road trip

I went on a road trip with my 20-year old son last week. We drove over 1200km from the Bay of Islands in Northland to Arthur’s Pass in the central mountains of the South Island. It was a great trip though nothing went to plan.

Every day there was something new that threw our plans into disarray - a big storm in Wellington; a friend sick; a ferry crossing delayed; a road closed; a driving test failed (again). So plans were mostly abandoned.

I tell my kids there are only two rules to travelling:

1. It can be uncomfortable sometimes. Put up with it, it won’t last forever.

2. Very often, things do not go according to plan.

Travelling rules. Life rules.

When we embark on an AT journey of awareness and change, it is often uncomfortable. When we start to become aware of the shapes we contort ourselves into and to move out of those shapes into greater freedom, it feels ‘wrong’. Our minds are creatures of habit and essentially conservative. It keeps us alive. Good. But we are more than the sum of our parts, we have this miraculous consciousness that can CHANGE plans and change programs both on the inside and on the outside. As I can find an alternative route when the road is closed by a landslide, I can also choose to react in a different way when meeting a person or situation that is closed down.

Being present will help. When we are present, we are light on our feet and light in our reactions. Practising AT teaches me to be present through having a little awareness at all times of the sensations in my body. Just stop for a moment and notice some of the information from your senses - perhaps a noise in the background? or the weight on the soles of your feet? or the gentle movement of breath? As you practise presence you will find yourself becoming more grounded and therefore more able to live well with rules 1. and 2.