A Missed Opportunity

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This morning, after Ella and I woke up, I went into the kitchen to get her cereal ready. I noticed that she was taking a long time to catch up. Usually, she’s right behind, hungry and ready to dig into her first breakfast after a long night of sleep. I poked my head out of the kitchen door to see where she was and saw her standing by the TV holding something in her hand. I couldn’t quite make out what it was: a stray piece of clothing perhaps, or one of her toys that had a string attached to the end.

“What do you have, Ella?” I asked as I walked out towards her. She just stood there. And then the shape came into clarity and I saw what it was. “Put it down, Ella.” I said quite firmly, perhaps too firmly, as I realized she was holding a big dead rat!

When we lived out in the country our cats would bring us “gifts” on a fairly regular basis: gophers, mice, moles, birds, all kinds of treasures from the wild world. So much so, in fact, that we had to watch where we walked at night, having stepped on more than one of their “gifts.” But since we’ve moved into town, they’ve become a bit lazy, and there are fewer opportunities to catch little critters. So we’ve gotten used to a house that is free of dead rodents.

So seeing Ella holding a dead rat took me a bit by surprise. After Ella dropped it, I told her that we needed to take it back outside and then wash our hands. And so we did.

End of story? Unfortunately, yes. After I dropped Ella off at pre-school it dawned on me that the Universe had just provided me with a perfect opportunity to speak to Ella about death. If you read my post from last night about The Weight of Death you might remember that one of the questions I’m asking right now is how to find the words to speak with her about the impending death of her grandfather. And this morning I was truly given a gift, a “teaching moment” as they say in the education world. And I totally missed it.

I was so caught up in the busyness of the morning, that, instead of seeing this unusual occurrence as an opportunity, I perceived it as an unexpected, and unwanted additional “task.”

I wonder how often these unexpected “tasks” that upset our normal routine are truly gifts from the Universe, opportunities to learn and grow. More often than not, would be my guess. But we are so focused on maintaining our normal life that we miss these opportunities. We are so focused on completing the tasks on our to-do list that, when a monkey wrench gets thrown in to our lives, we immediately look for a way to dispose of it, not realizing that it’s exactly the tool we needed to finish one of our other tasks!

So all I have to say about this morning’s rat is, “Thank you Universe for sending me such a perfect gift. I’m sorry I was not awake enough to take advantage of it. Next time, I intend to see the gift for what it is.”

Center Your Head, Awaken Your Guidance

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A chiropractor once explained to me why I should keep my head back. My head, like most human heads, weighs about as much as a bowling ball – around 10-pounds. If you’re like most people, your head tends to be forward, putting a lot of stress on the muscles in the back of the neck.

When aligned correctly, the head sits directly above the shoulders, thus reducing the amount of effort the neck muscles have to exert, dramatically reducing the tension in that part of the body.

If you want a dramatic demonstration of this, take a 10-pound weight and hold it out in front of you for as long as you can. Then, when your arm has reached exhaustion, lift your arm straight up so that the weight is pushing down directly through your shoulder. How long can you hold it in that position, even though your arm is already exhauster?

Historically I have held much of my tension in the back of my neck so this information was a great benefit to me. Whenever I notice stress in my neck I pull my head back until it is aligned directly over my shoulders. I notice an immediate reduction in the tension in my neck as well as an overall relaxation in my entire body.

Go ahead and try it. Take a moment and pull your head back. It may feel a bit awkward at first. Most of us are used to carrying around that bowling ball using muscular support so when we discover the ease with which we can carry our head when it is correctly aligned with the rest of our body, it feels unnatural. But when you find the “sweet spot,” the place where your head just rests in perfect alignment above your shoulders, you should feel a significant reduction in your tension level.

This awareness is particularly important to those of us who, like myself, spend significant time engaged in forward focused activities such as computer work, driving, or anything where the head tends to come forward. Now, when I drive, I periodically lay my head back against the headrest to give my neck a well deserved break. When I sit at my computer desk, I periodically check to see that my head is back.

This one piece of advice has saved my hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars in chiropractor bills over the last few years.

And there’s another, even more valuable benefit. From an intuitive perspective, this awareness helps to re-center our perception and open us to our internal guidance. What do I mean by that?

As members of this modern, visually oriented society we tend to be forward focused. Our attention is most often on what we can see in front of us, what we have to do, what projects we are working on, etc. That forward focused attention tends to cause us to perceive the world around us from the frontal area of our head, a very intellectual, analytical, results oriented perspective.

When our perceptual position is frontal, we tend to be so focused on getting things done that we miss out on guidance that might make the doing much easier.

When we pull our physical head back it serves as a subconscious reminder to also pull our inner, perceptual position back to the center of our head. When our point of perception is located more centrally in our head, it opens our perception the world all around us, not just what is in front of us. We take our blinders off and open up our ability to receive information and guidance from all around us. From that center of the head location we become more fully awake to guidance from our larger Source-connected essence.

I guess there is some merit in the old military command, “head back, shoulders straight.” And if you can remember to check in throughout the day and pull your head back, I think you will find that your neck will feel much better, and you will begin to notice a natural connection with your inner wisdom as your point of perception becomes more comfortable in the center of your head.

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