Rolling With the Punches

No brace for impact. It can slide off.

This week was insane and full of answered prayers. Friendly reminder (to myself at least): even when things eventually turn in the direction I want, it doesn’t mean that, all of a sudden, big transitions become easy to navigate. Everything is hard work, so we might as well do the hard work for something we believe in.

Shit still happens while miracles are happening. Sometimes there is a miracle inside of the shit! You guys, my phone flew off the roof of our car on the highway on Monday. I let it be lost in the rumble strip lining the shoulder of an onramp for about seven hours, before deciding to go back one more time and look for it.

There was the option to cancel my plans that evening and go get a new phone. The plans involved a yoga study group I joined for the month of August. I decided the handheld computer could wait. Later that night after getting back home, I looked at Dom’s phone, and could still see mine on the opposite side of the highway from where we looked earlier. It was functioning enough for us to see its precise location and charge.

Off we went. On the drive up, I decided to speak out loud that we will find my phone, and it will be fine. I felt like Paul Atreides in the new Dune movies (no, I haven’t read the books), learning how to use “the voice” to command certain elements or people of a situation. I said it with full conviction: may we find my phone and may it be fine. It wasn’t loud, or weird, or forced. I just said it calmly with belief. Dom replied a simple “yes.” He proceeded to instruct me to stay in the car while he sought out my phone in his bright Broncos jersey carrying a handheld LED light.

Lo and behold, he found it and brought it back to the car. The back was all cracked, but the phone worked perfectly. The screen protector absorbed the blows to the screen, and the camera lenses were untouched.

What?!

I didn’t even mention that earlier in the day, when Dominick looked for my phone along the side of the road where he was driving when the phone flew off, he found the case, but not the the phone. Then, seven hours later, we found my phone on the opposite side of the interchange where this happened.

I was so glad I didn’t cancel my yoga group to go through the trouble of getting a new phone. That would have been a panicked reaction. It was also not in my plan to find the phone fully functional in the dark on the highway seven hours later haha.

I don’t even think there is a message here. Maybe… keep rolling with the punches? The Sunday contemplation this week called Volatile is actually connected to those events from Monday. It mentions the law of nature, that for every action, there is a reaction. Positive strides forward are not met without a well-matched opposing force.

If you haven’t been around on a Sunday when I talk about the bigger picture of the daily contemplations below, it’s your lucky day.

I am writing them in real time, so you are getting the daily entries about a week behind. I am dating them in a separate workspace. Then, I edit them for this space to be Sunday-Saturday.

I started writing the book at my new year in April. I have pasted below the working outline of what will be a book of 366 daily contemplations (we can’t forget leap day!).

The overarching metaphor is the lifecycle of a flower, from seed to bloom and back.

I thought you might like to follow along with the journey of the flower. Feel free to replace that metaphor with any tree, plant, bloom, or creature you want to imagine.

• UNRAVEL

  • JANUARY -

  • FEBRUARY -

  • MARCH -

  • APRIL - EXPOSED

• UNCOVER

  • MAY - UNDERGROUND

  • JUNE - OVERGROUND

  • JULY - GROW

  • AUGUST - BLOOM (where we are now)

• UNDERSTAND

  • SEPTEMBER -

  • OCTOBER -

  • NOVEMBER -

  • DECEMBER -

As you can see, it’s still a work in progress. At least you know where the flower is on the journey. These are essentially letters to myself from what I perceive to be my higher self or connected state with God. I’ve never heard an audible voice from a higher power, but for some reason, I do hear from them through the ink of a pen onto the paper of my journal. I decided to start recording what I hear.

Let me know if you’re hearing any of the same things lately. After all, we are connected.

If anything does resonate, I’ve also created an Instagram page for Seeing Upside Down. Each week (ish), I’ll select one of the daily entries and break it up into a shareable post, if you feel so inclined to follow and share.

seeing.upside.down

A post shared by @seeing.upside.down

Thank you to each and every one of you for your continued support, even it’s just reading one of these every once in a while.

Love, me

Photo by José Ignacio González Pansiera on Unsplash

SUNDAY

VOLATILE

You do not have to identify with the turbulence. Even if it manifests in you, it doesn’t mean it is you. The more you lean back in the seat of yourself and observe whatever is coming through, the easier it will be to separate from it. Your unchanging self will guide you in how to respond effectively. This even goes for violent emotions, like anger, or violent circumstances, like an unexpected crisis of some sort. For every action, there is a reaction. You are about to take a quantum leap in your life. An equal and opposite force is opposing you to the degree you approach your breakthrough. Stay the course. Keep following your peace. It is the only compass. It does not remove the tempestuous waves. It is your navigation system through them. You do not have to identify with the turbulence.

