What Lane do You Drive in?

I have been watching the unfolding of the past year – listening to the conversations, observing the situations, watching the drama, researching and wondering. It’s been humbling, isolating, and heart-breaking at times. It’s also been illuminating, expansive and exciting. What a ride!

There is so much more to life than work, eat, sleep, repeat. Most of us get into routines in life and living. We get comfortable even in our discomfort. We ride along with life and change speeds or lanes only when we are really pressed.

In a time of such diverse & varying opinions, life really demands us to go deeper as well as stay heart-centered and open-minded as we navigate both new and old territories. I need to constantly remind myself to stay teachable and open (to stay out of my stubborn ways).

It’s easy to stay in our comfort lane – blinders on – ego-driven -and not allow anyone to cut in or add to our lane of information. We are devoted to old ideas & beliefs. We are ingrained and have a tunnel vision of what life is all about – perhaps afraid to question the status quo. We don’t want to add any passengers to our vehicle. We have dug in – and potentially closed off any additional insights – or any possibilities to add a layer of depth of understanding. We get shut off to considering new/different information that can expand our perspective - that questions our life. We believe what we believe – and that is it.

It’s also just as easy to pull out into the fast lane – full steam ahead – grab all incoming downloads – pull them into our car and keep speeding down the freeway. There is a tendency to accumulate information – and not always digest it – feel it – discern it – to see what resonates. We become addicted to the inflow of new/different ideas and become overwhelmed and ooze facts and figures to back up our ‘new’ expanded version of life. We are addicted to the ‘more’ mentality & constantly acquire & feed our thirst that can never be satisfied – all this at the expense of tuning in & toning down so we can integrate what we’ve gathered.

I believe the challenge comes when we take our beliefs and question them constantly, then add more ingredients, boil them down – keep what works/resonates – let go of what doesn’t feel right for us – keep driving as we integrate to gain a broader more inclusive perspective. Once we have absorbed what we gained, we get to use it – and continue the quest to enhance our vision.

We can adapt our speed to life – to the influx of information, ideas and insights as we continue to drive – and align again and again with our hearts. We must be willing to speed up – slow down and drive with both caution and curiosity. It is a constant, expansive, and evolving balance of driving our lives.

In all the chaos – we truly need to remember (above all else) our humanity – to remain kind and compassionate while staying true to ourselves.

Life and learning beckons us to slow down – pay attention to all the road signs – reconsider our drive and truly align with our Soul Purpose – and see what exit best serves our healing and growth.