It was about 3 AM on the full moon a few months ago and I was awake in the silence of the darkness of our bedroom, so I went for a walk to the top of the mountain which is right behind my house. The stillness of the crisp and cool night air surrounded me and my breath came out in frosty puffs as I slowly climbed the well-worn trail that I have walked many times to the top. As I hiked up the trail, I watched the beautiful full pregnant moon shining its light making everything shimmer with a magical glow. At the top of the mountain about an hour later, as I sat in silent meditation facing the full moon, the beauty of the moment was exquisite and the stillness reached deep in my being under that extraordinary moon. Right then, about the length of a football field away on the next ridge over, a pack of coyotes started howling. This pack lives near my house and we hear them howling in the distance every now and then, but I had never heard them so up close and personal. It felt like a social greeting and I felt a deep stirring of emotions and a primal connection with all of life around me. I let my voice rise in howling with the pack and they just kept howling with me for quite some time. After a few minutes their voices died down except for a few lone howls following up from members of the pack which I answered in kind.
I could have been afraid, but instead I chose to see the beauty of our connection in the moment and I allowed an extraordinary experience to evolve at the top of that mountain. Realistically speaking, I never actually saw any of my four legged neighbors, and there has never been a coyote attack in our area that I have heard of (except on the local rabbit population), so I figured there was no real danger. We can often perceive danger around every corner in our lives when we let our fight or flight take over, but when this fear dominates our mind then we lose sight of the beauty of the interaction in the present moment. This fear happens when we argue with our friends or loved ones or when we have difficult interactions with others in our work or in the daily course of our lives.
While it’s important to use good judgement in navigating life’s challenges, the fear that comes from our conditioned mind and our history of dysfunction and trauma in our life is actually not necessary to protect ourselves and often leads us to make dysfunctional choices and separates us from the inner peace, joy and clarity that is the birthright of our human nature. When we allow these negative emotions take over in our minds, we can spend much of our lives running away from our fears rather than moving towards our joy.
When you are feeling anxious or are having a difficult interaction with a friend or stranger, or if you are in a new situation like howling with coyotes, see if you can recognize the fear-based thoughts in your mind that give rise to your avoidance, fear or anger or whatever form of dysfunction in any given situation. Look behind the mask of that person’s dysfunction to see the core of goodness that lies at the heart of every human being and look behind the mask of your fears to find that loving confidence in yourself. Let your thoughts and your actions flow from your intuition and allow your inner place of peace and confidence to guide your reactions rather than allowing your fear to take over and govern your interactions. If you practice this on a daily basis, you will begin to allow yourself to have extraordinary experiences that have the power to lift yourself out of the ordinary ego-driven awareness where many of us frequently get stuck. This practice can lead you to resolve any difficult pattern of conflicts or difficulties in your life and help you create a life you love.
Namaste,
Steven
