I don’t pretend to know anything more than anybody else and do not consider myself to be a leading light or an inspiration to the world, so why do people flock to me who want help?
There are those of us who are prepared to shine a beacon for others to be drawn to when they need a light to illuminate their path. Why me? I never wanted it.
I was never a light for anybody when I was young, in fact, I was always following other people’s light and inspiration, never my own. You see things differently when you are on the other side of the fence and I suppose I have been on many sides now and my view of things is “rounded.” But isn’t this just getting old, and one of the benefits of maturity is the experience of things going wrong, knowing there is an outcome that can be achieved by common sense and stepping back to view a situation from further away?
Since when have we been able to step back? We are all the same, we rush into a situation, panic because we now have a problem we didn’t expect and are too bullish to walk away and try a different approach. Such is the human condition, and one that is not helped in a society that demands instant answers and sees contemplation as a weakness. Certainly procrastination is just as big a problem, but we never seem to want to be patient and let things evolve in a natural way.
Take driving, for example. If there is a complaint about modern driving it is that we all drive too fast and too close. If we drive too fast then we are not able to see what is going on clearly and will arrive at a situation far too early and unprepared for what is there, ultimately crashing into something that we should have seen.
We all drive down a particular road to get to work or a place we regularly visit and assume we know everything about that road but try this simple exercise just once. Walk down the same road. You read it correctly, walk down the same road. Now we have time.
As we walk down the road we now have time to see what kind of houses are on the road, how many people are walking down it, how human everybody appears to be, some even smiling and saying, “Hello!” We can start to understand that there is a community built around those houses and they have gardens, children playing, laundry on the line (don’t stare). Even the passing traffic is different, it sounds different, maybe seems more threatening, maybe it just seems pleasantly peaceful, not threatening at all!
It is almost like we have stumbled on Middle Earth, totally hidden whilst driving but there non the less. And, when you get back in the car it will still be there, the same houses, the same people, the same community. But, we will now have a better understanding of where we fit into the bigger picture and appreciate why it is important to understand the needs of those people and how we might help them, just as we would like to think they would help us by not running out in front of us – it’s a team game.
As for being too close? Don’t you hate it when you are at the checkout and the person behind is too close, almost to the point of breathing down your neck? I know people who say they step back deliberately to stand on their toes then apologize making the point that they were too close! A bit harsh but it makes the point, I suppose. I’m not sure that people who are too close realize they are, almost as if they cannot see what is in front of them or realize the problems that can be created by being that close.
Of course, if you are too close to the vehicle in front whilst driving then you are likely to not stop in time if it stops and hit it. Bang, another statistic!
The real problem is that by being too close we are not able to see what is blindingly obvious. If we were further back then we would see more information and be able to use that information for our own benefit and keep us from not falling foul of the last minute emergency.
So, by allowing ourselves time and space to contemplate the information at our disposal we are better able to think of a more suitable solution than just reacting to whatever is thrown at us, almost like we knew what was about to happen before it did.
The truth is that we can now start to predict things because our intuition is able to come forward and guide us by our feelings for a particular situation. I talk about intuition in more detail in my book but it really is the key to guidance, whether through meditation or just allowing time for your feelings to come through.
So why do people come to me for guidance when they already have the knowledge and intuition to solve problems? Ah, yes, they didn’t know how to access it.