Dr. Bob Luckin gave a talk at CSL Palm Beach Gardens yesterday in which he used the metaphor of long distance biking, applying it to our journey of life. He was an avid biker and also led people on biking trips. His metaphor is most useful and I’d like to expand on it here, as I use it in my life.

According to Dr. Bob, in biking there is a gear for every stage of travel – pedaling uphill, pedaling downhill, coasting, etc. His particular bike has 20 gears. He likened it to life. We have a gear for every experience in our lives. Sometimes, it is a simple as “just shifting gear and to keep pedaling.”

Is life meant to be simply a joy ride or do we come upon bumps in the road?. Of course, we are innately perfect, but we do not always use the Law perfectly and sometimes we do experience those bumps. The truth is even when we find ourselves on a bumpy road, we always have a gear we can rely on. Sometimes, we want to bring everything to a screeching halt. Unfortunately, we cannot stop the flow of life, we can only shift our consciousness within the journey.  When we do, the journey shifts.

What does shifting mean? To mean, it means turning within for my answers. I might need to pedal with a little more love or a little more faith or a little more quiet time. I might need to make a completely different choice in my response to some event or person. It’s all up to me. However, the most important thing to remember is there is a gear for every moment in our life’s journey.

And what happens when we find ourselves pedaling with someone else who is having a difficult ride? I am experiencing time with family right now. Some in my family members are experiencing those bumps of life. I am pedaling alongside them. What I get to do is shift into the gear of understanding, compassion, while also peddling steadily anchored in my Truth.

It surely wouldn’t help to downshift my consciousness into their troubles. When we are assisting others, we might have to slow down a bit with them, but we do not have to let go of what we know and hold true. Without coercing them to go faster, we get to offer encouragement and a steady presence of peace and love.

I have faith in the journey of life. I know that everyone, and I mean everyone, is pedaling at their own pace with their own choices of gears. I am not here to convince anyone to change gears or pedal at my pace. I am only responsible for my own pedaling.

What I know is that we all have everything within us to meet every twist, turn, hill and bump. We are at the helm, and all it takes is a shift in consciousness or turning the handle bars in another direction to get back on the road of Truth. It’s always there for us.

If the wind is in our face or pushing us from behind, just shift or coast, but keep pedaling. Thank you, Dr. Bob!

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita