When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you. – African Proverb
It’s Saturday morning 9am, I ring the bell hanging from the wall that gives off the signal… Breakfast is being served. In come a steady stream of people lining up in single file. One by one they shuffle down the servery, getting their trays and breakfast, going off to find a seat in the dining room to quietly start consuming the contents on the tray.
As I’m serving I notice in the corner of my eye a middle aged man, worse for wear, reflective of a hard life and perhaps not in the cleanest attire, with what I could best describe as a post battlefield emptiness. It’s as if he has seen and experienced things that he would prefer not to have. He glares into the room with no purpose or intention, slowly bringing the toast to his mouth, chewing with no real reason other than the body’s cries for nutrition.
My thought process kicks into overdrive and I ask myself,
“What or who is inside this man? What is it that is taking in all this experience called life?” It’s as if for a split second I could see through his eyes, experience, his emotion. The next second a great sense of sadness and despair showers over me, trying to keep a brave face for the other patrons. I continue to greet and serve with a pleasant smile “ Hey… How you are ya?”
No this isn’t a cafe or a restaurant in the burbs, it’s a shelter for the homeless and life challenged.
Counting the pieces of toast and peanut butter I’m placing on the plates in front of me I can’t help but think “What’s the spirit in me trying to tell me?”
The same spirit in that ‘being’ is also alive in me. The connection far more than just skin deep. The bonds we share as humans are exactly what makes us human. The word ‘humus’ of this soil and ‘humanus’ is to be human.
To be human.
What is it to be human ?
Is it perhaps the expression of the spirit within each and every one of us? What makes one go through hell, while the other experiencing riches like no other?
This is a question I ask often, the answer all along sitting within me, even though I resist it and try to change the outcome to my liking, I must resign to the fact that I am not in control, I am being lived through. Something well beyond my comprehension is at the reigns whether I choose to acknowledge it or not.
Think about it for a second, everytime we think we’re in control we get sent a little curve ball to give us a moment of pause and reconsider who the true captain of the ship is.
It’s fascinating to me to see the spirit in us, playing out in so many different forms from saint to sinner. This is what the essence of life is. Simply the experience of life!! Best part is, it’s all faults if any… Just perfect.
The spirit has a guiding energy called E motion, the way you feel is actually the spirit’s way of communicating with the body, however most of the time we try to tame it and suppress our emotion to be in control.
As business owners often we try to change the outcome, want to make it so called perfect. The crazy part about it is that it already is. Every single action and reaction are all a part of the bigger picture. Have you ever noticed that the worst event in hindsight ends up being most of the time a blessing in disguise?
I know for me (the world according to Nick) that every time I thought everything was against me, now I actually realize it was all a part of the journey and the spirit inside me was perfectly designing everything along the way and everything I’m supposed to experience. This experience called life.
To tap into your inner voice, your inbuilt GPS ask yourself the following:
– How long has it been since you really listened to it?
– Are you acting on the information given?
– Are you so wanting to control the outcome that you’ve lost faith in spirit?
– Do you bury your emotions so much that you forget to feel?
– What would happen if you learned to have trust in the little voice?
– What’s the spirit trying to express?
Remember, you are a being of unparalleled proportion guided by an energy that is all perfectly aligned with YOU!!
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