Kissiah Young, MSW

What road do we travel before we arrive at our own knowing--that life is more than the cycle, the routine, and the default patterns that we have allowed to consume us, to become so much a part of who we are that we have forgotten ourselves. What of your soul have you forgotten that your essence is hidden? You cannot see the truth of your being, yet it is still there resting in its truth. Some things cannot be changed, cannot be tainted, cannot be destroyed only hidden to the eye of the unconscious one. You can awaken. In any moment you can open your eyes to a consciousness beyond what you have before practiced. You do not have to continue down this path undesired, sleepwalking inside of a nightmare that you have convinced yourself is a dream. When do you exhale into your own truth? At what point do you walk the path of authenticity choosing your own voice, your higher self, and journey on into a day unlike the days before? Is not the moment all there is, or have you forgotten that, too, choosing instead to hang on to the past or worry about some time later? Where are you in the present? Where are your thoughts and what joy have you found at your core? There is no honor in misery and suffering is a choice. Your pain is real. Your suffering does not have to be. Where along the road have you walked where with each step you set yourself free from the trappings of thought? How cluttered your mind when you dance inside of things of the lower realm. When do you choose to encounter life’s high vibration? At what point do you open yourself up exposing the cracks that the sun might show its face, healing you? The exhale is just as important as the inhale. Breathe. How long does the breath of you choke inside as you struggle to be honest, to be real, and to live inside of what it means to be authentic, to be free? What has become of you and who is now becoming? Change. Each moment allows for change and change can be found in each moment that we turn within and enter into the kingdom. Where there is God there is you. How can you not encounter all that is profound when you are the energy of profundity itself? Will you ever see yourself? Will you ever open your (E)yes to truth or will you walk always the circles of cycles of stagnation and fear, and of hunger and animality? It is all right here now, standing in the present. How might we encounter the now and stand here still inside of the present? May it be that we flow there to the within. Inside is the secret revealed, the key unlocking infinity.

It can be hard to believe that some of the events happening to us is actually happening for a reason. It can be difficult to see beyond the trees in the forest in order to focus our attention on the ultimate expansion and growth occurring. When we are attached to one way of being it can make for a challenging time when we encounter a different way, a different reality, or a situation that rattles us at our core. Our attachment to the old way is what creates in us a feeling of stagnation, fear, anger, and resentment. Once we are here suffering seems inevitable. When we live inside of our attachments without openness and receptivity we are living inside of resisting what is, and it is this resistance that determines the way in which we travel this new course along our life-journey.

Nothing is without meaning and purpose, including our pain; suffering, however, is optional. We do not have to suffer in addition to the pain. Suffering is the result of not being present and accepting what is, but rather the choosing to dwell on… Having a deep understanding of the nature of things does not always occur right away. We have to journey the path in order to arrive at knowing. Clarity is revealed when we step one foot in front of the other and move through the course that is our life. Twists and turns can be openings—events that have happened in order to create a space of freedom within. When we resist the twists and turns we are also delaying the freedom that is trying to birth within. This is why our being open to the comings and goings of life is so very crucial. Our limited thoughts are unable to perceive the vastness of life, only the recognition that life is in fact vast.

When we understand that some things are not going to be (immediately) known, we can rest in the open space of what it means to be empty. There is nothing to do except remain still and free from self attack, criticism, judgment, or the anxiety of still trying to figure things out. We can settle into the simplicity of resolving the need to know all of the answers and allow ourselves to sit with all of the questions. This moment now is the effect of some, or many, moments before. All things are connected, including our own vibration to that of another’s.

It is rare that we can look at our current life situation, whatever that is, and say that we do not know how we have gotten here. When we are honest with ourselves we can see just how the twists and turns have landed us wherever we are—either free from something, or smack at the center of what could be perceived as a tornado. It is when we close our eyes to truth along the way that we awaken one day to the harsh reality that we have not lived in truth and now we have a manifested outcome that cannot be denied. How do we deny reality when everywhere we turn the eye of it stares back?

Twists and turns do not have to be ‘bad’ or throw us for a loop. When we are flexible we can shift with the ways in which the road changes. We can remain open to the unfolding path. Let us seek the meaning in our life and release all need to control the shifts. Let us be like air, like water, and flow into our next chapter in life. The twists and turns can be great vehicles.