MONDAY

GO

Follow the path of least resistance. That is not the same as choosing the easiest route. It means to resist nothing. If one door closes, do not try to force it back open. Pivot and find the next open door. An opportunity may arise unexpectedly, which wasn’t a part of your plan. Remember your plan is not the be-all and end-all. Consider everything that appears before you. Follow your calm response to a decision. Pause and devote time to any emotionally reactive responses, which are part of being human. Nothing you are feeling is wrong. It is the continued process of tension and release. Let it all out. Lay it all on the table. Surrender once again to something bigger than yourself. It is moving on your behalf. It will not take from you what is meant for you. It is bringing you the elements that will facilitate your opening into the next chapter. This is what you prayed for, and nobody said it would be easy to attain. You’re here. You made it. Let go. Follow the path of the least resistance.

TUESDAY

READY

Concern yourself with fostering the best conditions, instead of what you think will be the best results. The process of transformation unfolds from rearranging qualities that are already in your system. It is not obtained by will power. You have allowed yourself to be tended to. You have continued to grow naturally in the atmosphere where you are. Honoring your roots gave you a strong foundation. You didn’t give up in the storms you had never experienced before. And now you are here, well developed to produce something. The petals of circumstances around you no longer need to keep you confined. They are loosening and opening up for you to see the way through. Let it happen. This is not something you need to manage or control. Yield to a dynamic life, for now you know it will always keep changing on the outside. You can enjoy it from the seat of your unchanging self on the inside. Life gives life gives life. You might as well enjoy every part along the way, especially this next part. Concern yourself with fostering the best conditions, instead of what you think will be the best results.

WEDNESDAY

OPEN

When old limitations disappear, do not float away. You are no longer enclosed or restricted from moving in the way you want to. It doesn’t mean your life can be left unattended. A gardener’s work is around the clock. This moment may feel anticlimactic for what it is. You are free. With increased personal capacity comes even greater need for discipline. Keep these good routines you have developed. The old boundaries are no longer needed. Everything is not as clear cut. Your petals have separated from each other. The light is now revealing everything inside of you. The world is the same, and you are in it anew. Certain experiences may feel differently than they used to. Notice, and take great care before cutting anything off. Let yourself acclimate to this blossoming. Allow others the chance to acclimate to you. You are reflecting foreign, yet authentic and beautiful colors. You are blooming. You might even feel like you could fly. Yet the essence of you remains the same. The present moment is still where you always belong. When old limitations disappear, do not float away.

THURSDAY

ILLUMINATE

God, in you, is doing a new thing. Receive everything that will be downloaded today. The newly bloomed flower takes in the sunlight. Notice the reflections you make. They are all of your experiences combined. They are your answered prayers. You did not pray and remain idle, waiting around for some other magical being to do everything for you. You prayed to the guiding voice within yourself, which prompted every single one of your steps following that. Each step taken, in obedience to your authentic spirit’s knowing, brought you here to your answered prayers. Do you see it? Witness all the dots connect. This is the triumph of you, your higher power, and the garden community where you kept yourself rooted. Let anything whatsoever ooze out of you. It’s all in the light now. You have bloomed. There is nothing left to keep under wraps. Take up space. Feel everything there is to feel. Beam. Glow. Hum. Grin. Laugh. Scream. Love unrepentantly. God, in you, is doing a new thing.

FRIDAY

CONDUIT

You have cleared a passage you once never even considered. Because you allowed yourself to be led here, you now embody this place. You found the way through by going within. Anything you create from here will be the way through for someone else. It’s not because you are the answer; you’re not. Nor do you typically know the right answer for someone else’s life. You can, however, share your experience, which simply points someone else to their own door, inside themself. Sharing your unique colors, textures, and fragrance generously is not harmful. You do not need to dim your light. Just be. Be in your essence. Do not confine or restrict what is trying to move through you. It is for a greater purpose. Here you are, and it is sending you. It is here to touch humanity, not cater to individual preferences. You traveled through. Now something is traveling through you. Listen. Allow. Follow. You have cleared a passage you once never even considered.

SATURDAY

NOURISH

Remember what makes you you. Clearly it’s not any shape you take or hat you wear. It has nothing to do with what you do for anybody else. It comes down to what you do for the highest version of yourself. The story goes that even the supreme spirit enjoyed their creation, which is a direct reflection of itself. We as the creation enjoy what we create. Look around you. What is there for your enjoyment? Do you take time to enjoy it? We tend to hyperfocus on what is uncomfortable or a problem to fix. How often do we allow ourselves to hyperfocus on what is going well? Your forward thinking led you to blossom, and it can also take periods to rest. It is the step back before the next two steps forward. Be fully here, knowing it won’t last forever. Link with what feeds your soul, deep down. You are feeding the part of you that can accomplish anything when it is well cared for. There is not always some new message to seek out and hear. Sometimes the message is a memory of where you came from. Sometimes it’s a chance to revisit some things you really love. Remember what makes you you.