I’ve heard that now is the time we have have been waiting for, and that the ones we been waiting for have been ourselves. Nothing can be more true – for all of us.
These are challenging times. We’ve got nation-building and warmongering, out-and-out greed and an ignorance of the plight of the poor across the globe. Anger has polarized us: right against left, democrat against republican, religious against non-religious, straight against gay, white against black. Many of us seem to be against just about anything that doesn’t resemble who we think we are.
But just consider, for a moment, who you really are. You may be a counselor, lawyer, business man or woman, student or actor, a friend, a wife or husband, a cousin or an aunt. But you’re also a human being. And each human being has more than enough ability to transcend this chaos – and contribute a unique gift to the whole of humanity.
All it takes is the willingness to step up and be who you truly are.
It’s not about taking sides. It’s about seeing the forest for the trees. It’s about getting very clear within your own bones about what is real and what is illusion. It’s about seeking truth and not stopping until you know you’ve found it. Each human being on this planet has a direct connection with the Tao, the energies flowing through the cosmos. If you are alive, then you have that connection – and with that connection, you can walk through life with a clear mind and an open heart.
It doesn’t take being a Buddhist monk or a Jedi master to be one with the Force. All it takes is a kind word chosen carefully. A love note written tenderly. A business decision rendered fairly. A step placed on the earth with intention. A smile. A single breath.
All it takes is the choice to be conscious, to be aware of why you are doing all that you are doing. Instead of flying through your day, only to realize at the end of it that you don’t even remember what you did – only that you tried to get through it all – take a moment to breathe. Stand in place, close your eyes, breathe in and out slowly and feel the calmness that is within. Feel your heart beating and know that the pulse of the universe is in harmony with your soul.
In each moment, we make a decision – to do this or that, to react this way or that, to feel this way or that. On and on we go, making hundreds, thousands, millions of decisions each and every day. And as we make all these decisions, we are clearing a path through the universe.
It may seem like the same old, same old, day in and day out, but consider what the chain of decisions you have made in your life all add up to: your choice to befriend someone in need, your choice to study hard in school, your choice to worship daily in church, your choice to be silent and listen to the echoes of wisdom in your mind, your choice to turn right instead of left, your choice to jump instead of taking your time, your choice to drink and drive, your choice to flee the scene, your choice to run and hide, your choice to turn yourself in, your choice to take responsibility, your choice to not work at all, your choice to sit around and do drugs, your choice to stand at the intersection with a sign asking for money, your choice to get a job, your choice to try hard, your choice to pay your bills, your choice to buy a home, your choice to start a family, your choice to support your elderly parents, your choice to walk through life with love in your heart.
You are a spiritual being inhabiting a physical body, and yet, most of us act like we’re just stupid sheep grazing in the valley, just doing what we’re told – or worse, rocks in a creek, sitting there watching the waters of life flow by. But you’re not a stupid sheep, or a mindless rock. You have the power to make a decision today that will change the rest of your life. You have the power to act in a way that promotes the greater good of all. And you have the power to choose to do that over and over and over again, in each moment, until the day you die.
You also can go up in the woods and never come back. On that case, it will be you who I am waiting for.
