Ever have a period in your life where you start asking yourself, “What on earth is going on!?”. You know, the kind of times where one crisis after another comes up and you start trying to figure out what you did in a past life to bring this on? Well, these are what I like to think of as the wake up calls from the lobby of the Hotel Grand Universal and it usually goes something like this (all caps are the Universe yelling at me):
“Hello, Dawne. This is the Front Desk. Unfortunately, it has come to our attention that you have overslept due to some contraband, grey woolen blankets you purchased. These blankets are contraband due to the fact they TURN YOUR BRAIN INTO FUZZY MUSH! It is our understanding that you didn’t know their function at the time of purchase. However, you are still in violation of the PRIME LAW OF THE UNIVERSE. As you know, this LAW is about YOU CONTRIBUTING to the ONGOING CREATION of reality. But, you CAN’T DO THAT if your ENTIRE PSYCHE is in a DOZE! So, it is now my job to KICK YOUR GREY WOOLLY BUTT OUTTA THAT OH SO COMFY PLACE you THINK you’re in and back into reality. WAKE UP DUMMY! Thank-you for staying at Hotel Grand Universal. Have a nice day!”
Strangely, I never find these wake up calls from the Universe terribly pleasant, but I do know they truly are for my own good and for the good of those around me. I also find, whenever this happens to me, that I usually have a short meltdown during the crisis, then pick myself up and get through it. When the crisis is over, I try to wring out whatever lesson I can from it so I can cope better next time - you know, like earplugs. Never quite works though. Oh, I do get some kind of wisdom from the experience, but it just never seems to prepare me for the next one. I find they’re pretty wily down at the front desk; always figuring out new ways to make me give up my grey woollies. I think they’re trying to make me throw them off once and for all. What’s kinda dumb (ok, really dumb), is that I realize the horror my little addiction brings into my life.
This Is the Front Desk Calling… AGAIN!
Over the summer, I wrote a piece called the Tao of Magic. Part of it talks about how I found out my Dad has cancer and his radiation treatments were about a year away, meaning he wasn’t too far along. Well, on Saturday (Sept. 13, 2008), I phoned my Dad to check how he was doing, only to find out he hadn’t wanted to worry me: The radiation begins within the month… He’s going about his life, puttering in his garden, going to work and so on. In short, going about his life. Taking everything in stride and if I asked him why, he would tell me, “Not much I can do about it. That’s just the way it is…”. And everyone would agree…
But is that actually true? Is it really true? You see, I’ve had really, really bad stuff happen to me physically and I said, “NO WAY!! NOT ME! FIND SOMETHING ELSE to get my attention, ’cause that is NOT going to fly in my sky. Period. Are we clear? ARE WE!?”. And within a couple of hours, everything is always great.
A quick example was when we had our second child, Aila. The doctors and nurses told Marc twice during the labor I wouldn’t survive. I wouldn’t survive because of the physical mechanics of the situation: My body would go into deep shock and I would die. That’s just the way it is…
Yeah right. I had a baby to look after at home and one on the way - at high speed. I had to get this done and get home. No time for dying. Gawd! Can we just get on with this so I can go home? I left the hospital in under 48 hours with NO adverse effects at all. Not in my sky…
So I made my stubborn, dyed-grey-in-the-wool (heh) Dad take down a title: Biology of Belief. I did this through eloquent bombardment of ardent verbiage (I browbeat him) by pointing out that there is plenty of proof showing the contrary to, “That’s just the way it is.”.
Front Desk Calling. This Is Your THIRD Wake Up Call, Dawne
On Saturday (yep, same one), I found out Marc has a serious problem as well. You might remember the poem I wrote him for his birthday called Your Eyes. Ironically, that’s where the problem lies: In his eyes. I guess first you need to know that he’s been very near sighted since he was five. Now it seems, his eyesight went from 450 (really near sighted), to 1500 in two years. The closest deterioration a doctor would normally see is 450 going to about 1100 at 80 in five years. At 1500 (in both eyes), means he’s legally blind, so much so, the optometrist couldn’t figure out how Marc can walk in a straight line without the benefit of a cane or guide dog (plus his eyes were very dialated from drops). Seriously. I wonder what he’d do if he knew Marc can read too. Without Braille?
What the problem seems to be is a very rare form of cataract within the lens of the eye itself. This means eye surgery to replace the lens in each eye. The up side of this does mean that they may be able to permanently correct his vision (no glasses) and he wouldn’t have to worry about these particular cataracts ever returning. As a person who has always had extremely sharp vision (16 in one eye and 18 in the other as of two years ago), I shudder when I think about what’s happening to him and what he has to do (the surgery). But Marc is taking all this in stride: He’s used to severe problems with his eyesight….
But I guess it’s just like what I’ve had to do every day for the last 15 years. I walk around each day with the kind of pain most people only have nightmares about, but never really think about it. Why? Because I’m used to it. And all this started me thinking, which means I’m awake. Guess all that yelling does work, ’cause all this is the Universe trying to get rid of those grey woollies of mine.
Bits ‘O Wisdom
Here’s a little piece of wisdom I gained from all the years I’ve had to deal with this kind of stuff and watching other people deal with their lives:
If we have to deal with something often enough, we can shoulder it like it’s nothing - even the terrible burdens. However, if we do, we can also become numb, or at least indifferent to the pattern/way we’re living and this includes the good or pleasant stuff too. When the circumstances are positive/good, we call it “taken for granted”. When they’re negative/bad, we call it stress or, when extreme, trauma.
