It’s like a deep breath of fresh air on a cold morning, when your mind is stunned with a new epiphany…
And that’s just the beginning.
Next comes the realization that you’ve been asleep all along. You know because now you are awake.
Now you have a grasp of something new. A knowledge that resonates in your core.
An AWAKENING is just that. YOU WAKE UP to a higher perspective.
OK, I hear you asking, “Wake up from what???”
We awaken from being asleep. It’s like a dirty window we’ve been looking through all our lives.
Once the glass is sparkling clean, we begin to see life clearly and holy s**t!!!…
we have a deeper understanding of everything. EVERYTHING.
It’s a “I shudda had a V8 moment.”
(You have to be over 50 to get that)
With this invigorating new reality our body actually calms down to the natural flow of life. Even in hectic times, which are happening more and more now, we seem to be able to adjust quicker to the chaos because we are now aware of what is really occurring around us.
So, that’s the difference between EXPERIENCE and JOURNEY…
It’s an OMG moment VS Which way should I go?
I have had an experience that AWAKENED me big time. I call it my born again, train-track, slam dunk…
because everything changed for me right then-and-there.
I wrote about the experience in my memoir. If you care to read it from your copy it’s on page 73, Chapter 11,
The Train Tracks.
Otherwise, here is a slice:
It happened on May 15, 1985, a day I’ll never forget. I was driving back from a three hour martini luncheon with my girlfriends and running late for dinner. I heard the railroad crossing bells and tried to race to the tracks in my shiny, black 450 SL convertible so I wouldn’t have to wait for the long, inevitable delay.
I didn’t make it.
I slammed on my brakes just as the guard rails came down and I was forced to wait for the dreaded train. The dull red cars moved swiftly past me, and as I stared into their passing, they blended into a ribbon of color.
I was mesmerized.
My mind wandered. I looked up.
How did I end up here? All this bling and no sky.
I was depending on my looks and not my smarts, not my inner knowing… again.
As I waited for the train, I was hypnotized by the long monotony of the burgundy slowly passing, each train car humming into white noise.
It was then I heard the familiar voice.
I thought I turned the radio off so moved the knob to see if I really had.
It was off.
The voice became more distinct. I looked around my convertible to see if anyone was close enough to talk to me.
Nope.
The voice mentioned my name and I thought perhaps I had one too many martinis.
“Tamlin, you are wasting your talents.”
What? Who is there??!*!!? I looked around again.
No one.
“I have given you a gift, and you are wasting it.”
Holy s**t… it was God. I knew that voice anywhere and He was on my case… again.
I also knew it was time.
I was beginning to feel empty again. My extravagant lifestyle was wearing on me. I knew I was not where I needed to be. A small but consistent nudge in my gut had been trying to tell me all along, and I had ignored it. I had given in to the allure of what money can bring. Now the realization (the voice) was distinct and serious. I could not ignore it anymore. I had begun to love things: baubles, clothes, cars, drugs. My perspective was off, way off. I was screwing up and I knew I had strayed from my authentic self. The world and all its trappings had a substantial pull on me and the constant tension had torn me away from my truth, my passion, my mission.
I had become superficial and incomplete.
I had screwed up again.
I was to learn that abundance is not in the shiny things around me, but the quiet inside knowing of who I really am. I was sad that I had taken another long detour, and yet this awakening would prove most important in the complete picture of my life. I knew that God turned all our mistakes around for the good. The revelation that He cared enough to talk to me at a train crossing, in a martini stupor, to help me understand that He had a better plan for my life, was all I needed.
By the time the train had passed, perhaps a long five to seven minutes, I was a changed person. Some call it being “born again,” and I guess I was. God cared enough to stop me in my tracks, and speak to me. To identify my superficial, shallow ways. To redirect my path, and give me another chance. I would start all over again with the knowledge—“the Truth”—that I needed to live a better life, use my gifts and talents to be a better person, to be a servant for God.
I started shaking with the reality of the situation. God cared enough to slap my hand.
When the train had passed I made it through the intersection, but steered my way to a nearby parking lot to stop shaking and gather my senses. This had really happened. I was a changed person. I knew, right then, that my marriage was over. My free pass had expired. My extravagant lifestyle was done, finished, complete.
It was the turning point of my life.
I was slam-dunked/saved on May 15, 1985.
