Sunday, May 31, 2020

Now Rowing Forward


We can't wait to move on. We've been stuck for some time, and we want to move forward and be able to live our life's next chapter. A life where mystery meets uncertainty. A life of ups and downs -- our current reality.

Today, I've seen how we go a few steps backward. When the Pandemic struck, we froze, could hardly move, and went on to reminisce about our past life. We remember the good old times and learn from the bad times. We have time-traveled, and it just feels so good.

Rowing on a small boat from my last year's retreat on a beach was one of the most solemn and soulful experiences ever. That gave me a lot of realization about how I lived my life. That was a preview of how to live and survive in silence, without a crowd, and just a moment of detachment and social isolation.


As I looked at the horizon from afar, where the blue skies meet the sea, indeed sky is the limit regarding our life's desires and realizations. There are a lot of opportunities and foresight waiting for us to be discovered in total silence.

As I walked closer to the shore, the horizon seemed endless, even when I reached the deepest sea. When a big wave is coming to hit me, I may either swim as fast as I can back near the shore or just go with the flow as calmly as I can.

Life's like that. When something big hits us, like an overwhelming challenge or adversity, we can choose how to react; we panic or stay calm and focused on taking the best action and not get drowned.

Fast forward to today, a year after, comes the Pandemic. I remember how I enjoyed the silence and solemnity of a place where I said I could survive in that environment for a long time.

How many of us could live without a noisy and distracted world? How many of us can enjoy being detached from worldly possessions and relationships? How many of us can survive alone, having just enough and with no luxuries but only a natural world of purity and simplicity?


Today, as people and communities have started to mobilize again after isolation, we have learned a harsh lesson and a deeper awareness of our being. That we can indeed live alone for some time and depend on ourselves for our own happiness. That we are responsible and in control of our life -- our destiny.

Life has brought us to a different era and future we never imagined. This time, we are not only moving on or moving forward. We are now rowing along in the direction of our will, our life purpose. We are the captain and in control of our destiny. The director of our own reality.

© 2020 Del Cusay