Mountains of Arizona
Sun Waking Up 51 Degrees
6:40 a.m.
So yesterday, we set out for a short hike with the entire family.
It’s a bit of an event for ALL of us to go anywhere, but that’s what happened.
It lasted about 10 minutes.
We crossed the first creek without anyone falling in. Then we climbed up the bank on the other side and made our way through a gate to the trail.
We latched the gate behind us…and then it was over. One of the dogs knocked over one of the kids, who had an impromptu meeting with a sharp rock… and 4 stitches later, the day was just about complete.
The hike lasted 10 minutes. The rest of the day’s activities lasted about 6 hours.
My five year old, True, was NOT interested in getting stitches. He was even less interested in going somewhere we kept referring to as a “doctor.”
But then it happened. And then it was over.
I think he was surprised at how underwhelming the entire process was. He didn’t make a peep the entire time. Didn’t even squeeze my hand as I was holding his.
The staff was pretty surprised by his behavior and the people that were there to “keep him still” (which I imagine is often a normal requirement for a five year old getting stitches,) just kind of stood there.
I didn’t know how he’d respond because he’s never been to a doctor.
He didn’t “man up” and meet his fears head on. We don’t talk about that type of behavior because, largely, I think it’s a false construct created to truly rob men of connecting with their deepest power.
Instead, he just went through the experience and came out the other side. And I just sat there with him.
He was scared. He didn’t leave. He was done.
The fear of the unknown is not a problem, unless we allow it to become one. I have come to see it as an enormous opportunity for growth if we want to use it that way.
But we’ve been conditioned to relate to the fear of the unknown in very specific ways. From our earliest days, we have been trained and programmed to fear EVERYONE and EVERYTHING.
This is by design, of course. The goal is to co-opt, redirect and deplete YOU of your life force. This is what school does, this is what religion does, this is what the majority of the human created control structures (physical, mental and spiritual) that exist at the moment are designed to do.
But we have to play along for the charade to work.
When you stop playing, you realize the power of choice. Then you realize that choice has been available to you all along.
And once you realize that, you start to ask yourself what other choices are available to you that you haven’t noticed.
Eventually you realize that all choices are available to you, and they always have been. And then something else becomes clear: that you have been given a blank canvas on which you can paint your masterpiece of life as you choose to paint it.
Fear might provide highlights in the painting, but it was never meant to be a primary color. We were taught that, and we can throw out that lesson.
That power is something for which we can all be thankful.