Imagine you are walking down a dusty road between two tall hedges and carrying a heavy load. This is the road of an ordinary life.
You notice that some people get ahead of you and some fall behind. You have struggled at times along this road to keep up, to get ahead, to connect, to find love.
You tire yourself, collapse on the side of the road, and then notice a light on the other side of the hedge. You can’t clearly see what lies on the other side but you are peering into a world you never knew was there.
You choose to push your way through the hedge and the burden you’ve been carrying gradually gets left behind—as if it’s too cumbersome to pull with you through the hedge. And once you break through, you realize you haven’t lost a thing in your effort to push through to the other side.
What burden do you carry?
What do you have to give up in order to get to the other side? What is the burden you need to leave behind?
It is the way you’ve been making meaning all of your life.
What will you get if you let go of your old ways of making meaning and push through to the other side?
You’ll begin living a life you love
You’ll have a clear view of the you that you want to live with for the rest of your life. You’ll choose who you want to be and you’ll let go of old stories that you hold yourself back with and you’ll begin to live in a new way.
And after giving up your old ways of making meaning you’ll realize that you would give up just about anything to stay here, because being here allows you to be more present, which creates a sense of calm and deeper intimacy. You can be the captain of your soul, celebrating your life and living with a sense of purpose.
How is this possible?
When you learn to change the way you speak—to others and yourself (in your own head)—you shift the way you make meaning of the events in your life. You stop feeling like a victim. You stop resisting yourself. Instead, you choose to live a life you love—a life of love.
Are you trying to get to the other side? What do you imagine you need to do to get there?
For me, it required a change in direction, taking a different path, committing to something new and working at it. Live Conscious is one such path—not for everybody—but it is the safest, most practical, self-empowered path I have discovered.
If you’d like more information please contact me at hannah@liveconscious.com
This writing is inspired by E.M. Forster’s “The Other Side of the Hedge” (1911)
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