The Art of Looking Down

Speaking with a wise old friend about the trials, tribulations and challenges if life, he said that his spiritual teacher once told him:

‘If you don’t learn to look down, you can’t fall’.

I pondered on these words for a while and realised that looking down is really about having doubts or ‘wobbles’ about our choices and decisions. For those who truly believe and keep their focus high, even if they fall, they simply bounce back up again. Of course, never looking down can make us unrealistic and ungrounded, but this goes beyond the physical to something far more spiritual and esoteric…

It seems though that the art of ‘looking down’ comes with having to face obstacles and challenges in life. Of course, once we have learnt to ‘look down’, it is hard to forget about doing it all of the time – we cannot ‘unlearn’ it after all. Yet, there must be a way to transform our lives and to find that ‘platform’?

When we are struggling in life, it is hard to take off, to fly, without a platform. With a platform, we can take a running leap and fly high. Success attracts success, and so flying becomes easier. However, when we are stuck knee deep in mud, taking off becomes harder and harder, and we lose hope, faith and the belief in ourselves. So we need an opportunity to present itself to help hook us out of the mud, to dry us off and to give us a launch pad.

Of course, this creates something of a quandary, for it is up to each of us as individuals to make opportunities happen and to believe in ourselves and our paths enough to make our dreams a reality. Yet how can we do this when stuck knee deep in the quagmire of life? Surely we cannot expect someone to come and rescue us? The answer to that last question is both yes and no, for the rescuer has to be ourselves.

So, the key comes through the power of intent. When we truly have faith and believe that life can change; and that our lives can be brilliant, we start to call those qualities to us. It is not a quick process, and for most, it will not happen overnight, and for some it may never happen. But to have faith and believe is to acknowledge that we can grow, evolve and develop as individuals. To have faith is also to acknowledge that we continue to have hopes and dreams, and to have faith also confirms that we are not content to stay stuck in the mud, but we all have the need to fly…

Thanks to Chris!