What Heights to Achieve?

I started thinking about climbing stairs after I made this image.

Here are some images that came to my mind and made me realize how climbing stairs really is a good metaphor for life.

Gleefully bounding up the stairs two at a time!

Rushing up the stairs because you are late and catching your toe on the edge of one; which causes you to bruise a knee and generally slows you down for days

Slowly, carefully, quietly climbing the stairs with a sleeping child in your arms

Climbing stairs somewhere where the view gets more spectacular with every step.

Dragging your butt up the stairs for any reason

Climbing the steps onto a stage

Getting to the second to last step in a long flight of stairs and remembering something, an item you need, still downstairs

Stairway to Heaven

Shadows

Missing Link

I stopped at a favorite spot to get out of the car for some air and get my blood moving. There was a gate closed at the top of the road, but not something that barred a walker. As I folded my upper body to swing it under the arm of the gate, I saw a chain link lying on the ground. 

I walked the short distance down, around and back up to the gate. I was refreshed, awake again and saw that link once more lying under what must have been the rest of the chain hanging from the arms of the gate.

I heard an echo in my head, “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” Then, a resounding Divine voice boomed in my head, “This is the missing link.”

I took a photo of it. I suspected it might be one of those moments that cause me to gnaw.

What missing link? 

That link clearly separated itself from the chain and was on its journey to oblivion. The process is evident in its condition. It is a broken link. 

What?

So, I got out my Tarot cards as I am wont to do when gnawing a thought. I use them for focus as I once used the Rune stones.

There is a link in all of us that tethers our spirit to our bodies. We must respect that and take responsibility for what that brings to our lives. 

There is a link between appreciation/gratitude and an absence of fear. Whenever we allow ourselves to let our fears grasp our hearts, it is because we are willfully blind to the good fortunes we have in our lives and the immortality of our spirit.

There is a link between our perspective and our reality. Our thoughts bring us joy or sorrow. We choose.

When you allow yourself to see your life from a lofty perspective rather than in the mess at ground level, you can be objective. 

There is a link between emotion and fear. Emotionless is fearless – not cold-hearted, but clear-headed.

I’ve been emotional for so long that I started to think that it is necessary to be emotional to be in touch with spirit. 

Now I see it is important to recognize that the mind also uses emotion as a tool for its tricks.

A higher perspective will show whether the emotion comes from spirit or the mind. 

And so, that rusty little link came into my life to remind me that the Claudette that walks among you is linked to something much greater and so are you.