The Bridge

There’s a place that stands between illusion and truth. Between our external circumstances and reality. Between our limitations and zillions of possibilities. It’s called THE BRIDGE.

What is the bridge?

The word bridge has several meanings. Two that apply here are 1 – a physical structure that spans or provides passage over a river, chasm and the like. And 2 - a connecting, transitional or intermediate route or phase between two adjacent elements, activities, conditions, or the like: Working at the hospital was a bridge between medical school and private practice.

The bridge beckons you to merge with your inner fire and knowing. To join with your soul essence, the very fiber of your being. The God-stuff that you are made of. The bridge is your connection from what IS to what CAN BE. Or maybe it’s more appropriate to say from what IS NOT to what IS. The concept or idea of the bridge exists as a way for you to exercise your free will, to test/change your beliefs, and to make decisions that ultimately affect your entire reality. It’s an opportunity to cross over from limited thinking and human outcomes to reunion with Source, which can create your own heaven on earth.

It’s a path to the unknown and because of that, the missing link for many people. But the moment you trust and make a commitment to your own evolution, even in the face of the unknown, your world, your paradigm shifts. And although your journey to the other side may make you stumble, you’re open and receptive to the lessons. You make it safely to the other side. You experience the bliss that comes with jumping into life fully. But when you sit and stare longingly across the great chasm without making a decision or taking a step, the Universe won’t force you. It supports you, but only you have the power to save you. Only you can decide to take the journey. Only you can learn the lessons you’re here to learn. And you will learn them, either now or later.

This reminds me so much of the experience of being present for my dad’s passing. It took him almost 3 weeks to leave. Having to watch him suffer, day in and day out almost killed me. My dad had many health challenges over a period of 25 or so years. But he was a warrior. He had a silent heart attack at 59, strokes, diabetes, more heart problems and lost his sight in one eye. He had severe rheumatoid arthritis. But he always looked his challenges square in the face, fought them and rose above. He liked to say that being alive was “better than the alternative.” When he went to the hospital 4 years ago to visit my mom (who was ill from the extreme stress of my dad’s deteriorating health), he collapsed into a diabetic coma and never came home.

This got me thinking about the tough choices we can face when we come to the foot of the bridge. We have so many opportunities to walk across it throughout our lives. And we must stand before it when it comes time to finally leave this physical experience. We can let go, trust and walk across peacefully or we can decide to fight and resist until spirit finally makes the choice for us.

When dad ended up with the worst case of pneumonia the doctors had ever seen, he was literally tortured 24/7. He was intubated almost the entire time. He was shot full of drugs for seizures, drugs to keep him sedated, drugs for diabetes, strong antibiotics and more. His arms were black from the needles and medication and his body was wet and oozing. His throat was destroyed from the the tube being pulled out and put back in. Because of that he couldn’t eat. He was slowly starving to death and his body was breaking down, but he continued to fight.

He had beaten every illness and set-back that came his way during his entire life. He thought for sure he would beat this too. Two and a half weeks later, his kidneys began to fail. He began seeing, reaching out for and calling to someone named Mary, who was on the other side. Then one day he announced that he was “sick as a dog.” He knew he was dying. We kept telling him it was ok to go, it was safe. We told him that we loved him. But he hung on.

I know he saw the bridge and the other side. I can only imagine what a glorious sight that might have been. But he held a belief his entire life that death lead to blackness and nothing more. As his condition deteriorated even more, his eyes turned a mottled grey. He had a child-like quality to his features and actions. He was clearly moving between two worlds. There were times he’d go into angry fits. He would be agitated and yell. He said the doctors were liars who said they’d feed him but they never did. When the doctors said that there was nothing else they could do and they put him in a private room to die, he lingered for several days more. I’m sure he stayed because of us. They say that people often die when their families finally leave the room. But not my dad.

When he could no longer breathe and we had to start morphine, he hung on. It should’ve been so easy to let go. That bridge was freedom, relief from the immense suffering of the physical body. In life and in death, the will to live, to stay in a familiar place, to fight and struggle is so strong. We all gathered around him as he took his last breath, about 2 days later.

What belief or fear is preventing you from taking that walk across the bridge? I’m not talking about right before you die. I’m talking about right now.

Maybe you’re afraid of taking the first step. Maybe from your vantage point, the bridge looks unsound. Unstable and poorly constructed. Maybe you know that if you take that walk across - your reality, your world, your paradigm as you know it will change. Who would you be then? What would your life be like when you get to the other side? And what would happen if you get stuck in the middle of the bridge? What if you had to ask for help to get across?

Maybe you believe you’re just a victim of fate and you have no control over your circumstances.

Or maybe it’s just easier and feels more safe to stay where you are. It’s certainly comfortable even if when it’s not. You know it well. You can manage it. Maybe there’s some hidden benefit from staying where you are. But do you really wanna stay where you are? Aren’t you the least bit curious what’s waiting for you on the other side?

In reality, did you have any control over your creation and birth? Are you responsible for each breath you take and each heartbeat that keeps you alive? Do you control the sun rising and setting? Do you have control over how and when you die?

Remember this…you are made up of star stuff. "We are a way for the universe to know itself. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can, because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star stuff," Sagan famously stated.

His statement sums up the fact that the carbon, nitrogen and oxygen atoms in our bodies, as well as atoms of all other heavy elements, were created in previous generations of stars over 4.5 billion years ago. Because humans and every other animal as well as most of the matter on Earth contain these elements, we are literally made of star stuff. Wow.

So on that note, remember that most things are beyond your comprehension and control. Remember that this entire “life story” is an illusion but you have the power to decide to change it or believe it into existence. Reflect on that.

The moral of this story

If you want change in your life, then you have to take some kind of action. You get to decide what you want or don’t want. If you’re not sure you want change but aren’t happy with the way things are, again, you get to choose. You can believe or disbelieve. You can have, be or do whatever you decide.

The first obstacle you’ll be up against on the way across the bridge is FEAR. But remember, fear stands for “False Evidence Appearing Real.” Again, something intangible. If you’re gonna walk over the bridge with a belief that something bad may happen, why not change it around? Couldn't something amazing happen just as easily?

You can create your outcome any way you like. You can believe that this physical world is all there is. You can believe that you have no way out and are subject to whatever gets tossed at you. You can be like a ship at sea during a storm. Pummeled mercilessly, while having no control. Or you can confidently take that walk, knowing (and believing) that calmer seas await you. That all answers you need will be given to you at the perfect time. You can choose to skip the walk across. But it is guaranteed that life will continue to throw you the same lesson over and over until you give in and take the journey.

The bridge is your connection to all possibilities, everything you secretly want but are afraid to admit. You can make it difficult or easy. So what are you waiting for? You’re made of stardust, remember?

Make this a practice. Next time you’re faced with a decision and feel disbelief or fear, rethink that bridge. See it with crystal clarity and understand what it represents. A solid, brilliant path, a gift, to all possibilities. A path you want to take. Your evolution.

Instead of fearing the unknown, start looking curiously, excitedly toward the possibilities. Start choosing to live your life fully before it’s too late. Take chances. Love with all you’ve got. Laugh often. Believe in miracles. Feel the relief of letting go. Watch what happens.

The bridge is beckoning…..