Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Falling

I fell, twice this week... one a big fall and one a minor fall. I was hurt from the minor fall, not the big one which only left me with a couple scratches. I probably should have been hurt much worse but I attribute my training for keeping me undamaged, ie broken arm, leg or head...
So this is what happened..first the small fall. The wife and I took the kids skating in Palm Bay. They do a once a month free skating event at an outdoor arena mostly used for inline hockey skaters. Anyhow, as you can imagine they have solid concrete for flooring. We spent a couple hours skating and I'm rusty as heck, having only skated like 3 times in the last 12 years. I must have been doing something right as I was approached by a roller derby girl inviting me to the coed roller derby team. So after that I was probably dealing with ego issues but the universe set me straight. I tripped over my own skates landed on my left ass cheek. Three days later, I'm still hurting, although the pain has lessened. So what happened? First my ego was in place thinking that I was skating so well to be invited to a team. On top of that, skating with the kids, one has a tendency to show off. But the worse thing that happened is as I tripped myself I fell backwards. The strangest sensation on skates if you haven't experienced it so my entire body tensed and then 'slam!', right into the ground. My whole body tensed and felt the 'slam' into the ground. It hurt!
The big fall happened yesterday, I was climbing a tree at the new house we just moved into. I climbed like a monkey which is what I do naturally. As I'm looking down I tell the wife and kids, 'You know, the worse part about climbing is you have to climb back down.' This really doesn't bother me as I have climbed and rappelled from many a cliff while living in Flagstaff, Arizona. So as I'm climbing down the limb I'm standing on cracks and I my shoes loose traction. I try to hang from my right arm but that limb wasn't strong enough and breaks. I say 'oh shit' and fall about 10 feet to the ground landing nicely on my upper back. I managed to stay relaxed the entire way down and land properly just like I was in a roll. I didn't even feel the fall, no loss of breath, no slam. It felt like a soft landing. I stand up not even hurting, just a scratch on the hand and a shin.
So, what happened? Why so much pain on a small fall and on the big fall where I should have been hurt..nothing? The difference my fellow warriors is tension and locking up the body. When I tripped and fell while skating..I was not relaxed, I was tense. When I hit the ground it was like a brick smacking the ground. When I fell from the tree, I was relaxed the whole time. I wasn't worried or concerned. Didn't hold my breathe, didn't lock up the body.  Have you ever heard of baby's falling from tall building windows and not being hurt? Baby's don't tense up, they don't lock their body's up. They have no tensions, stress, or even fear in them. So the majority of the time they do not get hurt.
This was a valuable lesson for me and it showed the importance of staying relaxed, not holding the breath, having no fear in a crisis situation. Life is about flow, feeling free, being relaxed. When we get so tense with stress, anger, fear, etc the universe has a funny way of smacking us to try and wake us up. If you don't listen to the message then something worse may happen. Again, if you don't listen something even worse will happen. The universe (God, The Force, Universal Energy, etc) is always trying to help us yet most of us don't listen. If you focus on the negative you will get more negative in your life..you will attract more negative. More stress, fear, anger... So, let go! Flow! Smile, laugh! Don't be afraid! We all die when we are supposed to, not anytime sooner or later and not by accident , it is nothing to be afraid of. I'm not talking about fate. We decide when that time is no one and nobody else. Those of us with no purpose, no goals, no reason to live tend to leave this world much sooner than those with a mission in life. Find your mission, your purpose. Enjoy life and have fun. The next time you fall, just go with it and come back up standing with a smile on your face.
Cheers.

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