She Rides Shotgun (part 1)

So, I've been writing a book entitled She Rides Shotgun. It's about allowing your destiny be your guide. About letting your true self ride shotgun, in the passenger seat of your life... Or to the contrary, NOT letting your true self ride shotgun, but actually take the driver's seat, the steering wheel, and get you to your destiny... or destination.

I couldn't wait to share, so I decided to preview it here as I work through some of the final chapters.

So come along... walk with me... ride with me... and let's see where we end up...







Who am I?

What is my purpose? Why do certain things happen to me? Where am I headed? How do I know if I'm on the right track? Can you count the number of times you've asked yourself these questions? I can't… and there are many more questions. Questions which may, during the course of a lifetime, never get answered. At least not with answers we're satisfied with. Ones that really make sense. We ask questions, get no useful answer, and we just keep rolling along like ole man river. ..... We don't say no-thing. We just ke-e-ep roll-ing aalo-o-o-ng ... " Living our lives involuntarily. Just going with the flow. Landing wherever fate tosses us.

A lifetime can be spent spinning in the revolving door of unconsciousness. On an infinite carousel. Never really feeling satisfied. Never feeling whole, or complete. Still asking the same questions. Some people really believe that "Life's a bitch and then you die!". Believing the ‘life experience’ is a round trip to hell and back. Many awake to the realization that they've spent way too much time waiting. Waiting for some kind of magic to happen on one of those boring, mundane revolutions, around that safe, stable, axis holding existence in place. One day, suddenly it dawns on them, that they have squandered valuable, irreplaceable time doing nothing, by limiting themselves to only that which they know.


So long as we keep pushing that revolving door, and keep up a steady enough pace, we could quite possibly be there forever, spending a good part of our lives on that precarious tight rope of chance. How many miserable old farts do you know? How many baby boomers do you know, who just 'never got it together'? How many times have you thought you were too exhausted to fight and decided to just settle for whatever luck happened to drift in, accepting whatever unknown comes your way?

Too many of us spend our lives waiting for the universe to 'overnight' us a winning lottery ticket. Or at the very least some kind 'sign' that we're moving in the right direction. Problem is, most of us, don't have a clue where we're trying to go, let alone how to decipher or navigate the map to get there. Even more challenging is trying to create a map to follow when your whole sense of direction is distorted. A sure recipe for misery, and quite possibly a disaster.


Here's a hypothetical exercise: Get up right now... head for the door, turn the knob, walk outside, take a few steps ... and meet me at my cousin's house.

Yeah… you heard me….!

Meet me at my cousin's house!

She's on the 2nd floor. She loves teddy bears. I think she may still collect them. Oh, and make sure you prepare yourself for the weather; it's been pretty extreme for the season. See you at 7!…

Huh?!!!

Indeed, it would be almost impossible for you to get to my cousin's house with those instructions. They are pretty specific. Aren't they? 2nd floor... teddy bears... let's meet at 7...?

True, they are specific, but not clear enough for you to decipher any meaningful directions. To get a clearer picture, you'd need better information upon which to build. This would require you to ask some very specific questions. It might help to know where my cousin lives ... What city? What street? Which building? What she looks like? What's her name? I might answer, “She lives in Richmond, VA... lives on James Street... in the 4-story gray building next to the park... and so on. But that still might not be enough information to get you there by 7. Oh, and by the way, is that 7 am or pm? Because that could change everything!

This is the same way many of us travel through life. Not really clear on our directions. No maps. No guides. Just lowly individuals, hoping to avoid pain. Sometimes with no real hope of happiness. We just want to experience as little pain as possible while we're here, so we spend our lives moving, searching for a comfort zone. Seeking asylum in the least resistive spaces and finding contentment in this effortless destiny. 'You Live and You Die', is the mantra of many. They believe it, they live it, and they unconsciously manifest it, when they accept it as their truth. It becomes their reality, and their very existence turns into a laborious task of choosing the lesser-perceived evils.

What happens when you change your mantra? What happens when change your sacred words? Can you then change your life? Yes you can! Absolutely! Unequivocally! YES YOU CAN!!! You can manifest your dreams into reality by changing the way you see things…which will change how your react to things. You can design your own life map by putting yourself in the driver's seat. In the process you not only find out where you're headed, but you learn how to get there… how to follow the cues… how to pace yourself on the journey… and how to overcome your obstacles. So much more is revealed to you.

Once you draw your map, and begin to follow it, you realize that the secret of life is not hidden. It is right before your eyes. (…To Be Continued…Back in a few days…in the meantime, read or listen to Center Yourself below… )