Owls and Orchids

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“I don’t think that anything happens by coincidence… No one is here by accident… Everyone who crosses our path has a message for us. Otherwise they would have taken another path, or left earlier or later. The fact that these people are here means that they are here for some reason”…”
― James Redfield, The Celestine Prophecy: A Pocket Guide to the Nine Insights

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Some of us believe we have one life only and the end is simply that. Some of us believe we return to earth to learn whatever lessons we have chosen for this earthly incarnation. The Earth is our school room, although I also believe that there are many school rooms and we have a choice when we choose what we wish to learn.  It stretches the imagination to think on that sometimes.  BEing present and mindful are essential qualities for learning.

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I have often found that lessons come in different ways. The ones which slide by, hardly making a ripple in the surface of our lives are lessons which make up a small part of the whole.  Then there are lessons which, as they occur make you sit up and take notice.  We usually have to do something in order to manoeuvre our way through them and emerge relatively unscathed. However, we remember the lesson because it has made an impact on us.  The lessons we don’t forget are the ones which arrive like a cataclysm.  They may sneak up on us but when they are ready they are unmistakable. We can choose to decline the lesson but we will have to repeat it later. If we pay attention we can neither ignore them, change them nor evade them. They make a lasting impact on our lives and we remember the lesson forever. Fortunately, once learnt we don’t have to repeat them.

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It seems a hard way to learn, but it is in fact, the substance of our nature and how far we have evolved which makes the lessons easy or more difficult. We have all chosen which lessons we have come here to learn. Our earthbound existence is the spirit’s school room. When one of the lessons we have come here to learn arrives, Spirit gives us a gently tap on the shoulder to draw our attention to it. If we pay attention, we learn the lesson with a minimum of fuss – and no pain or discomfort.  It’s a nice way of learning and the lesson is imprinted into our cells, our soul, never to be forgotten or repeated.

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However, we are sometimes too preoccupied with our earthly existence. We are concentrating on our day to day lives and not paying much attention to our spiritual development.  The lesson arrives, we have ignored the gentle tap on the shoulder from Spirit and gone on our merry way. Hmmm, this isn’t good enough, we’ve come here to learn and like all students who fail to pay attention we need to be reminded to listen to the signs. I like to describe this reminder as a “Gibbs Slap”.  Anyone who watches NCIS will recognise the term. It is a quick but smart cuff on the back of the head.  “Pay Attention NOW!”

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The quintessential wake up call. Unfortunately I seem to have missed a few of these wake up calls in the past. Where was Gibbs when I needed him? So what happens when we need that BIG wake up call to pay attention and learn? My reminders have been many and varied.  I wasn’t paying attention one day and didn’t check to see if my son had closed the rear door of the car before I reversed out of the garage….. CRUNCH – one door perpendicular to the car!   Another time I was at the gym, but paying little attention and managed to roll both ankles whilst doing step ups.  I thought I had managed to get away with it since my muscles were well and truly warmed up, but once I stopped (yes I continued exercising), the swelling and pain started and I somehow managed to drive home with both ankles bandaged, praying that I didn’t have to stop at any lights before I reached home and limped inside.  Needless to say I didn’t get much sympathy at the time.

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The next time my ‘lesson’ arrived I was in a car.  My ‘friend’ Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow shows clearly how I felt that time. Unfortunately I didn’t have his aptitude for slipping out of trouble as easily.

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At some point in time since then I realised that I had learned what I was meant to as I have had no more ‘lessons’ given to me. My accident prone existence has become one of relative normality. I am eternally grateful my attention was caught and I listened  carefully. Since I am still ‘recovering’ from my failure to pay attention earlier, I am also grateful that we get to choose how we are reminded to pay attention.

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Some people are not as fortunate. Some lose everything they hold dear, health, wealth, family, friends, even their lives. How the lessons eventuate is something we have already decided before we reach this mortal coil. We are given the tools we need to learn what we have come here for. It is up to us to learn these things or not. We are never forced to learn something if we don’t want to, although we will have to return to learn it in a future life.

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One thing we all learn is the truth and magic real love brings us.  Acceptance of who and what we are, our faults and imperfections as well as our capacity to forgive and offer our heart, our love without condition is a huge thing but the rewards are immense.  Receiving that unconditional love in return is like being wrapped in the silkiest fabric, held in strong arms and knowing nothing can harm you – ever.  When you have felt that love your capacity to extend your love to the world and people around you is increased exponentially. It brings a wonderful glow to all that you feel and do.  My wish for you is to find that wonder yourself.

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“The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along” – Rumi.