‘Rebuilding YOUR Foundations’

Life at times can be a real challenge and no matter what your age, there are times when just as you think ‘you have got it together’ either your subconscious or life throws something up that challenges your every fiber of DNA.

Throughout our lives we can experience this same impact depending on the circumstance our very own personal metaphor of an: ‘Earthquake’ a time when the foundations of our character are challenged by the event we are in. The key to the ‘Earthquake’ is your response to the ‘Earthquake’.

“Its not the problem that matters, its how you deal with the problem that counts”

Lets take a look at some FACTS:

DID YOU KNOW?

* A typical earthquake lasts under 60 seconds.

* An earthquake can trigger a tsunami or a volcano to erupt.

* Alaska has the most earthquakes of any states in the US

* The deadliest earthquake happened in Central China, killing over 800,000 in 1556. People during that time and region lived in caves and died from the caves collapsing

(Source: earthquakefacts.net)

Whilst an earthquake causes tremendous damage and of course can cost many lives we often never consider the long-term effects to the villages, the people, the re-construction or recovery time that it takes to restore and re-build the future again.

I was thinking the other day about the metaphor of a personal ‘Earthquake’ in relation to life and the effect it can have in my experience. To grasp it we only need to look at the effects that a tremor can have on a single building.

If you consider a traditional Farmhouse building, solid in structure, resolute to its surroundings a pillar of strength. Yet what may appear solid may not actually be so in reality.

An earthquake results from rapid movement along the plates of the earth and the faults within them. The movement in the fault releases forms of energy, which then travels through the earth in the form of a seismic wave. These waves can travel great distances losing their energy as they impact masses or structure or buildings. When these waves hit the surfaces they produce what is know as ground motion which if this is strong enough it can cause damage to buildings.

With our example of the farmhouse the Ground Motion would travel through the foundations and structure and then can cause damage in complex ways thus can be unseen to the untrained eye.

If we follow the metaphor of the earthquake into our lives we can see the earthquake as past experiences, or times that were perhaps difficult that we seem to believe we have got through.

The affect of the tremor cannot always be seen, the earth will react and open a ravine or will move earth and soil around and the original fault line may not be detectable. It is possible for it to remain this way unless investigated to look deeper to see the affects.

During my late twenties I went trough a period where life seemed to be challenging my very core as a man looking into the deep structure of who I was. It was as though my subconscious was excavating my thoughts in preparation for the future.

It is at these times we are best served in having faith and belief in walking the pathway ahead and trusting for a good outcome. A friend of mine once said to me “We should embrace the sharpeners in our lives’ the people that just demand more of you or challenge the very way ahead.

If we take the metaphor of the Earthquake to a place of concluding we can see that even a farmhouse can have its foundation corrected, strengthened and altered to even withstand the next one. If we can see through a process we can see the next step.

Our PAST cannot affect our future; it only transforms who we are today. An ‘Earthquake’ creates change and alters the environment in which we exist. A ravine can be created, a river or spring can form, and life can begin from a single moment.

In construction builders have learnt to embrace earthquakes and to engineer ways to move with the energy that they release, rather than stand rigid against it.  If we reflect on our lives we too can learn to move with the road ahead to embrace transformation as it unfolds.

For more information contact me on dave.evans@stratagemplus.org

www.stratagemplus.org