What Is Your Vision of the Future - Do You Feel Trapped by What You See?

What happens when we allow possibilities to turn into highly unlikely’s?

It’s important to remember that we are in charge of our destiny.

Despite our best efforts, it’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling trapped. I dropped in there recently but talked myself out of it.

I share this story in the hope it will give you a leg up if you’re stuck.

For many of us, this pandemic has put a damper on future plans. Uncertainty pervades every decision.

I bless my good fortune I retired to the countryside three years ago to pursue a writing career. My life didn’t grind to a halt when lock down arrived.

Despite that, I question when I’ll be able to visit friends in Johannesburg or family at the coast as inter-provincial travel is forbidden. The wheels have come off the notion of my sister in the US visiting this year. Nor can I fly across the Atlantic to see her. We’ve covered the idea in a maudlin tarpaulin and parked it.

The world is in limbo but pressing pause gives us the opportunity to re-calibrate and decide what is important.

We have the power to shift our perspective.

We can escape our self-imposed trap.

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars and see yourself running with them.” — Marcus Aurelius.

This global crisis will not end anytime soon.

Many people in the world right now have problems and stresses that put mine in the shade. Evictions, unemployment, hunger, poverty, inequality, violence, loss and grief.

Everyone deserves a hearing, but our sorrows and inability to plan our tomorrows should not define who we are.

Nobody knows how to tackle this pandemic predicament — open, close, support, oppose. It’s important we adapt to uncertainty and keep a fierce grip on hope.

The Spanish Flu lasted for 14 months and infected one-third of the world population.

Despite that, here we are a century later.

We’re groping in the dark, but the light still shines if we know where to look.

Raise your eyes and peer into the night skies — the stars, the planets and the galaxies continue to inhabit the heavens.

When I catch my Self sinking into a swamp of despair, I recall the immutable truth that I am in charge of my experience. I get back behind the wheel and steer my thoughts onto the road of possibilities, even though remote right now.

If my answer to every future plan and goal is “unlikely” then that’s what I shall manifest. I won’t allow circumstance to strangle me.

“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”― W. B. Yeats.

Nothing remains the same forever.

Let’s not forget who is in charge.

The greatest gift I could have wished for is the ability to write. This allows me to collect my thoughts and emotions; to express them in prose or poetry that give me clarity and hope.

These are the gifts I pass on to you.

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it.” — Edith Wharton.

I trust I have done either — or both.

Despite the discourse dominating our daily lives, let’s remember anything is possible.

Or we can see it from another perspective:

“Nothing is impossible unless you think it is.” — Paramahansa Yogananda

Thank you for reading. I hope you may enjoy these stories and poems too.