Some time ago, while on a weekend hiking excursion with friends, I had a close counter with inner wisdom… my own!
Hiking this canyon with its steep, jagged boulders demanded every ounce of focus. As we made our way down the ridge, for one brief moment my attention drifted to the woman hiking in front of me. She had mentioned her weak knee as we started our decent. I remember looking at her leg, thinking, how is she managing this downhill trek over these boulders?
At that very moment my world changed. I slipped on a slick domed rock, sliding several feet. I shrieked, then heard a loud crack as I landed hard on my tailbone. Oh my God, could my life as an upright mobile person be over? I scanned for damage and discovered one leg lodged between two boulders and the other one seemed to have slipped down the steep rock heading in the opposite direction. ARGH! I had torqued my knee, badly.
Can I move my toes? I managed a tiny wriggle. Hallelujah , things are moving, a little; this is good.As I sat there gathering what was left of my wits, I noticed I’d landed in a shallow pool of water (the first schronicity) where my swelling knee rested.
The seven other people with me in this Arizona high country were in shock. Then fear
grabbed us all. How were we going to get help? And the sun is setting! Through pulsing pain and group panic, my inner self coach found its vo;ice, Okay, Tryshe, get ahold of yourself, you will get through this. Then a wave of fear crashed over me, I’m going to have to be rescued…air-lifted. Oh NO! The COST…they charge big money for rescues like this…where am I going to find that kind of money.
In a nano-second my nervous system fired off rockets of fear. Cortisol screamed through my veins. I took another deep breath and managed another spiritual reality check, Do NOT go there! Somehow I’m going to be okay. All is well. It’s all in flow. Again, the worrying subsided. Two minutes later the second synchronicity. Two German Shepherd dogs were spotted lumbering up the wash, tails and tongues wagging. Where there are dogs, humans are close by.
One of our group called out, half-joking, “Did you happen to see a doctor on the path?”
Out of breath from their hike, one of them responded, “Uh, we’re paramedics, does that count?”… their voices growing closer.
Another of our group spotted them, “Oh wow! Hello! Yeah! Could you come over here? We have a situation!”
One of the paramedics bent over to examine me as routinely as if this mountain trail was a hospital gurney. Then he made a phone call. Our cell phones didn’t work because we were in such a remote area… (third synchronicity) his did. I overheard their conversation about a helicopter.
Panic kicked in again, and once again I repeated out loud so my body could hear that I meant business, R E L A X Tryshe, you’re okay….(fourth synchronicity), he located a helicopter that just happened to be available—and just happened to be in the area. Because both he and his friend were trained, they knew how to call with the coordinates for routing the helicopter.
One of the rescuers actually ran back to our base camp (quite a distance) to measure the landing site. The amazing synchrony of events continued. Our base camp, the final destination, was the ONLY place a helicopter could land anywhere in the canyon…and per his calculations the blades would fit, barely.
As we headed down through the mouth of this rocky canyon, we knew we’d have to out pace the setting sun. Okay. I can do this! We have to get to the chopper. Hand over hand, inch by inch my friends handed me off over fallen trees and more slippery rocks. My arms locked around their necks, their words encouraged and soothed with a kind of mantra of sweet soul balm, It’s okay. Give us your weight, let go. We’ve got you, give us your weight. It’s okay, let go. We began the necessary journey through the impossible, together.
With every step I got the message: This is flow from another point of perception. I know I’m cradled in well being even as my knee is swelling and throbbing. At one point a couple of us started toning, as we had done the night before. We fell into a zone where sound was moving and the nature of things were shifting.
They took turns supporting me with their tired bodies as if moved by some internal choreography. Everyone became a vital link in this intuitive chain of light, slowly and carefully moving me from rock to rock, clearing nature’s debris from our path.
There was lightness. No resistance, no complaint. As if in some surreal movie, even the dogs cleared away logs and other debris as we approached the landing helicopter. It was truly unbelievable.
With tears of relief, we said our good-byes, touched by the friendship and grace of the moment. We knew that we were being guided by forces beyond our understanding.
There is icing on this spiritual-test cake!
Once I crawled onto the helicopter, safely belted into my seat, I started explaining that I didn’t have any money on me, or an insurance card. The pilot waved off my concern, “Not an issue, Ma’am. There is no charge.” Wait! Are you serious? The blades churned and in moments we lifted out of the canyon.
Learning in Reverses… (the knowing we’ve carried throughout time is always within us… never outside us)
First lesson in reverse, there are non-physical forces beyond who are here to assist… if I ask.
Second lesson in reverse: when witnessing vs controlling situations and events in my life, things turn out as they should. Let go, give us your weight. Let go, give us your weight…the mantra on the trail.
Third lesson in reverse: life’s challenges are opportunities to work new spiritual muscles. All that’s required is to remember I have millions of choices at every turn. Choose consciously.
Fourth lesson in reverse: Ask to be shown the answers to life’s challenges… they always come.
The sweet relief of recognizing that my beautiful catastrophe was there to open me to a world of synchronicities and signposts for living my best life.
I was changed forever!
In loving harmony, Tryshe
“The great lessons from the true mystics, from the Zen monks, is that the sacred is in the ordinary, that it is to be found in one’s daily life, in one’s neighbors, friends, and family, in one’s backyard, and that travel may be a flight from confronting the sacred. To be looking everywhere for miracles is a sure sign of ignorance that everything is miraculous.” —Abraham H. Maslow
