The Long Climb, page 1

The Long Climb

What began as an innocent journey to climb a mountain, became an arduous task filled with many ups and downs. Up above the birds began to speak. They whistled and they tweeted come fly with us. We will help you soar above the great white clouds. Not so fast they said, you must overcome many barriers first, before you can have the pleasure of flight.

The boulders above were enormous in size, many different shapes and some even had beautiful colors imbedded in them. Others were quite drab and lifeless, but huge just the same. They were not all the same size, some were bigger than others, but they all posed their own challenges in their own distinct way.

Some were steeper to climb and some were begging to be avoided completely, some were so big they required strategy to navigate safely, even provoking the possibility of going around or trying to dig under rather than traversing over them.

Each boulder up, came with the frightening thought that there could be a fall with any misstep, some falls would be greater than others, but the challenges posed were often worth the risk, “full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes”, so to speak. As with most risks, if there is no reward, why do it at all. If I am going to make the journey and benefit from doing so, there needs to be risks involved, this is how we grow as souls, what would be the purpose of making such an effort if all is perfect along the way.

We all have the same journey with different views and different obstacles. Even when we think we have reached the pinnacle and achieved our ultimate goal, the journey is just beginning. No soul ever completes the journey quickly. Finding out that there are even more dimensions to explore once this dimension has been completed is filled with shock initially, but understood, eventually, as a continuation up the mountain.

Along the way we will find companions to share this journey, some will do what they can to restrict the flow and others will enhance the experience, figuring out which ones are doing what is part of that process. Sometimes, we want someone on our journey to be more than they are capable and other times they do not reveal their impact directly. A lesson can be learned in any instance. Such are the obstacles or boulders, lessons on how to or not how to achieve specific goals. Still, lessons just the same.

There are times when the goal is in sight, that the biggest obstacles come crashing down, when they are least expected. This is called ego. Being humbled is a requirement of every soul. Maintaining what is known as an “even keel” or a “steady hand” is paramount, even in the ebullience of success. Take each lesson in stride and allow for that reality to be what it is, a step in the right direction.

There may be times in such a climb when the odds seem insurmountable and fraught with stress induced fears of failure and a deep desire to not continue, it just isn’t worth it anymore; alas, that is when the real journey begins. That rejection is necessary for the evolutionary process of the soul. Ultimately, this kind of obstacle is the biggest one to overcome filled with doubt, shame, guilt and anger over the lack of compassion or the perception that being alone is not worth the effort. Love has let you down and the feeling of despair is overwhelming, but that is the lesson needed to get through the pain. The most difficult thing to do when at this juncture is to find love within.

The power of love is often mistaken as being needed outwardly in order to be fulfilled, this is not the case. Learning to love yourself for all of the inequities is the real challenge and the only way to find true love. Within. That is the key to a successful journey. This presents another problem, what is the definition of love and how do we know that we have achieved this? Acceptance is only one part of the equation, what are the other parts? Recognition of the differences between ego and self esteem is another part. Allowing for failures as a result of ill conceived propositions is another. If there is one thing I have learned along this journey it is that love means failure, but failure does not mean a lack of love.

Many of us souls become so obsessed with what we think is the “right” way that we refuse to absorb the lesson that failure brings. Failure is not a negative unless that is the way we choose to perceive it. Nothing worthwhile ever happens without that uncertainty surrounding the multiple occurrences of failure. When we do finally get it, that moment of clarity, is so much sweeter, like the taste of a ripe cherry filled with juices, rather than the taste of bitterness from one not ripen just yet. Sometimes you have to eat the bitter ones to find the “right” one. Such is life and the journey of the soul.

Learn to love yourself first and foremost, embrace the challenges that surround you, receive the information intended from perceived negative situations, allow the failures to shape your self esteem and keep your ego in check. Then and only then will the journey be fulfilled. There is a promise of more to come, soar above the clouds with your feathered friends, let them show you to your next destination and continue on the next phase of this wonderful journey.