Balancing on the Tight Rope of Life

The image of the tightrope walker - it’s a powerful metaphor for the delicate balance we navigate in our lives. Each thought, each action, contributes to the fabric of our future. And just like the tightrope walker, we strive for inner alignment and peace.

As we walk our own invisible tightrope, may we choose our steps with care, cultivating thoughts that lead to harmony and well-being.

Transcript

Good day.  Warm welcome. Delighted that you're joining this reflective experience, this meditation.  And today I had this image come into my mind based on an incident that happened quite a while ago in New York City.  So there was this famous tighten rope walker from Europe, French, I believe. 

And he loved to do some might call it stunts, but he was known for doing tightrope walking in really interesting places.  Absolutely a wonder and terrifying to watch. On this particular occasion, he wanted to tightrope walk between the two really tallest buildings at that time in New York City, and that was illegal. So he got together a team. He had to get through security, get up there, get the tightrope, all without the police ever finding out he was successful. 

So they have this image of him, which is what came into my mind, of him holding that big stick for balance, walking that extremely fine line, the tightrope with no net.  Tallest buildings at that time in New York City.  It's an incredible image. And when we see it that clearly, it’s very easy to think, wow, he has to be so careful with every step he takes. The consequence is so obvious. 

But the feeling was, we're walking a tightrope every moment in our day. It's just not so visible to us. It's very incognito.  But there is a consequence to every act we perform.  Whether it's a thought, a word, a deed, even a vision or attitude, every act has a consequence. 

And if that could be relayed back to us in concrete feedback, we’d probably be very attentive. As we go through the day, we are constantly creating our future.  So just exploring the alignment or inner state required within each of us to really create a beautiful future for ourselves, even the next second, depends on what I do in this moment.  So, exploring that inner state, the tightrope walker in our own lives. 

Sitting comfortably.  Eyes can be open if you choose. We certainly want our eyes open if we're walking a tight room. 

And even how I arrange the body in the chair demonstrates this principle of cause and effect. 

If I arrange the body in proper alignment that honors the architecture of the body, including the breath, then there's no pain. 

But if I don't,  then I start to need supports and pillows and foot breaths, and still there's pain and  not feeling like there's enough pillows and foot rest and using external things to try to make up for an internal issue. 

And it just gets worse and worse. 

Understanding that principle, cause and effect, and, yes, personal responsibility, I take that principle inside, into my inner world, mapping it on my inner world. 

To organize my inner world. 

Usually when I go inside, it's a jumble of thoughts and feelings, ideas and memories, fears and concerns, kind of incoherent flow of activity. 

But I start to map this principle, and at the most simple level I can see every thought I created has an associated feeling. 

It is not anything outside that shaping how I feel. It's this principle that I create a thought. And the consequence from the thought I myself create is a feeling. 

So if I want to feel  peaceful  and not fall out of  that experience  of inner peace,  I will need to be careful  with the thoughts  I created. Being so caring.  In my inner activity,  I am aware, if I'm honest,  that my attention is often wandering outside,  convinced  that's where the control  is,  trying to control  other people,  other things.  But I can see now it's my inner activity that shapes how I experience the outer world. 

This very fine line. I'm walking inside just the right inner activity and fulfill my seeking of a particular experience. 

For example, going back to inner peace. 

It is such a sublime, soothing, healing and nourishing experience.  Inner peace.  Perhaps every soul on the planet is seeking just that. 

What thoughts, attitudes, awareness is required. How must my mind step in order to stay in that kind of experience and not fall out? 

Peace comes where there is freedom, internal freedom, we even might say very pure, pure thoughts. 

When the hand of my mind is holding tight in a fist, deeply attached to an expectation or an outcome, maybe a memory, there is no inner peace. 

But when the hand of my mind can let go, accept, understand, allow, it automatically brings away inside. 

I think again the image of the tightrope. 

That thin, thin line geometry tells me that a line is simply a series of points strung together at every moment.  That letting go is possible. 

When I stick with the point, the most powerful point is about myself. 

To stick with a very unlimited, pure, true experience of the self keeps me free. 

That I am much more than anything temporal. This temporary body, temporary roles, temporary relationships, relationship's temporary stuff. 

The moment the fist of my mind holds light onto  my job,  my car,  my illness, my body,  my mind becomes heavy, I fall out  of that inner peace,  but that when I remember,  I am this wonderful point  of life,  a soul,  a traveler through time.  Nothing temporal can ever really be mine.  I am eternally okay. Even if, as things come and go, I continue get through everything and anything, I begin to feel more and freer.  Yes, this job may go, but I still traveling through time and that lightness help something new to come to me. 

I may not know what, I may not know when.  But I am open, free.  That pure freedom achieves far more than trying to control, and it keeps me light and peaceful. 

I experiment now, bringing into my awareness some scene, situation, past or future that I find my mind holding onto very tightly in a tight fist. It might just be repetitive thinking, it might be worry, concern, and fear. It might even be something positive, but still dependent on, still affected by holding tight. 

And then I remember, whatever it is, it will come and go. 

What will make it a most beautiful experience isn’t anything external.  The lightness of my own being, the openness of my own presence.  Just being open.  The wonder of traveling through these scenes, knowing everything I actually need is within myself. 

The soul, my true nature, is peace.  Everything I need within the self.  That beautiful balance of being present in situations but not dependent on situations.  Very content, I hold that inner alignment as I reflect on that situation. I've been grasping so tightly, it has me falling off of that inner peace. 

And while in that experience of deepening contentment, fullness, just the point of sound, feeling the muscle of the mind, relieved to let go, to be open. 

All I need to control is my own inner awareness, my own inner state.  So much easier to control just the point of self than everything out there. 

So much more light. 

Just remembering I am a soul, a being of peace within me is everything I need.  I am open.  Stepping with care and lightly through the day. 

Thank you for joining.