Guest Author: David Arenson "On the Edge and Back"

I'm excited to kick off my new Guest Author Stories with this submission from David. I chose it not because it's a "current success story" but because he is in a state of awareness and openness to learn the lessons and receive the good after going through his Earthquake Moment. I relate to it in a big way! Being able to adapt our strategy is key, learn from our past and rewrite our future. We are never alone, even though it most often feels that way, someone somewhere is always going through shit too! It's how you react that counts.

"I write this from a Bangkok hotel. I am alone. I am a foreigner in a strange land, a stranger in a foreign land.

Right now, it feels like my whole life has collapsed around me. I'm told when doors close, new ones open. So I wait, sometimes impatiently! How did I get here and where am I going to?

Like most people, I am a work in progress, always eager to get better. I also make the best decisions I can based on what I know. What if this is not enough? Well usually it is, yet sometimes one is tested to the very edge of one's limits. Occasionally, one is provoked into expanding one's view of the world, and one's capacity to hope. This happened to me.

A journey back in time...

I got offered my 'dream' job. Although this meant setting aside my permanent residency application for Australia, a 2 year contract in a dream location, with attractive salary and benefits seemed too good to decline. I quickly quit both my Naturopath jobs in Australia and accepted the job as Wellness Consultant to guests, celebrities, Naturopath of the rich and famous at a leading international spa company. I'm on top of the world – doing what I love and at long last, loving what I do!

Within a few months I was informed that the resort was shutting down and I shouldn't worry, as I would be placed at another destination spa location. As the closing date approached, I was informed that they were unable to place me. As a wellness professional at the top of my game, I soon received 2 offers from international resort companies in the Maldives and in Koh Samui. Then came an offer to be a Visiting Practitioner with some of the most exotic spas in the world. It seemed just too good to be true, and thinking back, perhaps it was. I accepted this offer, turned down the others with apologies, and set off for 'greener' pastures.

While working at a spa in Vietnam a couple of months later, I received an email canceling all my contracts, no reason given – this just 2 days before being due in the Maldives (flights, visa, contracts in place)! I was breathless, shattered, shocked.

The closest country I could go to at such short notice was Thailand. I was subsequently given no substantive reason for the cancellation of my contracts. Perhaps it would have been easier to accept if I had actually done something wrong. I was quite obviously set up by someone who didn't like me, or resented my cockiness, or perhaps worse, felt threatened by me. These reasons are speculation, and whatever the real reason was, it doesn't change a thing. Whatever predicament I am in, is probably due to karma or destiny, or perhaps both. It cannot be explained rationally.

I am alone in a hotel room. I have few connections in Thailand, few choices seem available. I know that opening my awareness is key, remaining grounded and steady is essential even when the ship is bolting, and the universe seems to be imploding. Nothing makes sense any more.

I turn to practical action. I apply for jobs. Doors close. I approach friends. Doors close. I apply for an Australian visitors visa. It gets turned down. I receive an invitation from a friend in Japan. I go to the Japanese Embassy, and they tell me I cannot apply for a Japanese visa, as I am on a tourist visa in Thailand. I consider alternatives. I apply for more jobs. Send out a few desperate pleas for help. Nothing seems to be flowing.

I feel inspired to write poetry, to dream, to create a future. I know that I can coach someone out of their darkest night, as now I've experienced it myself. I know that things can either get worse or they can get better.

I imagine new futures for myself, new opportunities. Another friend tells me she sees me running a spa. A psychic friend says that I am standing at the threshold of a new epiphany. A clairvoyant friend tells me I need gratitude – my soul was getting too cocky and that's why my life backfired. Perhaps if I breathe and smile, everything will turn out better than expected?

In journeying through life, we get swept by wave upon wave of expected and unexpected events. Sometimes we find ourselves stuck without a plan, and learning about ourselves with or without a map. Where does making plans begin and following the flow of life end? Fears are triggered. Questions arise. Perhaps for a moment, we find stillness in our heads, and experience our Divinity. The adventure with Spirit may come easily to us. And then again, we are back into the mind, figuring out ways to get ourselves out of the rut.

Perhaps I am not in a rut? Perhaps, I am entering the flowering of my destiny, emerging into manhood. Perhaps I am a butterfly who has finally been released from its cocoon. Perhaps, the folly of my banishment will turn out to be the best thing that has ever happened to me?

To intentions...I want to evolve. I want to share my wisdom, my visions, my consciousness with others who need support. I intend to be happy and peaceful - I intend to attract success and happiness into my life. I intend to attract a loving partner into my life.

I intend to stay true to myself, to stay real, be present and stay consciously aware of my creations. I've read that you receive what you believe. Sometimes, you can't believe what you receive. That doesn't change a thing. Life must go on. And where there is life, there is hope. I cling to this with all my life."

~Written by Guest Author and reader of Thoughts.Stories.Life: David Arenson

David: is a Naturopath (trained in Melbourne), multi-modality wellness professional (trained as Life/ Wellness Coach in Sydney), holistic counselor – who advises people on mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing. He can be reached via email at changeisme@gmail.com

*This is an interactive blog please leave your comments and thoughts, I will respond :)