What Happens When Life Disturbs?

So, here’s a random question; have you ever heard of bioluminescence? I don’t know how I came up on this topic, but it’s kind of cool. It’s certainly not something I refer to in regular conversation, but it’s still pretty interesting. So, my understanding is that certain living organisms, like the jellyfish, fungi, and plankton, have the ability to produce their own light through some sort of magical power. No, I’m kidding. In truth, they create some sort of chemical reaction. So imagine at night you are looking at some large body of water and all of a sudden you start noticing all these glowing and flashing shades of blue light. You’d be pretty amazed, right? Knowing that it’s not some manmade creation and no special effects. It’s just nature doing something extraordinary.

But it gets more interesting. It’s common for some plankton to produce these flashes not just to keep humans entertained, it’s usually a sign that something in the water or something around them is being disturbed. I imagine a boats in the water, large waves or even subtle movements from swimmers incite some sort of alert to them. And depending on what type of species it is, that light may actually be their version of a defense mechanism creating an attempt to scare off any approaching predators. It was here I found some semblance to how awareness impacts us as humans - things that normally go unnoticed and are probably written off as “usual” usually become more perceptible.

I know I started off talking about life in the ocean, but I couldn’t help realizing how we experience disturbances in our own lives. We are good at creating routines and developing expectations for ourselves and as such we become comfortable with how things are “supposed” to unfold. But when something upsets that rhythm, are we truly prepared to respond appropriately? Are we ready to pivot on a moment’s notice for something that could potentially upset the entire day?

My understanding of how we operate is defined by that autopilot lifestyle we’ve adopted. And within that, we tend to try to restore things to the way that they were rather than to address the change that’s now entered the room. We don’t like interruption, so we seek to resolve it. We don’t like discomfort, so we seek to avoid it. All of this is understandable, completely. But how often are we so focused on getting past disturbances rather than attempting to recognize what our initial impulse to react might be revealing to us?

Consider this for example. Maybe an unexpected turn of events may lead us to adding additional responsibilities, but in turn, we have now exposed another level of strength that we didn’t realize we’ve had. We can handle more than we ever knew. Or maybe some change in our circumstances help us recognize something we’ve been overlooking and needs to be addressed. Here’s one that has hit me hard in the past, just letting unwanted frustration lead me to the revelation that I am just too damn dependent on having everything unfold according to my plan. This is why mindful awareness is especially valuable. Through a Kind Rebirths approach, we try to explore how noticing, observing, and witnessing (NOW) our experiences can help us to see these occurrences when they may otherwise escape from our attention.

Awareness is not something that will ask you to celebrate every interruption or to try and pretend that difficult circumstances are all beneficial to growth. Some are truly painful. Some are truly unnecessary and unavoidable. Some are there to just to cause a disruption and make your lives more difficult to manage. With that, it’s not necessary to try and derive some life-altering message from all of these interruptions. But what is worth acknowledging, we measure our ability to navigate through the ocean of life by the number of successful actions, reactions, and responses that we are able to keep under control. Life and these interruptions and disturbances are all things filled with and meant to challenge that control.

It’s often grim – to believe that life can be so cynical; but I’m thinking now in my older age that life, like the water in the ocean, isn’t meant to be kept calm. Maybe these disturbances or threats to our safety (safety here is defined by our regular, everyday expectations) are unexpected opportunities created to push us beyond the comfort of what we know and that we have become so reliant on. That’s why bioluminescence is so interesting to me. Disturbances don’t necessarily give these aquatic organisms something they didn’t already have. Rather, it created a condition (or the conditions) needed for something to become visible. And like us, we may not recognize our ability to adapt until we face routine disruption. Change isn’t always meant to show us what we are capable of, but just the awareness of what we’ve all been capable of all along.

Stay mindful…

Rebirth.