PART 5: PRIORITIES, FOCUS AND THE UNEXPECTED
(Continued from Facing Adversity)
When the twin towers fell in 2001, I was at the piano working on a melody and song idea. At that time, I was living at my parents’ house. My dad was upstairs watching TV. He came running down the stairs, shaken by what he was seeing on TV. “Come and see! It’s staggering!” he said.
I sat there, jaw dropped, stunned by what I was watching televised in real time: the massive banking towers falling to the ground, people jumping from the windows, emergency crews in overdrive. My heart ached at the loss, the horror, the tragedy.
Flooded with emotion, I went from the TV straight back to the piano, where I wrote the song, “You Gotta Believe”, which later I was invited to perform at Madison Square Garden for the city of New York. The lyrics go like this:
If this moment were your very last, how would you want it to be?
What do you need to do to be at peace? Do you need to make that apology?
There’s no better time than this moment we now have to live the way that you want to be.
What will be in your heart when you leave?
You gotta believe in the good of life and what you feel.
You gotta believe in the power of love and what is real.
You gotta believe. You gotta believe.
Would you want to go in the midst of fear or having a temper tantrum?
Would you want to wait until it’s too late to say you could’ve, or you would’ve or you should’ve been?
Are you brave enough to look within? It’s easier to point out other’s sins
Than to see where we each have erred, how we could have cared, how we could’ve shared.
You gotta believe in the good of life and what you feel.
You gotta believe in the power of love and what is real.
You gotta believe. You gotta believe.
Life’s a wake up call, how we’re all afraid to fall without the love we all need.
What will it take, more raising the stakes for your eyes to fully see, for your heart to remember its divinity?
You gotta believe in the good of life and what you feel.
You gotta believe in the power of love and what is real.
You gotta believe. You gotta believe.
© Parvati Devi, 2001
My heart still goes out to all those who lost in the tragedy and to those who rose to the challenge and grew stronger through it. We never know what life will bring, but we know we must live fully. We know that fear and doubt hold us back from the courage to leap into the unknown, let go of the familiar and try something new.
We also know that sooner or later, even when we have embraced that which feels expansive, rooted and vital for us, we will face setbacks. When we are faced with adversity, if we are to live the hero’s journey and follow our bliss, we need to remain rooted on what is real, on the truth of interconnection and on basic goodness.
Our soul is connected to everything. In this way, the goodness of life is beyond the ups and downs, the pain and suffering we create and experience. There is a force beyond it all that I call the golden thread, guiding us through the messes we create and the hurt we can feel.
Life will test us. Especially then, we need to stay true to your vision. We learn through adversity to put the things that are most important as our highest priority. Most of us can get caught up in the nitty-gritty, rather than putting the scary stuff, the challenging stuff first. “Oh, I will get to that later” we tell ourselves, in an elusive attempt to curb our fears. But when does later come? How long are we willing to wait? What is the cost of waiting? It is easy to fool ourselves into thinking that we are growing and doing ok, when in fact, we are hiding and not challenging ourselves to meet our highest potential. All of a sudden you wake up and ten years have flown by.
Following our bliss requires discernment, constant vigilance, keen focus and commitment to honouring the call of our unique inner voice. The universe supports our greatest joy. We must be willing to remain focused on such while we face the ups and downs of life. Staying focused and being prepared to meet the unexpected are part of the hero’s journey and following your bliss.
(Continues tomorrow with Today Is The Day)
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