#107 The Purpose of the Obstacle

I’ve often said life is a journey of discovery. As spirit we make the conscious decision to enter this world. In doing so, we bring two things with us: a challenge and a gift. The challenge is to overcome our hardships, handicaps, and challenges and/or rectify our karmic debt to one another. The gift is that which we are naturally adept. We are all, in some way, good at one thing.

Some of us are natural leaders, writers, singers, painters, fighters, teachers, healers, designers, builders, and so forth. Over the years I’ve told my clients (and even you, my dear readers) that the greatest accomplishment in our lives here on Earth is to find our gift, to hone it with discipline to a skill and then with perseverance and consistency to a talent and to share that talent with the world. If we can do so in a way that makes us a living, we never really need a job.

Along our path to self-discovery and civic usefulness, we are often met with challenges, obstacles, and adversity. It is difficult, however, to determine if that challenge is meant to teach us, strengthen us, or stop us altogether.

Challenges generally fall into three categories:

1.       A challenge may simply test our mettle, to encourage us to prove to ourselves that we really seek the prize and are heading in the right direction. That hurdle may teach us that things of value are not easy, and that easy things have little value.

2.       The challenge might be a detour intended to give us the extra instruction we need to accomplish our original goal. This side quest might give us the extra instruction that will allow us to surpass the upcoming challenges on our path to achieving our greatest end.

3.       The challenge might be a dire warning that we are on the wrong path completely. It is like Gandalf driving his staff into the ground screaming “You cannot pass!”

Example.

Medical school is arduous at least, damned near impossible at best. I work in a medical school and can tell you that those students are simply a different breed. They just don’t operate like the rest of us. Their study habits are exemplary, their resolve is unparalleled, their dedication is resolute, their grit is unsettling.

Not everyone can finish medical school. In order to even qualify for medical school, one must first attain a bachelor’s degree in pre-med and score highly on a test. Along the way, many obstacles must be overcome. Some of these challenges might be things like: giving up on the idea of a social life for a few years, losing your friends, learning how to study effectively and efficiently, learning to live without sleep, taking stiff criticism, accepting nothing but the best from yourself instead of putting out just enough to get by, learning how to run a business, or learning to accept the greatest of responsibilities – decisions for the health of others.

To learn these things, obstacles will be put in your path that will force you to be uncomfortable until those new skills become second nature.

But what if one of those challenges is insurmountable, and how do you decide if it is?

Here’s another example.

I was working third shift in a factory, a job for which I held great loathing. I really hated that job. In order to escape, I decided to go back to school.

I paid my way through Ivy Tech for Architectural Design Technology. For four years I slept two to four hours a day. I would get off work, go to the gym with my workmates, then go to school, then home for a short nap, then wake up to dinner, then teach karate classes, then shower and go back to work. I worked six and seven days a week. Sometimes I slept every other day.

One day I saw my karate instructor studying a weird book. It was a study guide for the police entrance exam. It reminded me that I had always wanted to be a cop. When I was younger I even called to try to be a reserve officer for the Sheriff’s Office; but being too young was the insurmountable obstacle that put me off that path. Gandalf put his staff into the path. The detour then led me to this moment. I decided to go forward again.

The path to get on the hiring list is arduous. First a written test, which eliminated all but the top 120 finishers. Then the physical exam. Then two different board interviews and a writing test. Once your number is called, you take the MMPI (a psych test to discover if you’re a psychotic sociopath lol) and an interview with the psychologist. After that is a medical exam. Then a background check is conducted.

I knew that any one of these hurdles could be the obstacle that might derail me. If I fail any of these tests, my chances could be reduced to zero forever. For instance, if the psych exam showed that I simply wasn’t cut out for this kind of work, my career would be over before it started.

So I kept my degree and its promised future as a back up plan in case some unknown failure eliminates my chances to become a law enforcement officer permanently.

Either way I would escape the factory.

How do we know if an obstacle on your path is a class 1, 2, or 3?

Sit with it.

Our subconscious mind knows everything, but we often rationalize our way around it to another answer entirely.

