We are NOT in Uncertain Times

These are NOT uncertain times. I keep receiving emails about “these uncertain times.” 
 
We are NOT in uncertain times.
 
Nothing has ever been certain— that’s just an illusion. 
 
When I went to bed the night of 1/8/18, I was annoyed that school had been canceled for the following day. It had already been canceled for weeks in the fall due to the Thomas Fire. I was irritated because I was trying to figure out what the heck I was going to do with three teenagers home in the rain that did not include them mindlessly zoning out on their screens.
 
Looking back, I would have given anything for a day home in the rain with three teenagers mindlessly vegging out on their screens rather than experiencing the tragedy of the debris flow in the predawn hours of 1/9/18. Instead of being cozy at home, we were being rescued by First Responders through the mud, water, and rain onto the back of an open, flatbed truck where we huddled outside, in the dark, cold and rain, as more of our neighbors were being rescued from their homes to fill the truck. And we were the lucky ones. 
 
This is just one of the incalculable examples for which you are already intimately familiar. Each of us have experienced some version of this, both small and large and countless in-between. We’re just used to most things flowing as expected, and even the small and in-between unexpected events such as spilling coffee on our shirt, traffic, the power going out, getting pulled over are mainly just irritating and inconvenient. It’s the big ones that throw us for a loop—disease diagnosis, accident, betrayal, job loss, death. This pandemic, while equally unexpected, is hitting us extra hard because so many large unexpected events are happening simultaneously--and universally across the globe. 
 
When we acknowledge, however, that this is no more “uncertain” than any other moment in our lives, it helps us regain our ability to handle the present situation, no matter what that moment looks like. We’ve done it countless times and we’ll continue to every second of every moment of every day we are alive.
 
From my vantage point today, I’m grateful we didn’t have to experience the ordeal of the mudslide and its aftermath during a worldwide pandemic. I didn’t know at the time to be grateful for that blessing. This may sound like spiritual bypassing. It’s not. There is real suffering being experienced by millions of our brothers and sisters across the globe, perhaps even by you. It’s important we acknowledge that AND it’s worth remembering that we still have the power over our ability to choose on which and where we focus our attention.
 
As Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl shares in his impactful book, Man’s Search for Meaning:
 
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
 
You know this already from our readings and classes together. Just wanted to remind you of your own power, knowingness, and intuition – gifts that are heightened when you keep your energy clear, in motion, and focused in the present.

If you're looking for personal growth or a change in your life, contact Ascended Presence today.