Getting Through The Fog

For the past two weeks in my little corner of the world I have awakened every morning to a thick, heavy fog. It's the kind of fog that has your carefully picked out clothes looking wet and soggy by the time you get to work, and your hair ... well, lets just say "bad hair day" takes on a whole new meaning.

So there I am standing at the bus stop all by my lonesome and I'm looking out at the fog. It is so thick and heavy that things I know are there on a clear day take on a whole new shape and often become sinister looking when in reality it is something benign like a shrub or a recycling bin. Sounds also become distorted in the fog. They have a thick quality as if someone where trying to muffle them. Our senses are fooled and we cannot trust them to make a clear and informed choice.

This got me to thinking about how we hold on to ideas and habits that are either no longer true or that no longer serve us. By holding on to them and refusing to entertain new ideas and choices, living an authentic life isn't possible. Our choices and decisions are clouded by these old habits and ideas and, much like the fog, they distort our concept of reality. For me, being a truth-seeker means letting the old stuff lift and burn itself off in the warmth of the rising sun, and allowing a new breeze to blow through my life. Colors are brighter, the thing we were so scared of  turns out to be harmless, and we can hear the messages from our inner wise self clearly without distortion. Much like the lyrics to that old song, "I Can See Clearly Now," we can see all obstacles in our way and find the path around them.

Take some time out of your day today and think of just one thing, one idea, one old habit that you could let go of to make room for something that will lighten up your world. It doesn't have to be a huge thing. Even the smallest changes can make a huge difference. There's nothing really to be afraid of. When the fog clears, it really is only a shrub.

And so it is.