Life Lesson # 15 : Acceptance & trust.
Accept that bad things happen.
Trust that it will all work out.
You die fighting the ripcurrent, not riding the current out. At least that's what the experts tell you as a method to survive a ripcurrent. The current is too strong to swim against or across without getting tired and/or drown, but you can ride it out and then get the chance to swim to safety.
As with life, we have ripcurrents that are dressed up as varying factors that you don't have control over - be it the weather, traffic, people, your job/boss, teacher, school etc. But you can control how you react to each given situation. There's always the choice to get upset, sad, angry, depressed, cynical, annoyed, etc. However, just as easily, there is always the choice to be happy.
Imagine going to an early morning appointment and along the route you end up getting caught in traffic. Now, the average person's first instinct is to get upset and fuel that emotion. Bad move, because now your mood is ruined. Most likely, when you reach your destination, you're going to carry that bad mood with you. So all of your interactions of that day, have a set tone from that one moment of being stuck in traffic. You're probably going to enter the appointment with an attitude
and interact with everyone else the rest of the day the same way. Furthermore, you're probably now going to look for things to validate the world conspiracy against you. Imagine if you didn't allow the hype to happen. Instead, you realized your favourite song was playing on the radio and sang along perhaps. The traffic issue would most likely be forgotten by the time you leave your appointment because it's lost emotional energy beyond an "I'm sorry I'm late." You no longer feel compelled to complain to everyone you meet about the horrible traffic and how badly your day is going. You arrive at the appointment with a better attitude and more receptive to positive things happening for the rest of the day. Ergo, the power of choice.
Back on topic...
At the end of the day, everything happens in the best way possible. You can make all the right moves. You can ask all the right questions... But in the end, nothing happens until the time it's supposed to happen. What's for you is for you. The people who were heading to the WTC the morning of 9/11, be it to drop off a job application, going to work, etc.; and were running late for whatever reasons probably felt annoyed and angry at that time. However, I'm sure they must've felt like they missed a bullet when the towers went down and they were still alive. Furthermore, if you didn't have a few cursed missed opportunities, you wouldn't have learnt a few lessons. Sure you were bitter at the time, but you understood after. Not immediately after, perhaps a few days, a few months, a few years even... but you understood. It all made sense.
You never really know, until you know, you know?
Always trust that whatever happens, happens for the best. This moment, all your life experiences, everything that has ever happened has led you to the moment you're in right now. Your future will be based on these previous and present moments collectively. It won't make sense now... but it shall. And when the right opportunity door presents itself, trust that prior moments throughout life will have prepared you to have the right keys to open it... (And even then so, I don't believe any opportunity can truly be missed...As my dad always says "What miss you, hasn't passed you")
Until then, choose to be happy, or at least aspire to maintain a positive attitude... and keep the faith.
“I am not the happiest person. In fact, in the battle between joy
and misery, I’d say that the latter often seems to prevail. I don’t
like this, and every day I refuse, for the eighty millionth time, to
put up with another minute of it. But the world does what it does,
and I often find it disagreeable. After all these years, I’m kind of
resigned to that. But I do have one thing on my side: I have
enormous faith. And hope. I am not speaking of the kind you
find in church or in the afterlife or in heaven or in the Saint James
Bible or in the Hare Krishna’s that we all encounter changing flights
in the airports of the world, I am speaking of a simple faith that
says that one way or another, no matter how many times I stumble
and stub my big toe, somehow life is going to work itself out.”
- Elizabeth Wurtzel
Fall down seven times, stand up eight.
Shelli out.
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Ok, enough people have complained for me to write a proper post. I've been hearing that the new stuff with photos is nice but my lengthy typed stuff is missed.
"We've reached our moment of 'pis aller'" - Sher
There comes a point where you've tried everything you can possibly try and you're at your 'pis aller.' It's the last resort, the final expedient of sorts. It's also known as standing on the middle line.
I'm sure we've all had some experience whereby at one point or anything you felt as if you tried everything possible and you were just standing there indecisively at the middle line - no longer clear on one side, but now at the middle confused, and waiting... and observing... because all other options have been exhausted. This location is an interesting place to be because it permits great amount of meditation and reflection...
Why? Because it often begs the question of 'How did I reach here?' No one enters any situation thinking they're going to end up on a completely diverted path. However, such is life. It's what keeps things interesting. The intricacies of each little by-road, track through the bush and cut path makes the whole journey more scenic and keeps us thinking. Most of life's most important lessons are those we learn inspired by great pain brought about by great changes. For me, great pain is anything that makes me feel too uncomfortable. But discomfort inspires growth right? The funny thing is, depending on the situation, it may not only be you that realizes the shift but others with you on your life's journey.
What does it all mean? No one really knows... I'm a fan of the whole 'it's never really over, unless you want it to be, and even then...' theory. One can always turn back around and get back on the original path... or change their goals to suit as they realize what they've wanted wasn't what they wanted all along. The options are unlimited. But no one truly knows how the story ends.
However, when a contrary wind blows like this, the one thing that is for certain - you need to stop and really assess the situation and how to get back to a comfortable place again.
In other words, this middle line is the story of the dog and the nail. You've been lying on the nail feeling the pain for a while now, crying about it, complaining. No one is going to move you off the nail but yourself. But you won't move until you've reached your pis aller, where it hurts enough to do something about the situation. To try something different other than what you've already been doing.
It could relate to your job, your relationship, your school life, your painting/writing ...anything.
I know this post must sound like thoughtless rambling. (And that's because it is) It's been a while since I've written a free-style post... but yea.. I hope you're able to take something from this. I shall get back into the groove of things soon enough and start writing with sense, worry not.
I'm going and do my summary for my class tomorrow now.
'The road is now an open sea,
And suddenly, you're deep enough
To lay your armour down...
...to lay your armour down.'
-"Don't wait" Dashboard Confessional
Sit back and enjoy the fireworks... because none of us expected the flames right?
Ciao, Shelli out.
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Why do I keep dreaming these weird things recently that will never happen??
First a confession, then hair chopping and now a proposal??
What is it I'm eating bad before I go to bed??
***
Now we shall go back to this station's original programming...........
I deliberated on my post too long. I forgot most of what I wanted to write and I misplaced my scribbled notes on the topic... I guess when I find it I could just do an edit.
Anyway, the following photos are from our field trip last Friday. We went with a botanist, Dr. Linda Lyon, from Montana to visit various habitats and look for different plants. Sure, we've been to the locations several times but it was different this time seeing it through the eyes of a botanist. She took us through the habitats and explained various interesting facts about the plants, why they're where they are, where they're native to, and how to identify them. I don't remember everything I learned over the past couple days... but I do find myself recognizing different plants now. Dr. Lyon kept saying that after a while, recognizing them kind of gives you a sense of placement as to where you are and what to expect habitat-wise. Now when I see certain trees, I think "Oh, well that makes sense." Furthermore, it's not just trees in a blur anymore, I know some of their names or at least I have an idea of what family they might fall under.
Dry forest...
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| Acacia in the dry scrub habitat. (worry not.. the habitat is only that green because of all the rain.) You can tell because of the type of (pinnate/bi-pinnate) leaves and thorns along the stem/branch. The thorns serve as protection for the tree, and the flowers. It's part of the fabaceae family. |
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| This, is a single flower of the leucaena, it's part of the fabaceae family as well. |
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| But this is how it looks on the tree. So the whole fluffy puff is really a bunch of flowers, not just one. |
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