Living a safe life

We all love the sense of “security” and refuse to accept the fact that nothing is “secure”. We usually tie ourselves to a job that we completely dislike, since it provides us with enough money to live decently and secure. We accept with discontent to go through a monotonous life, we choose to ride the carousel instead of taking the train, because the carousel is “secure” while the train is “uncertain”.
But one day the carousel may break down; that is when we lose control, we lose the sense of security, become apprehensive and keep repeating to ourselves: “This cannot be happening to me! What I’m going to do now?” All of a sudden we do not want to live any longer. The carousel stopped working and we are forced out of it, this is so scary, like walking through the fog without knowing where we are going to end up. We feel a cold sweat through our body, we are paralyzed, unaware of what to do next….. A few will feel their natural survival instinct pushing them to look for new things, for new opportunities. But others will look for another carousel to ride and get back to their lost “security”.
To read books on how to live a happy life is easy, but to be able to implement the recommended practices or theories isn’t that simple. It requires constant battling with our ego, knocking it down while trying not to give up, regardless of the risks it may represent, because the end result, the one we are looking for, is what really matters.
It is then that we are required to jump to life’s precipice with our faith on the Universe as our parachute! While we are falling we don’t know if we are going to crash or land as an experienced bird. All we can do during the fall is to have faith that the landing will be perfect within the imperfection…
Paradoxically we soon realize that we did not crash, actually we have managed to land and we are even surprised on how easy and pleasant the landing was… Of course the trick is in what you consider the “perfect landing”… oh yes, there is the trick! To be able to accept that the landing will not always be as we expected, on the contrary it will be as it was supposed to be. Then is when the imperfect becomes perfect, as we are capable of looking at the end result from a different perspective. Being appreciative of the output as a whole and finally understanding why the universe is winking a mischievous eye to us, when we look with disbelief at the distance we just conquered.
Then we notice that the sun shines in a different way and that the Universe is laughing at us! Because the Universe is constantly conspiring with us, inviting us to be adventurous and it enjoys when we take the ride and embrace the risk with the inner knowledge that it is worth it!
How we forget how to live life! How we walk through it without paying attention to how and where we want to reach? How we behave as a carousel horse accustomed to the auto imposed security routine, afraid of trying something different!
That is the constant fight I’m having with myself every day, I jumped from the carousel and I do not want to get on it again! The problem is that we are so used to it that sometimes our impulse takes us back and then is when we have to shake ourselves out of it, once again. To do so, there is no need to do something different every day, all we have to do is to do what we do every day in a different way and enjoying it. Applying ourselves to the fullest like it was the very last thing we are doing!
We do not have to do things because it is expected of us , as if that is the case then we are depressed and barking at everyone while looking forward for the hours to pass as soon as possible so we are able to do what we really want to. Sadly, many times we end up not doing what we were planning to, because we are already depressed and our desire is not there anymore. We arrived home with a grumpy face and we growl to anyone that crossed our path ending up ruining our day, what was, what is and what it could have been.
What happens if we change that? What happens if instead of putting a grumpy face and low enthusiasm to the routine we try to enjoy it, having fun with it, trying to live it as if it was the very last minute of our precious life? What happen if we stop living as if there was a tomorrow and instead we live as if there only was a now?
What will then happen is that we will find ourselves smiling all the time, feeling more confident while sailing through our “non secure” life, convinced that life is fantastic. Surely the rest of the world will be looking at us with disbelief to our optimistic attitude towards the misfortunes surrounding us. But that will be the sign that we are at last doing the things right: we decided to listen to our inner instinct after appreciating the shake and therefore jumped into life’s adventure and finally start having fun, despite what others may think. Probably we will be labeled as crazy. So what? If we are really the ones enjoying the journey to the fullest!!

© 2009 Gabriela Abalo Author