Opposites

Sunrise seemed to come early this morning. Or perhaps it was just the fact that I had a late night which changed my pattern. It was hot and sunny by 5:35 this morning. I love this heat. Today's heat was a little crisper than other mornings, not quite as stifling. Shortly after sunrise I was on my way to my favourite spot in Las Vegas: Mount Charleston. It is at least 30 degrees cooler in the mountains here. What a beautiful drive.

It's amazing how much of our life experience revolves around the weather. The lack of sun can totally wreck a day and yet too much sun can do the same thing. However, it is the extremes in anything that help define a great experience. You can never experience the depth of coldness until you have also felt the height of extreme heat. You can never truly know light until you have spent some time in complete darkness. Opposites are what define our experience and give it richness. Paradoxically, the extremes can also be the sources of frustration and suffering. I suppose it comes down to perspective. Which side are you going to see?

Stability

Did you know the sun comes up every day regardless of what is happening in your life or my life? In the desert, the sunrise seems to be identical each and every scorching hot morning. The desert goes from hot to hotter to hottest in a matter of hours. I personally love the heat. By about 7am, it is so hot already that you can start to "see" the heat around the edges of the mountains and the horizon. It glimmers and glows and seems to mute the colours. Yet, regardless of how it shines or how hot (or not) it is, one thing is for certain. The sun's coming up again tomorrow.

How many things in your life are that certain? Probably nothing. In fact, there are very few things in life that we hold as certain as the sun coming up (and going down). There are ways to transfer these feelings of certainty to other beliefs. Imagine if you held the same sense of certainty about your ability to start a business or your ability to achieve your dreams. It is absolutely possible to transfer this certainty within your own neurology. That is why I love the field of NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) so much. Because it gives me the "know-how" to do things like increase the certainty of my beliefs so I can consciously create a life that I love.

Deja Vu

I have watched the sunrise from Red Rock Canyon before. It was almost identical. The same song even came on the radio as I drove into the canyon. It was really bizarre. The only marked difference that I could discern was my path was crossed by jack rabbits on no less than five occasions. And, then again, my path was crossed by burros. It was all a little weird. Hard to believe I was less than 30 minutes from the strip in Las Vegas.

Whenever I have deja vu, I begin to question what issues in my life are still needing resolution; so much so that I have created almost identical circumstances to facilitate the completion. This is my approach to deja vu. It's not necessarily true but I am always intrigued by circumstances that repeat themselves. Usually it means that the lesson was missed and it is being re-presented for learning. Some lessons are more important than others which is why deja vu is significant to me. It's like a supercharged cosmic two by four ensuring that it gets my attention. It definitely got my attention this morning.

Shifting

It's been a while since I have been in Vegas, teaching. The last time I was here the sun rose directly in front of my hotel balcony. The sunrise position has shifted significantly since then. I know this is due to the fact that it's the middle of summer and the sun is always shifting but it is the size of the shift that has caught my attention this morning. The shift is all I can notice. I could barely take a picture without falling out the window.

I always experiences shifts when I am here. The desert does this to me. It strips off anything that is inessential, forcing me to contemplate the uncontemplatable. Maybe it's the heat that wears me down. The desert is ruthless. Only the strong survive here. On my walk this morning, I came across a beautiful tree. It had lovely fern-like leaves; they were very green and very lush looking. However, upon a closer look, I discovered that the branches out of which the leaves were growing were covered in big, sharp thorns. These thorns obviously serve the purpose of protecting the tree from other creatures coming by and eating the precious source of photosynthesis for this tree. A living paradox. Soft, lush beauty with a built-in protection mechanism. If perception is projection then I'd say that it's time for me to develop the same internal equilibrium as the tree. Can we be soft and open while at the same time creating enough internal protection to allow ourselves to fully flourish?

Soft Desert

I'm back in the desert again. The colours in the desert are always muted; a softened version of their originals. Even the sunrise is muted. There is a softness around the edge of the sun that I only ever see when I am in the desert. I love being here. I love feeling the heat of the wind and seeing the tenacity of the desert plants as they creatively strive to get hydrated.

At first glance, the desert appears harsh. But it's not. The hardness of the rock and the dryness is softened by the pastel colours and vibrancy of the desert plants. This place is calming and balanced. The desert has stuck a balance between harsh and soft. I strive to do the same within myself. I'm not always successful. I usually swing too far one way or the other. Thankfully, I am willing to pay attention to the feedback in my life which helps inform me which way I am leaning. Lately, I have been leaning a little to far to hard side. Introducing softness is always a challenge however the hardest part is making the switch. Then, it get easier each day.

Brilliance

I watched another sunrise from the Thunder Bay airport again this morning. I was flying with my family after the conclusion of some holidays. The sunrise was brilliant. The sun shone so brightly that my son kept asking me if he could close the window shade because it was too bright. All I could see was brilliant golden light.

That brilliance is in each one of us! How do I know this for sure? I know because we can all witness the brilliance of the sun or the brilliance of the night sky or the brilliance in an act of kindness. Because we can witness these events it means that we already have the brilliance within us. The events are merely a reflection.

Balancing Act

Today marks the first blog entry in the second half of the year. We've passed the halfway point in 2010. Wow. Balance was all I could think about at sunrise this morning. Even the sunrise seemed to hover in the balance.

Many people think that balance is a static state; a place to get to where there is stability. But I think that balance is actually a dynamic state where you fine tune the give and take of your energy. Balancing is about finding an optimal state where you have just the right amount of external or internal stress to activate your peak performance but not too much to overload your system. There's a fine line between the two. If you got off to a slow start then you always have the option of increasing your performance in the back half to balance your slow start. Think of it as a game or rather as a balancing act :)