{"id":148,"date":"2015-10-19T00:32:29","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T00:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/?p=148"},"modified":"2015-11-04T20:35:58","modified_gmt":"2015-11-04T20:35:58","slug":"forgiving-fault-lines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/?p=148","title":{"rendered":"Forgiving Fault Lines"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forgiving Fault Lines<\/strong><\/p>\n

By: Shannon Hogan Cohen<\/p>\n

I always pursue truth despite the discomfort it sometimes causes.\u00a0 It has been fun finding the courage to own the various stages in my storyline.<\/em><\/p>\n

Just last month, I returned from a four-generational trip to Ireland, Germany and Switzerland. This was the first time all twelve of us had travelled together. The range of personalities participating pushed both edges of the spectrum.\u00a0 Ages stretched from the eldest at eighty to the youngest at fifteen.\u00a0 Our time together, short as it was, taught me something about myself.\u00a0 I must forgive the faults of myself and others.<\/p>\n

As the trip took shape, many family members freely demonstrated peculiar behaviors.\u00a0 They were not worried about the need to be perfect \u2014 why then must I?\u00a0 Multiple times throughout the trip, we explored the picturesque peaks in Ireland and Switzerland.\u00a0 My eyes were drawn to spectacular scenes of enormous piles of rock rising abruptly from the earth’s surface. My heart ached to follow their splendor into the horizon.\u00a0 I sensed the wisdom of these ancient mountains speaking directly to me providing truth like a storyteller sharing insight through the telling of time-tested traditions.\u00a0 The quiet environment with only the wind whispering in the mountains was the picture-perfect time to look inside.\u00a0 The picturesque peaks got me thinking about my compulsion to over perfect circumstances.\u00a0 It seemed like an ideal time to acknowledge my imperfect family and confront this shortcoming of mine.<\/p>\n

My inner landscape, a metaphor for my emotional and spiritual state of being longed for introspection with each encounter.\u00a0 As my mind wandered inwards, these natural surroundings provided space for meditation while silently teaching me how to stand fearless in the midst of an unreliable world and all its unforeseen elements.<\/p>\n

There were multiple mental and emotional snapshots taken during these immediate, intense connections.\u00a0 I was mesmerized by the mountains and their majestic stance while admiring all their frequent cracks and crevices.\u00a0 I did not recognize it at the time, but this feeling of pure connection with unfiltered nature was apparently what I needed. I am a meaning-seeking individual, and sometimes my way of thinking against the backdrop of life\u2019s idiosyncrasies\u2019 cannot be explained.\u00a0 \u201cIt is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves,\u201d said Edmund Hillary, a New Zealand mountaineer and explorer who became one of the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest.\u00a0 I must nurture myself into acknowledging and accepting my imperfect beauty while giving myself and others permission to be jagged like the awe-inspiring mountain ranges.<\/p>\n

It has always been essential for me to take hold of my experiences.\u00a0 I have an innate desire to analyze, fix, solve or attempt to make sense of them.\u00a0 Over the years, this personal philosophy has tricked me into thinking flawlessness and dwelling on something too much or too long are positive attributes.\u00a0 The climbing contest of \u201cMount Perfection\u201d has been personal, within me.\u00a0 However, my interpersonal relationships have taught me that we are all connected through our fault lines.<\/p>\n

Many truths were revealed during our family time together.\u00a0 It was remarkable how each of us unveiled various foibles, yet we managed to carry on and snicker at the \u201cblunder of the day\u201d during dinner each night.\u00a0 It is easy to see others faults. The inability to accept disorder and imperfections in my own life has always been a deficiency of mine. During the trip, I was reading On the Move<\/em> an autobiography by neuroscientist Oliver Saks.\u00a0 This unconventional man sums up many of my heartfelt beliefs on what life and living are all about.\u00a0 He penned the following, \u201cI have been able to see my life as from a great altitude, as a sort of landscape, and with a deepening sense of connection of all its parts.\u201d\u00a0 Many experiences in my life continue to shed light on my insatiable thirst and desire for growth, while solving the many mysteries of me.<\/p>\n

Ever since our trip ended, I have been reminding myself to do the best I can every day by improving upon what I learned the day before. What I have realized is that no one is faultless and there is no need to be faultless.\u00a0 Seismic activity is good for my soul.<\/p>\n

Who knew that an experience with my clan and the countryside abroad could bring me closer to myself and the mountains?\u00a0 I will learn from my mistakes and welcome life\u2019s winds and winding paths.\u00a0 They will balance both my perfectionism and imperfections.\u00a0 This will be my true source of interconnection – appreciating the asymmetrical landscape of my life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Published at Life As A Human – October 2015<\/p>\n

http:\/\/lifeasahuman.com\/2015\/mind-spirit\/food-for-thought\/forgiving-fault-lines\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Forgiving Fault Lines By: Shannon Hogan Cohen I always pursue truth despite the discomfort it sometimes causes.\u00a0 It has been fun finding the courage to own the various stages in my storyline. Just last month, I returned from a four-generational trip to Ireland, Germany and Switzerland. This was the first time all twelve of us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","category-foodforthought"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153,"href":"http:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions\/153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}