The View From Up Here
Someone was asking me how to apply the principles to a problem she was having. As she spoke about her problem, she got a bit racy and it snowballed into her talking about her many problems. I could hear the overwhelm and anxiety in her voice.
I tried to point her toward a nicer feeling, allowing her mind to settle down by talking about our internal GPS that guides all of us to a quieter mind if we let it. After a few minutes of settling she said, “Ok, I feel calmer, but I still need to talk about my problems.”
I gave her an analogy. I come to a mountain and I’m lost. I ask directions from someone standing at the bottom of the mountain (an appropriate analogy for this time of year…Shavuous!) I see them racking their brain to try and remember how they got here. It seems to me like they are working really hard to try and figure out how to navigate the area and how to explain it to me.
Imagine if I look up and someone from the top of the mountain calls down with such ease, “excuse me, just go x feet in that direction, turn right, etc.”
From the top of the mountain it is so easy to see where to go and it doesn’t take much effort. From the top of the mountain perspective is obvious. The view from up here is glorious, vast, clear and serene.
With perspective, in a quieter mind, we are guided by our wisdom as to what next step to take in life. With little or no perspective, in a busy mind, we spin our wheels trying to fix things that may not need fixing (at least not in the way we would think they do from the bottom of the mountain).
Can I learn to trust that my internal system will reset itself and guide me if I let it?
Can I trust that talking about my problems while standing in front of the mountain will never give me the answers I am looking for?
However, if I wait until my state of mind rises, the view from up here will reveal my answers.
Can I be alright with the fact that answers will come in
G-d’s time, not mine, and probably be far more productive than anything I could think up at the bottom of the mountain?
