Yesterday morning, I went out for a run with my daughter riding her bike several yards in front of me. As we were going up the bike path, I was struck by a very clear image in my mind of a rattle snake that was on the bike path. This image caused a brief ripple of fear within me, as I considered the scenario of having to rush my daughter to the emergency room after having an unfortunate encounter with this snake. This whole sequence of thoughts lasted for but a few seconds. I shook it off rather quickly asking myself, 'what was that about?', and kept running.
We decided to go back down the same path on our way home. We were chugging along, making good pace, when I heard my daughter yell, 'Daddy!!', several yards ahead of me. I sped up and saw a large rattle snake slithering across the bike path. Fortunately, my daughter had been going slow enough to stop in plenty of time, so she was out of harm's way. My daughter and I watched in amazement as this beautiful yet dangerous creature slowly crept into the surrounding grass.
What is amazing is that I have never seen a rattle snake in that area in the 8 years I have been running there. It is quite rare to spot them in the Boulder/Denver area in general, but on a suburban bike path? It left me feeling somewhat mystified, as the vivid image that spontaneously flashed in my mind had actually become reality but a few minutes later.
As I spent some time trying to understand this experience, what I recall was that, before that image flashed in my mind, I was consciously maintaining a sense of awareness as I was running. I was focused on the present moment. The most revealing lesson I gained from this is how powerful the human mind actually is. We have astonishing faculties within us that normally go completely overlooked. My sense is that awareness of present moment reality is the secret key that unlocks this mysterious power of intuition, which is based in this larger-than-self perspective of life.
There was no way I could have forced that kind of image into being. It all happened effortlessly. That is the beauty of intuition. It is a force that naturally arises when we stop trying to control things. It is like a state of flow that occurs from being present to this moment.
Now, what is the ultimate symbolism of that snake? I'm not really sure. I may have to dig a little deeper to see if there is any deeper message I need to look for or if the experience is complete in itself without further need of interpretation. The main point I want you to consider is that you have access to this level of experience all of the time. All that we need to do is pay very close attention to our lives. It is through awareness and sensitivity to the moment that we know how to navigate skillfully through our daily experience.
Kevin Doherty is a licensed acupuncturist, life and business coach, and the author of The Purpose Principle: 11 Strategies to Help You Experience Ultimate Freedom in Your Health, Wealth, and Love Life. To get a free copy of Kevin's Purpose Principle ezine and to learn more about the book, go to http://www.PurposePrinciple.com
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