A time comes in your life when you finally get it… When in the midst of all your fears and insanity you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere, the voice inside your head cries out – ENOUGH!

Enough fighting and crying, or struggling to hold on. And, like a child quieting down after a blind tantrum, your sobs begin to subside, you shudder once or twice, you blink back your tears and through a mantle of wet lashes, you begin to look at the world through new eyes.

This is your awakening…

You realize that it’s time to stop hoping and waiting for something to change, or for happiness, safety and security to come galloping over the next horizon. You come to terms with the fact that he is not Prince Charming and you are not Cinderella and that in the real world, there aren’t always fairy tale endings (or beginnings for that matter) and that any guarantee of “happily ever after” must begin with you and in the process, a sense of serenity is born of acceptance. From “The Awakening” by Sonny Carroll http://www.inspirationpeak.com/library/awakening.html

Oh, I wanted to be pampered and I wanted to be
petted;
I thought that Life should run to me with comfort when I
fretted,
And so I used to wail for joys I had no means of
buying,
But Live went on about its work and never heard
me crying.

I used to fly in tantrums when some pleasure was
denied me;
I fancied everyone was wrong who raised a voice
to chide me.
I thought that Life should run to me with pretty
things to show me,
But Life when on about its work and never seemed
to know me .

I know not how the thought began nor why so long
it lasted;
I wanted cake and pie to eat while others bravely
fasted;
I wanted easy talks to do, high pay without the
labor,
But Life, I noticed, passed me by to visit with my
neighbor.

Then suddenly I faced about – stopped my senseless
whining,
Took disappointment with a grin and loss without
repining;
I found that woes were everywhere and some would
surely strike me;
I strapped my burdens on my back – and Life
began to like me.
“Awakening” by Edgar Guest

While there are still some moments I regret what’s behind me, the strength of the yearning to do it all again lessens within the new awareness of recent years. Even though I am uncertain frequently of my precise direction, the way forward is a much wider view; one I’m open to in whatever guise it comes. All I have to do is keep going. With my head up and an open heart and mind, being alive comes without much struggle today. I am grateful the days of arm-wrestling life in a storm is behind me. My awakening in 2007 was a second birth on this Earth, one I embrace with much gratitude and thankfulness.

The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon,
but that we wait so long to begin it.
W.M. Lewis