There was a day several years ago that was one of the worst days and best days I have ever experienced. It was a day that I am forever grateful for. It started like any other day- I dropped my son off at school and then came home to get ready for work. Little did I know that on that day I would be standing on a razor's edge of uncertainty. I was getting into my car to go teach class and I saw that my son's school was calling me. I caught myself thinking, "Oh no, what's wrong?" My thinking quickly turned around to, "No, it's always okay, don't assume the worst." The school secretary proceeded to tell me how my son got in an accident at school and hit his head, knocking him out of consciousness for almost five minutes. The voice inside my head told me "You should be panicking right now," but instead there was a stillness, a calm point of inner reflection and knowing that ultimately everything would be okay. " This is why practice yoga, " I told myself.
During the next few minutes driving to school I was surprisingly calm and at peace. I completely let Grace take over as I let go of the reins and trusted. I let my heart lead the way and know the right direction to go. When I saw my son on the stretcher in a neck and head brace, I woke up with a jolt. "This is real" I thought. The whole way to the hospital I was silently chanting and praying. "Align with the energy, step deep into the current, you must be strong for him, trust in something bigger."
Thank goodness after several hours and a CAT scan later, my son was cleared to go home. I have never felt so grateful and so alive in my entire life. It was in this time of absolute uncertainty, that I became certain of what mattered. These "wake up" moments are the turning points of our lives, are the time to really pay attention to the blessing of being. It was a pivotal point in my awareness of how precious and rare life really is. We often take for granted this gift of our life. The day to day routine of living is both the obstruction and the revelation to seeing how blessed we really are to receive this gift. Sometimes Grace is fierce and says, "Wake up!" Although I never would have asked for it, I look back on this razor's edge day as a wake up call. Because of it, deep within me a voice cries out, "I vow to pay attention to every moment of this embodiment as the sacred moment it is. I vow to pay attention to each breath, each scary and beautiful moment as a present." Part of me also knows that eventually I will also forget. This is what it is to be a human embodiement of spirit. It is in the forgetting that I ultimately will remember the whole point of being-
You must be aware of what is in your life to be grateful for it