From the history of humanity to our own individual story, it appears that we’re back at square one more often than we’re not. Like an hourglass that keeps spinning on an axis, history repeats and re-repeats itself.
Do the sands of time wish to punish us? Can it even be considered punishment?
For those of us who believe in karma, we may be tempted to conclude that there’s nothing we can do to change or influence what is fated for us. We must simply allow karma to run its course. When my consciousness was limited, I believed that God was punishing me time and time again. I don’t believe that anymore.
Why do we keep attracting the same people and circumstances into our lives–even if they do come dressed in a different outfit?
It is our soul’s yearning to look deep within.
History repeats and re-repeats to teach us to take a different course of action when confronted with similar circumstances. If what you did the first time around did not get you the result you needed, life is encouraging you to make a different choice so that you can get a different result.
If we were to really look within, we will see that the reason why we fail is because we refuse to learn. We are lazy students of life who don’t want to work hard at the subjects that we failed at. We’d rather blame others.
It’s hard to admit the part we’ve played in our own life story. We need to recognise what must be changed within us, before anything changes outside us.
Then, we can finally modify our behaviour and write ‘The End’.
Then, we are finally, at long last, granted freedom.
In our younger years, most of us rely on our parents and primary caretakers to mould us. In their successes, we believe, perhaps erroneously or correctly, that we may find our own. In their failures and disappointments, we may end up avoiding pathways and trajectories that would have proven profitable–had we not succumbed to the false notion that their fears should be our fears; and that their failures would be our failures.
Let’s say, for instance, your parents started a business and failed. You might associate the concept of starting a business with failure. What if, the reverse were true? If we choose to walk upon a path where our parents and grandparents failed–does that mean that we’re going to fail as well?
Or perhaps, we have simply chosen to believe and accept that because our parents failed, we have permission to fail as well.
The story of the 2017 animated film Coco centres around a young boy named Miguel who dreams of becoming a musician, even though his family strictly forbids it. His great-great-grandmother was married to a man called Hector who left her and their daughter to pursue a career in music. When Hector never returned, great-great-grandma banished music from her family’s life and started a shoemaking business.
Towards the end of the film, we discover, after a long journey in The Land of the Dead, that Hector, who is believed to have abandoned his family, had actually been poisoned. Ernesto–the plagiariser who poisoned him–had also stolen Hector’s guitar and music and passed them off as his own.
What I admire most about Miguel is that he found the courage in his heart to rebel against his great-great-grandma–a woman who he loved very much. He did not do it to be ‘cool’. He did it because he loved music. It was in his blood.
And if he didn’t do it, they–as a family unit– would never have discovered the truth. Miguel’s courage allowed his family to overcome their false fear of abandonment that had become a part of their family legacy.
When the truth was revealed, they, at long last, realised that Hector never abandoned them for music. He was poisoned. If Miguel never followed his heart, generations would have continued to erroneously believe that they had been abandoned because of music.
The striking message of the film is that even if we do make the same decisions–decisions that were once perceived as mistakes–we can find ourselves with a completely different outcome the second time around.
Fear is a jail cell that holds us hostage. We have willingly given the prison guard the key. The worst part: the prison guard doesn’t even want the key.
The word rebel usually has a negative connotation, but I love rebels. Without them, the world would never change. The sands of time would keep spinning on its axis and we would go and get nowhere.
I have seen this happen time and time again. At the very point when people are about to reach a major breakthrough, they go back to their old ways.
Are we afraid that we will finally have the chance to be happy?
Are we afraid of life beyond the cage?
Fear of all that can go wrong when we emerge from the prison cell should never stop us from pursuing our dreams.
Are our fears imagined fears that exist only in our minds?
Some fears are relevant, necessary and perhaps even vital. Fear is programmed into the human nervous system. Fear is the foundation stone of our survival instincts. It is what we need to keep ourselves safe from danger. But our imagined fears are fallacies that prevent us from embarking on our destiny.
If we see a poisonous snake and are prompted to run to a higher place, that is a healthy fear. But if we imagine that there will be a snake in the future and then run to a higher place so that we never have to deal with the snake, then we are living our lives with an illusionary fear.
It is a fear that exists only in the mind.
When you are ready to seize your freedom and claim it as yours, you realise that even the prison guard was imaginary.
You arrive at a new level of consciousness. You realise that there was never a cage.
Can you believe your eyes?
The limitless sky has always been there for us to explore. At first, we feel a little shaky.
But as our fears dissipate… We spread our wings and fly.
God Almighty, we are free at last.