It was a hot day, that day last June. I went to the Summer Solstice Yoga Festival in New Mexico. It is high up in the mountains and the site is ancient Native American land.
The sand is fine like powder and the smell of the air is sweet. Every year around 2.000 people gather to be together and share in their practice of Kundalini Yoga.
Combined with the festival in the BIG TOP there is also a bazaar. During daytime often a challenge when the sand storms howl over the land, at night a cozy atmosphere which reminds of the market places in the orient.
I have been offering my services there myself the last couple of years, but not this year. This year, I don’t know … I had the feeling something else was needed. Time for myself, I guess.
At the bazaar there is also a corner where all kind of healers have their stall. I had already booked a session with one of them in advance and at the end of it he referred me to another healer to get a second opinion on something.
At this second session with the other healer he expressed his concern and suspicion that there might be cancer developing in the prostate. Bad news! …
At that point perception shifts. I immediately started consciously, subconsciously look at life differently. What if it would be true? …
After I got back to London I visited the GP and she directed me with urgency to the Hospital. A few days later I found myself lying in an MRI scan machine, pounding in my ear like some kind of road repair device.
I was asked to take medicines. Now I haven’t taken regular chemical medicines ever in the last 25, maybe even 35 years, but I noticed that at that point I was willing to do everything, EVERYTHING to stay alive. Even if that would mean to throw overboard certain principles I have been holding up and being faithful towards for so long.
A dear coach, healer, mentor and friend of mine discussed the situation with me and she asked me ‘why’? ‘Why are you letting go of these principles, just like that?’
I wondered. Is it fear of dying? Is it resisting the idea that I might have to leave soon, coming from a longing to live longer? Is it being responsible and doing what is needed? What is needed? …
Over the last few weeks I have been writing about this concept of ‘Walking the Red Carpet’. The idea is (you might recall) is to maintain a state of excellence no matter what the circumstances are. Well, these are the moments that I have been asked to walk my talk. To put into practice the very thing I teach and I can rapport to you that there have been moments that I have walked beside the carpet big time.
Looking in retrospect I have fallen at time completely out of my trust in the universe, in G.O.D., in myself and found myself in this small, tidy conditioned place of thinking I have to do it all by myself.
At the same time I have been working towards a moment of launching my new business and tapping into the wish to give it all my best. Managing my thoughts and feelings like riding a wild horse.
But then there is this wonderful saying, which I’m reminded of often. It is and has been very comforting to me, particularly in these situations:
‘The purpose of life is not to never fall again, but to rise every time you do’.
The reason I am calling these articles PEARLs is because we cannot prevent life blowing corns of sand our way. It happens and it will continue to happen. It is part of life. It happens for our ultimate growth, learning and understanding, if … we decide to take it that way.
It is like having your birthday and someone gives you a present that is in a kind of wrapping you don’t like. What are you going to do? Throwing it away just like that, straight away? Or are you willing to make the effort to unwrap the cover, open the box and start exploring what is insight?
Not always easy. Some presents, particularly when you’ve left them somewhere unopened for many years, it can be quite messy and an ugly job to clean it up, there is no way around it, but ultimately, when you dare to go that route, it is very rewarding! …
A few days ago I went to the hospital again for a checkup and got the message that the chances that I have cancer are very small. I’m lucky. Could have gone the other way.
I am thinking of all those people who have received news that turns out to be some kind of confirmation that there is a disease present which could be fatal. I admit that this is quite a different story and certainly not an easy one to face.
I can imagine that when you or someone you love receives news of that nature, the last thing you want to think about is what the value of it is.
Although understandable it might be just the right way to start looking at it. What I mean with this is perfectly illustrated by Byron Katie particularly in the work she has done with a man who is dying from cancer.
If you are in any distress yourself at the moment or there is someone you know who is in such a stressful situation. Please, click here and have a look at this video.
If you know someone who you feel could receive comfort in what I’ve been writing here, please feel free to forward this PEARL.
With Love,
Christiaan Oranje.
- Transformational Speaker
- Founder of WTRC Training Buro
christiaanoranje 