To tap into our subconscious mind, take a few precautions. Turn off all your electric devices, dim the lights. Find a place to sit quietly. Set an intention. Do this by asking the question. “Why is this obstacle in my path?” “Why is this person/event stopping me?” “How shall I overcome this challenge, or what must I learn to overcome this challenge?”

Then focus on your breath. Feel the breath going in and out your nostrils. Feel it going down to your belly. Feel your belly moving out on the in breath and moving toward your spine as you release your breath and empty your lungs.

Here comes the hard part. When your body starts to relax, it will begin to release all the feelings, emotions, and thoughts you’ve stored in your tissues. These will start to move across the movie screen of your mind. Simultaneously, your brain conjures 70,000 thoughts per day, and these will start to move across the movie screen of your mind. It is important to simply observe these things. Be aware you are having a thought, but you are not the thought. Let the thoughts roll through your mind like a leaf floating downstream. You are aware of the leaf, but you can’t jump on it and ride it to any destination, neither can you ride any thought to any conclusion. Return to your breath, which is the clear stream.

Meditation is not the act of having no thoughts or the act of driving thoughts from your mind. Meditation is simply waiting with your thoughts and finding the gap between them.

The gap is where you will find your answers.

Napoleon Hill wrote a book called “Think and Grow Rich.” There is a reason it has that title. Hill was flat broke when he wrote the book. He and his editor worked to polish the book. Then it sat for months as Hill tried to title the manuscript. One day, the editor called, frustrated. He informed Hill that he needed a title by 8:00 the next morning or he would call the book, “Use Your Noodle to Get the Kaboodle.” Infuriated by the deadline and resulting pressure, Hill sweated all afternoon and evening. He went to bed exhausted, and told himself he had better come up with a good one by morning or his book would flop and he would be further in debt. At 3am he woke and immediately called the editor with the title.

The rest, as they say, is history.

I’m not entirely sure that story I read is entirely true, but it fills us with hope that when we need something badly enough, our subconscious mind comes through for us. Set your needs deeply in your mind, then sit quietly and wait for the answer. It will come.

Ask your friends.

Sometimes, our friends will have a different perspective on events or circumstances. They will always answer with what “they will do.” The trick is not to sell it to your friends, but simply present them with the strict facts of the case. What is happening, and what is stopping things from happening. Sometimes their answers will surprise you and even guide your way.

Change your focus.

1.       Focus on what you can control. You can only control your thoughts and actions, not what others do or think.

2.       Emphasize virtue. Does your current path align with your values? Does your method of circumventing your obstacles align with your values?

3.       Rationality over emotion. Practice mindfulness, making your decisions with a calm and clear mind. Focus on your destination and the steps needed to reach it.

4.       Practice self-reflection. Identify areas where you can improve or learn.

5.       Accept the outcome. Outcomes are often beyond our control. Learn from how things turn out. It may simply be preparation for the new path open before you.

6.       Don’t fear failure. Failure is not the opposite of success, but an integral part of it.

Our lives are littered with obstacles, challenges, failures, lessons, and adversity. If we continually behave as if these hurdles are here to teach us instead to punish us, we may find ourselves propelled along new paths and journeys that may just place us exactly where we need to be instead of where we wanted to be.

Never give up, always have a backup plan, don’t fear failure, rely on your strengths while accepting your handicaps.

Keep going,

Weeg

Joe “Weeg” Weigant is a Board Certified Massage Therapist, Holistic Health Authority, Reiki Master Teacher, Herbalist, Metaphysician, and Empowerment Coach. He combines bodywork, energy work, and coaching to improve quality of life by healing from the outside in and from the inside out.

Weeg sells Nature’s Sunshine Products, Pure Herbs Ltd., doTERRA, and Juice Plus+. Weeg suggests lifestyle changes and provides herbal remedies to his clients so they may build new habits for long life and vibrant health. He teaches Karate and Tai Chi, Reiki Certification, as well as seminars and workshops in metaphysical and spiritual matters. Weeg is available for sessions at Tri State Holistic Wellness by appointment only.

Contact by text 812.568.5356, or Facebook Messenger to set an appointment.

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