THE FALL!....Do you ever wonder why weird things happen to YOU?
I have had many things happen in my life that I question: WHY?.....WHY did that just happen to me? What is it that I need to see about what just happened? There are things that have happened that stirred me to do things, different things with my life and when I find myself in one of these "weird" happenings, I examine it! I wrote a post early in 2009 when we were all wondering what was going on in the economy?--what was happening in the world? I found it fundamentally significant to look back on these things--these weird happenings, to see what the clues were for me....."What did THAT mean?" Now I am finding how the message is still valid for me...and I want to share it with all of you again, and especially those who missed it the first time around.
Most of my time in the early 1990's was spent skiing in Stowe Vermont, black ice and all. I had many life altering experiences there in Vermont---I don't know why, except at that point my life was taking a direction that was NOT good for me. I didn't know it at the time but I was being shown at every turn that I NEEDED to take a different path. I never once questioned what happened; just moved on with my life, a little amazed that I was able to handle these life altering events. In several cases there were life threatening situations that I was presented with---I should have seen the warning signs or clues, but I didn't-- not until much later did I finally understand what was going on.
THE BIGGEST CLUE OF ALL: I will start with the BIG ONE---the most scary and life altering one for me:
It was a weekend of friends visiting our house in Sterling Valley, Vermont. Sterling Valley is a small residential area in the mountains in Stowe, Vermont...houses are usually a long distance apart and the roads meander around hillsides and groves of Ash and Maple trees that fill the rolling hills. Sterling Run is a very fast moving river, piled high with huge boulders and crashing at huge heights into crystal clear water falls that cut through the small mountain range, all part of Mount Mansfield.
Alan, my life partner, and I were together then. The 15 year relationship was just starting to fray at the edges and I was not a very happy person then. Many weekends alone, and much time to consider my life situation gave way to a time of dissatisfaction with my life--post career. I was looking to fill the void of the business travel and the high energy of my corporate background...in Stowe, New York City and the Hamptons. I never found it--probably because that phase of my life was over and so was my relationship!
We had just finished a full day of skiing and decided to go take a look at a very picturesque home built right on these immense boulders on the other side of Sterling Run. We called it "THE RALPH LAUREN HOUSE" because that is just what it looked like!
You could get to the house only one way from this side of the river: there was a winding path leading to a suspension bridge. Once at the bridge, you find a metal gate that is not locked but it is closed to keep deer and other wild trespassers from walking on the bridge.
I was very excited about showing my friends the house; I had permission from the owner to show it. They were not there that weekend. Not only was the house built high on the boulders, but the suspension bridge that led to it spanned the rocky, rushing river bed below.
As I ran ahead of my friends and down the path towards the gate, I failed to notice the rounded pile of ice that had built up at the opening to the bridge. Rain and melting snow had rushed down the slight slope and froze in a nice smooth mound right a the gate. As I reached the gate and put my hand out to open it, both feet slipped out from under me and I immediately fell, head down, red boots up, 25'-30' into the icy, rushing river!
As it turned out, I landed on a small pile of pure white snow right on the very edge of the river. I unconsiously tucked my head, as I had been trained to do by my gymnastics coach, and rolled out of the fall with my feet just inches from the rushing water. I looked around and saw a jagged stump right near the mound of snow....just missed that one! And then....I looked up. I was trying to see if my friends knew what happened--did they know how far down I was?
I started to yell to those above as I got up, uninjured. No one answered. I called again, thinking that maybe they did not see me go over the edge. Maybe they thought I was in the house already?
I kept waiting; then slowly, very slowly, I saw a face as white as the snow peeking over the edge. He did not want to see what had happened to me....he did but he didn't if you know what I mean!
Together, they all tied their ski scarves together and dropped that makeshift rope down to me so I could climb my way out.
Not once did I feel frightened; not once did I feel I had almost lost my life.
My friends told me later that everyone topside thought I was dead---no one could survive that fall!!! They had even tried to figure out where to tell the ambulance people to come to get the body! Their 16 year old son had gone back to the car---they found him later in the back seat of the car shuddering, sobbing, thinking he had witnessed death for the first time!
For many years now, I look at the experience of my fall as a life guiding "clue". I call it a clue because like everyone I know, I need to be able to understand why things like this happen: Are these undetermined events that have no more meaning than any other event? Is this sort of experience totally disconnected to the person they happen to?
I HAVE DISCOVERED THAT IT DOES MATTER! There are many people who have gone through something like this and they never go near a river again; or will never take a frisky run down a mountain path again! And that is the end of it for them....
I have found that these things DO happen for a reason. Things like this are "clues" to us as human beings. I know that I have pulled that incident up on my "life-screen" many times as a "template" for my unfolding life. Take right now for instance: My life is going through a "fall" or at least an alteration! I bring that incident to mind when I need to dig deep inside for strength; I use that experience to PROVE to myself that I will make it!
My whole life is made up of experiences that are invaluable "clues". I use them at all times....and I thank a dear friend of mine, Karen Thorne, who taught me this; taught me about the "symbols" of dreams and life events that are literally the language of the subconscious. (She studied Jungian psychology) If we are open to understanding what the events signify, we can benefit tremendously from them!
CAN YOU JUST IMAGINE WHAT 2 TOWERS, CRASHING TO EARTH, AS THEY DID IN 2001, REALLY MEANT TO HUMANITY?...Enormously life altering for everyone!!! We all have an opportunity, because of that occurrence, to turn our lives into exactly what we want it to be--if we are willing to see the truth in what really happened: Out of total destruction comes the possibility of creation; out of nothing comes something!
You can use similar events the same way---I encourage you to at least try to understand what it is that you need to know about life-altering events. Then and only then can we collectively, fully comprehend what it is about life that is so "user-friendly"
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