More Questions Than Answers

I recently finished the novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven. I had seen it in a bookshop in Moab and then found it at my local library when I got home. It’s a quick read. I started it before going to bed one night and then finished it in the morning. When I read the last 30 pages in the morning, I found that I couldn’t stop crying. It’s the story of an amusement park maintenance worker and the stories of people who changed the course of his life. Something about this book resonated deeply within me.

I have always been fascinated by what happens to people after they die and how that relates back to their earthly life. My favorite movie of all time is “Heaven Can Wait,” starring a young Warren Beatty. In the movie, a professional football player “dies” in a tunnel, riding his bike and finds out that he wasn’t really supposed to die. So he’s given a chance to see his life from another perspective. And then chooses to return. In reality, we are given second chances all the time. We just don’t know it.

I am moved by the idea that our lives are intertwined for a reason, that we are here for a purpose and that both are a gift. It makes me realize that each life is on a sacred journey, with an unknown yet purposeful destination.

Last Friday, I visited my friend, Ilene. She is dying of ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Diagnosed over two years ago, she has been learning how to live while in the process of dying. She calls this Consciously Being and Consciously Leaving. She bounces between the two places from moment to moment. I'm intrigued by what she knows about each state that the rest of us could benefit from. What does it mean to "Consciously Leave," not in the sense of suicide, but in the sense of putting purpose to all parts of the journey? And how does this influence "Consciously Being?"

I'm left with more questions than answers and a feeling that we don't have enough of these important conversations in our everyday lives.

Milestones

Okay, one last post for tonight before I call it quits. Last week, I wrote my 100th blog post. One hundred inklings, ideas, inspirations explored and documented in black and white. It's been a quick road to get here, because the journey has been so enjoyable. Thanks for reading.

Finding the Easy Way Out

This morning, I biked for the first time this year with a friend. We like to go on long bike rides on Sunday mornings, while the church goers are still at church and the college kids are still sleeping in from last night’s party and the young professionals are still reading the Sunday paper.

I arrived at my friend’s house only to find that her tires were flat from sitting in the garage all winter and her bike pump had been used by her son and subsequently broken. We quickly decided on a plan to take her bike into a shop in Boulder to get the tires inflated. Only thing is we couldn’t figure out how to get her front tire off to get the bike in the car. Two trained engineers, fiddling with the front brake pads, to get enough clearance to remove the tire. 10 minutes later, we were no further along.

Out of the blue, I realized a quick and easy solution to the problem. I suggested we go buy a bike pump. My friend and I had been so focused on solving the problem by taking her bike into a bike shop, that we had completely overlooked the obvious. Why not buy a new bike pump? As it turns out, one of the largest chains of sporting goods stores in Colorado is less than 5 minutes from her house. We returned with a new pump in 15 minutes and were biking 10 minutes later.

This is a great metaphor for what happens in life. I can get overly focused on a solution looking a certain way and spend countless hours pursuing a path that doesn’t work. Or I can shift my thinking and find the effortless and easy way to my destination. Like buying a bike pump.

Really, whatever you are working on, doesn't have to be so hard. There's a solution, much easier and simpler, that's waiting to be discovered.

Beyond the Paved Road

I recently returned from a trip to Moab, Utah with my husband and kids. We hiked at Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park, both a short drive from Moab. If you’ve never been in this part of the country before, make a point of going. The rock formations are spectacular, the colors are deep and intense (red rock and dirt, blue skies), and the desert has its own beauty like no other place.

But here’s what really struck me about my trip. You can live your whole life in the Moab area and never know that less than 20 miles away lies a wondrous world of deeply carved canyons that go on for miles, untouched by man, so vast that it could only be designed by God. This is wilderness area where a jeep road to explore the canyon will take you two days to traverse. It is what I imagine the Grand Canyon to look like. (I’ve never been there so I’m judging from the Sunset magazine photos.) And yet, these vast canyons are not visible from the regular paved roads that one travels to get a gallon of milk.

So imagine this. You are on a hiking trail that leads to a beautiful arch. As you get closer to the arch, you see that it frames a view but you aren’t sure what the picture is until you are just steps away from the arch. Then you discover that past the arch is a drop off of thousands of feet into a large canyon landscape. It is the gateway to another world that you could never have imagined, just 5 minutes ago on the trail. It has come upon you completely by surprise.

This got me thinking. You and I could live our whole lives on safe paved roads, completely satisfied with the ordinary view, not knowing there is another life that is awaiting us. One that will take your breath away, that will inspire, that will be larger than anything you can dream of. This life has no words to fully describe it. It is so close, that it only takes a venturing off the road and a willingness to go into the unknown.

That’s what life is like. Through a series of consistent steps, my life has been transformed. Ten years ago, I could not have imagined my life today. Ten years from now, my life will again be more than I can dream of right now. When I thought that I had tapped into all that life could offer, I find there is more. I live in wonder of what’s next.

Believing Eyes

I received this comment from Richard Smith on the featured article about my first mentor, Mrs. Miller:

“I recall my first mentor, a grade school basketball coach, Larry Kelly. I was in the sixth grade and was walking down the hall. He stopped me and said that I should join the sixth grade basketball team; he saw something in how I walked that indicated I would be a good basketball player. I had never thought about basketball nor had I any real experience with a basketball. Because of his invitation, I did go to practice and he was right. I discovered some real natural talent and he helped me develop it. He helped all of us to develop more fully and, more importantly, develop confidence in who we were as individuals and as a team. I don't believe I ever really thanked him -- but honor him, and his wife, each time I tell his story.”

Several years ago, I took a workshop with Sonia Choquette, an intuitive and spiritual teacher, who introduced the idea of “Believing Eyes.” These are people who see what you cannot see, often the gifts that you have overlooked, and call them out. They are the ones who believe that you can be a good basketball player, even though you’ve never dribbled a ball. It is rare, if not impossible, to fully realize one’s potential without Believing Eyes. I would not be where I am today, doing what I’m doing, without many pairs of Believing Eyes along the way.

Be Believing Eyes for someone in your life. It will make all the difference.