Walking is so natural to us. We don't even realise how the two legs coordinate while walking. When we move one leg up to take the next step, the other leg takes the whole of the weight, and when we take the next step, the first one takes the whole weight of our body, and the other one moves forward. This keeps happening rhythmically again and again throughout the day. We are generally not conscious of this rhythm. When we go for a tough trek on a mountain that has a slippery surface, we become conscious of our steps and ensure that the first step is fully stable before we take the next one. It has great lessons for life.
We may decide to live a life wherein we don't walk at all and stay comfortably inside our home. There is no problem with that, but that's just like a good opportunity wasted in ignorance. Many of us do not take a single step to move beyond the belief systems and thought processes we are born with. We acquire certain beliefs, habit patterns, tastes, preferences, rights and wrongs, good and bad during our childhood and never examine them and live our entire lives just conforming to these belief systems and preferences. In a way, we never take a step for our growth and die in ignorance.
The second way of living is that we step out of our homes and start walking. We walk in the park and on the road. We enjoy walking. We slowly get used to walking. We get some friends who walk along and have chit chat. Some of us even run on the track. That's what most of us do. We stay with our fundamental belief systems, habit patterns, good and bad, rights and wrongs we are born with, but we make efforts to move around in this world and have diverse experiences of doing different business, jobs, having different relationships, watching movies, participating in social gatherings, and talking to different people.
The third way of living is to go trekking. Some of us decide to challenge our own belief systems, habit patterns, and notions of right and wrong, good and bad. That's a very slippery track. Every time we raise our leg to take the next step, we must be 100% certain that the other leg is stable on the platform. Otherwise, we will fall down. However, if we try to fully stabilise ourselves on the first leg, we will not be able to the next due to fear. It has to be just sufficient to hold us stable for a few moments. What we have to keep in mind is that there is no stability on a slippery trek, and what we are looking for is just sufficient stability of the first leg so that the other leg may be placed on the road ahead. It requires complete attention. A tough trek on a slippery path is not easy. When we challenge our thought process, beliefs, rights and wrongs, good and bad, it feels as if the ground beneath our feet has slipped. We need to be fully aware to ensure that there is just sufficient stability before raising one leg up. Quite often, we get tired of it and look for a stable platform after trekking a few steps. That's where our growth stops, and we choose death over life. Awareness and complete attention are the keys to such a trek. When we live life with awareness, living along such treks becomes quite enjoyable and fulfilling.
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