The Sacred Path

In my last blog, I wrote about accessing the sacred from within by pushing past our fears and our own internally fabricated limitations. The “inner sacred” is what I think I can only describe as the Holy Spirit gently chiseling away on us from within. Today, I’d love to dig deeper and ask you to hop in my passenger seat for a minute or two.

During this Lenten season, having limited past experiences with actually participating in Lent, I failed miserably at my attempt to give up something in order to make more room for my spirituality. Well. I take that back. I made it almost two weeks. :)

The funny thing is, even though I ceased to cut back on one physical aspect of my life, I have lately still found myself plowing full steam ahead on this thought-provoking and life changing path to self-discovery and spiritual awareness.

As Amy described beautifully in one of her prior posts, one of the many reasons that we moved out of Los Angeles was to get away from the mindset that seemed to run rampant in the city. It’s hard to actually put it in to words, but we both knew LA was not the town where we wanted to settle down. And that’s fine. For many others, it’s where they need to be in their lives. We just knew it wasn’t for us. Our dedicated time and placement there had expired.

Maybe it comes from entering another decade, but over the last couple of years I’ve started to really think about my life path: where I came from, where I’ve been, the triumphs, defeats, personal tragedies, and epiphanies that I’ve had, and the various life lessons that I’ve learned along the way. I’ve also thought a lot about how my perceptions have changed throughout the years with these experiences, and how it may continue to evolve as I carry on throughout my life. It’s amazing how our personal experiences really can mold our opinions on subjects and people in general. I’ve started to realize that sometimes these revelations can be incredibly inspiring and eye opening, and other times they really suck. But the reality is that it’s their journey. It’s their personal experience and individual path. It’s also their decision to do what they want with the knowledge or new experience that has been presented before them.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that there is a very real hazard for inner and outer turmoil when we start to pass judgment on others and their life journeys, particularly when we have no clue where they’ve been or to where their life journey will lead. We are usually only given a very small slice of the big picture.

Not to say we shouldn’t stand up for the oppressed when injustices occur as a result of the actions of others, but I’m speaking more on the smaller level of reacting to their personal choices in everyday life.

In that realm, there is so much more room for gratification by focusing on our own paths instead of judging or even comparing ourselves to the personal life journeys of others. It’s important to remember we learn as we go. And that each new experience is a building block to achieving inner and outer peace, a chance for gaining a new understanding, an opportunity for achieving inner and outer harmony, and obtaining a closer relationship with God.

To me, the sacred is the path that I take. Road bumps and all.

The music video below is a live performance from a concert in Japan of a song written and performed by Jason Mraz. For the past 10 years, it hasn’t stopped being my favorite song no matter how hard I’ve tried to find another. But for now, I’m starting to realize that there might be a reason for that. I should probably let it be and share with you this mere tidbit from along my sacred path that still speaks to me today.

Life is not always easy. It’s messy and complicated, discouraging and overwhelming, heartbreaking and devastating. It’s also beautiful and miraculous, mysterious and intriguing, euphoric and filled with wonder.

It takes a night to make it dawn, and it takes a day to make you yawn brother, and it takes some old to make you young, it takes some cold to know the sun it takes the one to have the other.