Life, and priorities, can change in a heartbeat. An accident or health scare is usually the precipitating factor; perhaps the universe or the body is trying to shake a situation towards a necessary path of change, casting new light on an area that was previously held in easily ignored shadows. Our health, so often taken for granted even by those who are diligent at looking after themselves, can require a shift in perspective from time to time and the body forces us to take notice by attracting an awakening shock. Until those events, we continue to not listen to our intuition, or those nagging doubts that creep in when we are tired. Why do we do that? Is it that we weren’t taught how to listen to those inner voices of knowing? Or is it that we don’t like to hear the voice of the uncomfortable truth so we try to drown it out with being too busy or preoccupied? Then one day: Bam! We are hit by something that makes us listen. Clever. If we choose to pay attention of course.

Why do we need to wait for a catastrophe or sudden jolt to wake up and create the shift that we have been ignoring or not perceiving? Why do we remain blind for so long when once we have shifted our focus, we can almost no longer recognise our previous viewpoint because it has altered so much? Perhaps this is one of life’s blessings and the skill of life is to recognise the learnings and signs as we go along, adapting and changing as we see fit. Perhaps that is the definition of wisdom. Wisdom is perceiving the more subtle shifts and signs that surround us all the time, and it is our duty to humanity to pass on what we see and perceive, but it is not our duty to make others listen. Others are on their own journey and it is their choice whether to choose to listen to the perceptions of others or whether to wait until they too have a shock or catastrophe and learn the lesson for themselves.

Life will always have its ups and downs, but listening to and paying attention to the subtler signs will hopefully keep our priorities in check, before they need to create a catastrophe to make us hear what’s lurking within our shadows.