Keep your swerve on

Did you every have the feeling that you somehow stumbled into the right answer? That in the chaos of your life you managed, miraculously, to save yourself from falling head long into a brick wall?

Of course, they key to this miracle is knowing as you sit there on the pavement (bruised bum and everything) that you never saw that wall there. In fact, if anyone had asked you would have gleefully told them the path ahead was definitely clear. Keep in mind that while you may have a sore bottom, your head is intact, if for know other reason than you tipped or swiveled and fell just short of the major impact. Your miracle, it appears, is knowing instinctually when to take the lesser hit, the scraped knee, over the major cranium shell-shock.

What I find most entertaining about these moments in life, is that most of the time people spend hours, days and even weeks crying over their bruises. It takes them so long to recognize the value of falling short of the wall, that when they do you can almost hear the crackle of the light-bulb snapping on and a full round of the Hallelujah chorus with orchestral accompaniment surrounding them. If it weren't such a seriosuly enlightening moment you probably would not take the time to glance over your shoulder to hide the smile that automatically forms.

Perhaps even more entertaining is when it happens to you. Of course the snap, crackle,and Hallelujah is replaced by a briefly beatific smile and then the "look". You know the one I mean. The "I can't believe I didn't see this coming look" also known as the "I really meant to dump this spaghetti in my lap" look. Yep, busted being stupid, again. In the karmic chaos of life it really isn't even close to a misdemeanor, but, I think we all tend to berate ourselves when we walk into those moments with our eyes wide shut.

Yet when the dust settles and the bruises lose their color we begin to see just how fortunate we truly are. Despite the stumble, we have emerged essentially intact and we have been given an opportunity to learn.

What was it about that moment in our lives that made it so easy for the wall to be transparent? And what was it within ourselves that put the brakes on in time to avoid the major collision? How can we learn to embrace the brusing instead of feeling awkward and clumsy? How can we merge these two components of who we are so that this particular wall is clear to us in our life travels going forward? These little lessons are not easy to learn, yet if we can find the answers within we can come a little closer to knowing who we really are and what we really need.

Moreover, as people, we can get comfortable with the idea that it is not the falling down that shapes us. It is in how we get up from those moments.

Celebrating that the wall was avoided is always a great start. But it is not the endgame.

So, while we have all heard the words, "All in all, its just another brick in the wall," ...here's to being able to see the bricks and know them for what they are.

Safe travels to all and remember to keep your swerve on.