Someone bothers us or something does not go our way. It irritates us. This festers like a thorn in a finger, and continues to draw out older negative experiences. Regardless of relationship to the present condition, these negative feelings continue to create an eventual tidal wave that will rise and rise leading to frustration, hatred and anger. We then teeter on the edge of madness. Yet what prevents us from losing our cool and striking someone or something, thereby committing a heinous act. Or even for that matter letting our guard down and in that momentary weakness or blurring of lines commit adultery, steal, lie, cheat, striking someone in anger and behave badly.  Moreover what is lacking in many who do cross over the drawn line of “normality.”

The place to answer the question is at the beginning. How do we prevent ourselves from reaching and living on the edge of the abyss? It is very easy to say “stay calm and carry on”, ” be at peace at all times”, ” relax and meditate” yet the truth be told it takes a lot more courage, strength and resolve to hold back the winds of anger in face of a stimulus versus hiding in a hut away from reality. This is called living. The adages noted as above are merely reinforcements to the already erected scaffolding of the mind that is in place to prevent you from  losing the battle and pulling you back from the edge. We should try not to keep living on the edge lest we intend to stay there and get accustomed to the dizzy heights from whence to fall. We prevent ourselves by strengthening these reinforcements on a daily basis through the presence of mind and faith. Being in the moment affords us the extra second of pause to breathe and then react which makes all the difference in the world. By allowing your spirit to give you much needed counsel in that split second makes the difference between you shouting in anger or striking someone, and maintaining composure and walking back from the edge. Unfortunately the edge will always be there so long as we interact with this world and the persons within it, yet it is about summoning the fortitude and not stepping off the edge of destruction. That brief second maybe in just a second in linear time but it is in fact infinity in spiritual time, long enough for you to choose the next step. What may not be present in the people who commit bad behavior or heinous acts  are those whose struts are not strongly placed and so are carried off by the forces of anger.

The blurry lines of right and wrong are instilled from a young age by parents, teachers and society, the downside is that it is usually based on someone else’s morality and imprinted upon us. The nature of spirit is never allowed to “mature” in the physical realm as we are too young and physically or mentally “immature”and so we adopt the boundaries and lines from others. I would argue that if given the right circumstances by parents or society as a whole, one can allow even a young child to have the confidence and insight to ripen their own spiritual Selves, thereby adorning their true morality while still at a young stage, and so not corrupted by that of others. Yet time and tide wait for no man, and neither can be reversed, so move forward and do your best. I would suggest that by enabling the practice of being ever present, which might be helped through various meditative techniques, or simply following your breath awareness on a more moment to moment interval might be one such start. Not taking on the stimulus head first may assist in changing the landscape that is presented. Living on the edge or walking around on egg shells is no way to live. Look over at the abyss, smile and say boo ! Make it afraid of you and not the other way round. Remember to step away not step off the edge.

Scared of heights? Great time to not live on the edge.