What’s interesting in both cases is that the state many people find themselves in, is angry. One is easy to understand, the other not so much: Why would someone be angry when their life is a basically pleasant one? It’s pretty simple actually. In both cases, their lives are being led unconsciously. Instead of being awake as they participate in their life deliberately, they’re dozing as they go through the day, only half aware of what’s actually going on. In other words, the traumatized person and the pleasance saturated person, both feel like their true lives have been stolen from them.
Getting Rid of the Grey Woollies
1) We go around doing, choosing and making, through our imaginings, the reality we find ourselves in.
2) We reinforce that reality every moment by the above behaviors.
3) Take a look at any reinforcing statements that keep your reality intact. Not to see if they’re true, but to see if it’s what truly you want.
4) Really ask yourself if you’re living the life you want. Your anger could be growing out of outside assumptions like, “I/you should…”. If this is the case, ask yourself, “If I put that idea aside, do I like my life?”.
5) Really allow and accept who you are, flaws and all.
6) Suspend your disbelief of what is actually possible in the world around you and particularly, what’s possible for you. You don’t need to believe or have faith in anything. Imagine your beliefs and unbeliefs as a coat or cloak that you wrap yourself in (which we all do). Then imagine taking that coat off and putting it on a metaphorical coat peg for a bit as you really look at things. You can always grab them off the peg, any time you like, if it gets to be too much. Just remember that peg.
7) Ask yourself, “Ideal world, ideal day, what would a day in my life look like?” This is usually a very difficult one for people because we’re impeded by the idea at some level within us, that it’s bad to enjoy ourselves. If we ARE living that way, then we must be doing something we shouldn’t. Never mind the whys and wherefores for now (the idea/belief probably came from when we got into “stuff” when we were really little anyway). However, it’s always ok if it’s just playing pretend.
So, pretend for a while that you are living in that ideal world and having an ideal day. Notice all the details in both the foreground and background. Pay attention to your emotions, what you’re doing, who you’re with, everything. Is it fuzzy or crystal clear? Are the colors of your day vivid or dull? Is the picture just that, with a frame and hung on a “wall”, or is it a full scene you, the viewer, are standing in? Or are you in the first person and actually doing what you see? The more directly involved, clear, bright, vivid and emotionally happy you are in your scene, the closer you are to seeing an accurate picture of what you really want. When you get a picture like that, just remember to step back out of the scene. This is because your brain can’t tell imagination from memory and if it’s really congruent, vivid and emotionally powerful, it will tend to think the scene is already accomplished if you don’t “step back” from it. But if you do step back, your brain will understand that what just happened was imagination. It will also want to accomplish it to get back that high.
Honestly, there are more systems involved in this process, but are beyond the scope of this article. However, what I’ve just outlined WILL give you the mechanical results of “wakefulness”.
There’s another thing you should know. When you’ve made up your mind on what you really do want, close the door to “no” and slam it on “maybe”. Don’t lock them, because other things may come up later (other people choose too and the Front Desk may call to let you know you forgot something), but do close them so you can move in your chosen direction of, “Yes. I will do this.”.
Finally, there are 3 questions you must learn to ask yourself frequently and 1 guideline to use at all times.
Guidance for the Wake Up Call
A person’s heart only needs to be guided by two things: Do no harm and, Is this right for me? If you can live by these, then you will start to live in congruence. The more congruent one is within themselves, the more coherent one’s life becomes. The more coherent a life becomes, the more in tune it is with what it truly seeks and needs/wants/desires and the more and faster the universe will respond to what is required because it is a real requirement.
Another thing to know, is that the more congruent and therefore coherent we are, the more attention, intention and focus we place on what outcome we desire.
A person’s mind only needs to be guided by two questions and these are the wake up call: What works? and WHY NOT? Why not: As in, “Why not pursue your dream? Why not enjoy your life? Why not ______ (fill in the blank with what’s missing from your life)? Most people go through life in a grey haze, never really being here nor there. They’re all wrapped up, nice and cozy, in their blankets/cloak/coat (whatever works for you) of beliefs and unbeliefs, dozing their lives away. Keep in mind, most of us start out wide awake and hopeful, but we run into to the two diseases of the status quo: Yeahbutosis and Expertitis. Point out a possibility to sufferers of these conditions and they will say, “Yeah but, it can’t be done, because it’s never been done, so that means it can’t be done and I should know; I’m an expert in my field.” Experts are only experts at what can’t be done in the mind of the one who taught them.
It doesn’t matter what field you’re in or what life you’re leading currently, these two questions, what works? and why not?, are the best at giving us that wake up call to the REAL possibilities that exist around us every moment of every day.
2 users commented in " Wake Up Call "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackDawne, I’m simply amazed at this post. I’m amazed at how you’re going through your life with such grace amid all these challenges, and amazed at the clarity and power of your writing. So glad I found you and plan to come back often.
Hello Rori!
Thank-you so much for your comment. I’m not sure what to say really because I just put this out there: I had no idea if anybody would get it. I’m so very glad someone did. This was just like getting a pat on the back (which I really needed right now). I really hope to see you around here again.
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