine ourselves. Knowledge resides in us when we experience it. Meditation lets us tap into our infinite potential, awakens our consciousness, and we act then with awareness. Knowledge of the unchanging Truth, Friends, Love, and a Smile on the face makes you sail through Life.
Good Idea! I can go hiking and check if I can get into a trance... That would be so cool! What happened to Germany trip?
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