The wheel of life

As another birthday rolls around on the wheel of life, I look once more at my life and its direction. Life, that word has new meaning now; it now has purpose and meaning. Life is always putting little challenges in front of me, though I guess it is the same for all. Looking at the past, through childhood and adult years, serves no purpose in itself, it does not change anything nor can looking at the past resolve anything. The best I can do is look where I am and gauge my present course. Asking, is it right for me? Am I doing the best I can with what I have?

These are fine questions to ask but they themselves do little to resolve the present moment. Indeed the present moment is all I have. I have recently been informed that life is guided. We each have our own guide who is constantly at our side, in good times and especially in bad. Not only do they guide me though life but they guide me to others and others to me. Each moment of life is for the purpose of growth and for the resolution of past and present issues.

In my work there have been times of creativity and tremendous enjoyment and also times where that creativity is squashed. Why I ask myself, as at the moment the latter is the case. I have a project on at work that fires my passion, but those in charge wish to run the project by the book with all the trappings of the full SDLC process. That is fine, but when it crushes the creative process I have a problem with it.

This all may sound like a grizzle and truth be told it is. Why? Why would my guide present this situation for me? Well it seems that it arises through my free will and of those around me, not a guided scenario, yet my guide presents me with advice and guidance on how best to proceed. ‘Nothing is a waste of time’ he tells me, nothing is wasted, all knowledge and experience is used to further the process. There is more to this than I am aware of it would seem.

It turns out that our guides are omnipresent, presenting choices, guiding those choices as well. Some are able to listen and other not so much, but they are always present. One new piece of information that I've learned recently is that my presents is also used to affect others, just as others affect me, I am used to affect others.

Today I had lunch with a family member that did not end well. But on checking in latter it was for the best. Sometimes we have to go through a difficult time or event to learn or resolve something. It is difficult to stand back and let life unfold sometimes, especially hard when you see someone you love presenting pain. I know now that this pain is not mine or mine to resolve. When it comes to the duty of care for life, then yes we must intervene and sustain life, but when it comes to pain of the emotional kind, we often have to stand back and let events play out. This is true when others present joy, we do not step in to stop it, we encourage it and let it unfold. Pain or sorrow are no different, they are just other forms of expressing emotion from which we can grow.

It is difficult to do when it is someone you love, but when it is happening to me it feels personal, when it is my turn to walk through the mud then it becomes very difficult to watch others stand back but stand back they must so that I can learn to crawl out of the mud myself. Growth can often be a painful process what’s more the process of growth never stops, I am nearly 60 and I’m still growing.

All life is an opportunity for growth and we must grow for that is the purpose of life. It is called ‘The wheel of life’ and it is relentlessly turning.