Everything Is a Test

"We Interrupt the Regularly Scheduled Program to Bring You this Important Message"

“Are you kidding me? Right now, in the middle of maybe one of the best fight scenes in this movie, y’all want to test the broadcast? Don’t you know this is Bruce Lee? You people are out of your minds. Arrrghhh! I hate when y’all do this to me. couldn’t you just schedule during commercial breaks?”

I guess I’ll be giving away my age, but oh well. I’m sure that some of you baby boomers reading this can totally relate to the good ol days when there were no tablets, PC’s, smart phones and all the other gadgets that I can no longer even keep track of! A time when life seemed to be simpler. Our parents certainly may not agree because as kids, we really didn’t have a good grasp on the pressures that our parents had to deal with. We were just content to sit two feet away from the tube and watch the next episode of “Gilligan’s Island”,without a care in the world.

“Everything is a Test”, by Jay Abraham, is a quote I recently ran across and although it is not new to my ears, I have invested some time over the last few days meditating on and discovering a new angle, a fresh meaning as so often I do in a host of areas of my life. I clicked rewind, rolled the tape back from circa 1970 and unearthed a plethora of “tests”, that only now I am able to reconcile as such.

I can distinguish some of the rewards for having passed and the not so “favorable”, gifts from those that I scored poorly on. As a result of cultivating a life of constant self-development, my senses are sharper and I walk in a more heightened awareness, higher frequency and I am more cognizant of the tests that are ever before me.

I punch my card and it reveals to me that as I sojourn on this spacecraft that it is crucial that I do all that I know to stay present, in the moment, not living in the past or creating too much in the future that keeps me there for extended periods of time. By doing so, anxiety, worry and fear tend to stay at bay. It’s like they become aware of my awareness and shake their heads and move on to the next victim.

The “tests”, no matter how large or small, do not seem to have a goliath effect on me. I have suddenly adopted an “superhuman”, like ability to embrace the challenges that arrive in the back seat, the ever-present passengers that can and will, when we least expect it “fly like a butterfly and sting us like a bee”. Knocking the wind out of us sending us reeling sometimes for days until we regain composure.

The tests of life are not easy by any stretch of the imagination. They come uninvited. They are often rude, invasive and lack any care whatsoever of our emotional state or mental condition. Are we ever ready for them? Are there special “test binoculars”, that we can procure at the local hardware that allow us to sit on our front porch rocking chair and see them coming? Man has forever looked into the clearest crystal, turned cards, sought mystics and sages, to name only a few of the trinkets in order to get a bead on what he is about to face? We fight with staying in present time because we are so used to our finite minds running the show.

I can assure you that once we get a handle on mindfulness and our ability to “just say no” to wayward thoughts that have been on the repeat loop, the myriad of auto responses and reactions that the mind has stored and uses “against”, us. Until we, have an epiphany, decide and determine that we will no longer be slaves to this, “if left alone emotional spiritual mental thief.”

I have personally ascertained that meditation is key. Once I shot all of my sacred cows and dismantled my unjustified mystic beliefs. I am now convinced experientially that as I practice meditating daily, I naturally find myself in a greater state of calm and suffer far less knee jerk reactions. I live more than not, above my circumstances and I have a much wider, better view from the balcony. I have unearthed a shed full of new tools, strategies and techniques that give me the winning edge, for a change, and I am loving it.

Rest assured folks that “everything is a test”. It’s not so much about the proverbial pass or fail but more the awareness of the test as it is present and our ability to set the sails, adjust the temperature, change direction, reduce the speed and produce the most favorable “result” that is possible.

I hung a bright green, flashing neon sign in the right corner of my mind that reads, “THIS IS ONLY A TEST”, as a constant reminder. Although there are decisions that I have made personally whilst here that determine and secure my eternity. For now, I’ll wear this earth suit and welcome the mishmash of “examenes”, that step into the ring. But I will leave my gloves on and sleep with one eye open, just in case. Cuz getting K.O.’d is not an option.