Warning, Rapids Ahead!

Life is fluidic. It ebbs and it flows. It crashes against the rocks of uncertainty and laps on the sands of total faith. Some days we can stand in the light of discovery and bathe in complete understanding of our place in the Universe. While, other days we may find ourselves wallowing in the sewage of race consciousness.

Either way, we toss our oars into the river of life and start paddling against the rapids of self pity, judgment, and negative thoughts. Fortunately, we’ve decided to wear a life jacket.

Isn’t it ironic that we begin our journey in the calm waters of serenity, discovery, and peace? We contently float along the shallow river waters, basking in the sun as it soaks into our skin and we listen to the quiet rustling of the leaves cheering us on. But before long, we become restless; suddenly the sun seems too hot, and the leaves are too noisy. We come to realize that we are only content long enough to become bored with our journey.

We watch tons of people paddle past us and wonder if they might know something we don’t. Maybe we notice that the people in the other rafts seem to have the courage to face the raging rapids that swirl so violently ahead. We see others go before us and decide, even though we might be fearful, we will follow them on their journey.

But as we look at the river ahead we see some rafts have over-turned, while others are getting caught in a current that keeps them fighting the same swell over and over again. We notice others are successfully navigating the rapids, and some are ahead in the calm water. Fear bubbles in the back of our throats and for a timeless moment we wonder if we made the right choice?

Well what is choice but the use of our personal power to choose? There is nothing magical about it. It is engrained in our nature just as blinking, swallowing and breathing is. We have volition, and that is what separates us from the animals. We can make a choice and if it isn’t what we expected or wanted…guess what??? We can change our mind, and make a choice to do something different. 

Grant it, when we enter the rapids of our lives, sometimes we will have to live with the consequences. Rafts may over-turn, we may temporarily get stuck in a vortex; but even then, we have the choice of how we react to the circumstances.

It is our fears and lack of faith that makes us feel we are stuck into whatever experience we’ve decided to own. Maybe we’re too scared so we decide to sit in the raft that is stuck swirling in the rapids, or we get tossed from the raft and feel the rocks scrape against our skin and we fight to survive the raging undertow as it is trying to bury us in its fury. OR maybe we decide to skillfully navigate the flow of the river and steer the raft through the rough waters with little or no drama.

It is our choice…we’ve all been in a raft stuck in the middle of the rapids, screaming for someone to save us, and we’ve all been in a raft that makes it through as we stare back wondering how in the hell did we make it through.

There is no shame in being stuck or battered against the river’s bottom. It is life, it is our humanness. BUT (you knew that was coming), it is the way we choose to react once we hit that river’s bottom, that dictates what happens next. Either we will decide to stay down there or we will decide to push off the mud and rocks and live. It is entirely up to us. 

We ALWAYS have a choice.

We must never forget that we were designed to express a life filled with Love, Joy, Abundance and Peace. We are so much stronger than we think, we are more creative than we ever give ourselves credit for, and more than anything, we deserve to be completely and totally happy.

Thanks for hanging out and reading my ramblings.