I can't say exactly why I woke up the other day thinking about the television show Survivor, but I did. I haven't watched that show since the third season and have never given it a second thought since then-until last Thursday.
In this never ending quest I seem to find myself on in figuring out life, why shitty things happen to really special and beautiful people, and why I never seem too far from some sort of pain (mine or someone else's that I wish I could take from them to spare their heavy little hearts), I think I've narrowed it down.
No Immunity.
Ever.
No matter how hard we try or wish that it wasn't so.
I speak on this in some talks that I have been hired for, but I didn't realize (until last Thursday) that there was another way of relating to this life that we're all trying to get through.
Life IS Survivor (maybe some people have figured this out already and I'm a bit late to the party). On a grander, more profound, stakes are higher, sort-of way. None of us ever attain,or are granted, immunity. NONE OF US. (which makes life a pretty level playing field, really). And I've come to believe that the "winner" of the game is the person (or people) who reach the end of this earthly journey with the kindest, sincerest, most humbled, and most compassionate heart. The person who, no matter how difficult life has been for them, no matter how many challenges they have faced (and maybe sometimes felt that they failed or lost), no matter how much tuition they have paid to learn the life lessons that have been thrust upon them, carry themselves with a dignity few of us ever achieve.
One of my sages (though she dose not know it-yet), one of my gurus, is Maya Angelou. If there were ever anyone in this life or past whom I wish I could sit at their feet and take in their beautiful, gentle energy, it would be her. She has taught me that dignity (in its grand form and in its soft whispers) is the most beautiful of all achievements. Also, it is a divinely beautiful gift to be an "old soul" as opposed to struggling with it as a burden as I have done for so long.
I have never had any doubt, from when I was a young pup to this very day, that I have lived many lives before this and my soul is probably as old as the beginning of time (if not older). My challenges have been many and my heartbreaks (and heart aches) have turned me inside out with pain and rejection. And with each and every hurdle, I am changed. My soul has been imprinted on from each and every experience, each and every person, and there have been many days that I have desperately wished for, hoped for, immunity. To no avail.
Make no mistake, I never believe that I am a victim. Ever. And even struggle to relate to those who find comfort and solace in believing that the world and everyone in it is out to get them (I'm working on that, by the way). But every time that I get back up after being knocked down I am one step closer to winning the game. I must believe this. I must aspire to this.
I am not perfect. I never will be. But I'm trying desperately to win the game (which some days call for surrendering and simply crawling into bed). If I (or you) have any hope of the outcome of this game to end positively, then it means that I (and you) must do the work while I (ur, we) can. For every day that I am healthy, for every day that I am here and present on this earth, for every day that I can choose the way I handle what life likes to throw at me, I am working on winning the game.
And so are you.
The life lesson for today, dear friends, is to inch a little bit closer to a life lived from a place of kindness,sincerity,compassion,and humility. And just when you think you already do all of those things, do some more.We live in such a fear based society these days, that what's mine is mine and I live in an anxious state at even the thought of sharing it with you (think-the state of our political system currently), that we must make a conscious effort to awaken the gentle giants in each us that can change the world.
