​As the jingle and jangle of Christmas bells and reindeer hooves permeated my sleep and roused me sweetly into wakefulness, the first thought that surfaced in my mind was 'Ahh … Christmas'.   
 
The second thought, which crashed rapidly a moment later was, 'Bloody hell, I'm going to miss my flight.'
 
The Christmas bells turned out to be the cacophonous racket of glass bottles cascading into the garbage truck out on the street. And a quick look at the clock confirmed both my first and second thoughts, it was Christmas Day and my flight home was scheduled to leave Sydney in 35 minutes.   
 
In an explosion of activity, two humans and two sausage dogs ricocheted around the house briefly before piling into the car in search of a Christmas miracle. 
 
There may never be a better time to drive to the airport in a hurry than at 5:30 am on Christmas morning. The roads were clear and the traffic lights green. Really not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. 
 
I hung suspended in my mind, held up by sharp hooks of anxiety and frustration and also floating on a faint breeze of hope and possibility. 
'I am so late that they are probably already calling my name.' 'And yet I'm checked in, have carry-on and I can run.' 'The airport is huge and will be busy.' 'All I need is like a 10 minute flight delay.' 'This is going to ruin Christmas.' 'It might be a Christmas Miracle.'
 
Caught in limbo between the archetypal extremes of a classic Christmas fable, I first drove to the airport, then kissed a girl, rubbed two peanut shaped dog heads goodbye and dashed into the terminal. 
 
The security check provided iconic stilted tension as I hopped from foot to foot unaided by the slightly jaded and sardonic security officer. 
"My flight leaves in literally 10 minutes." I appealed. 
"Yes, they are waiting for you. Get in line." He replied with well practiced detachment. 
 
The Christmas Day drama climaxed fittingly as the gap between ruining Christmas and a Christmas Miracle narrowed to encompass only a man running with unlaced shoes through a crowded terminal wing. 
 
It was the stuff of popular culture cliché, and I was living the moment in full colour as I clattered into the check-in podium at gate 56. 
 
"Christmas Miracle?" I gasped out between heavily drawn breaths. 
The slowly reversing plane I could see over the attendant's shoulder made her genuine response close to redundant.
"I'm sorry Sir."
"So you’re telling me I've ruined Christmas? For a minute there I thought it was going to be the other one." 
"It was close. Sorry.” she smiled. “The next flight is in four hours, they can book you on that upstairs."
"Thank you."
 
As I trudged back through the terminal, disappointment and residual adrenaline fluttered through my thoughts and feelings. Missing a flight is rough. Although surrounded by annoyance, guilt and settling shock was the faint glow of some other feelings. Glinting feelings that I was happy to sense and explore.  
 
Missing my flight home for Christmas had distorted the plans of my family, violently jolted and rearranged the day of my partner, and cost me time, money and emotional stability. It was a destructive event and not desirable. 
 
That is however not all. It was also a unique series of events, challenges and sensations that could not have existed otherwise. Moments of hope and thrill, chances to surge and pursue a worthy goal - saving Christmas - and the sensation of living a life imbued with awareness and experience. 
 
It was a journey of never before known sensations, and to me there is precious, fleeting and perspective enriching value to be found right there in the middle of a ruined Christmas Miracle. 
 
A difficult choice was available. I could inhabit the disappointment and frustration of the moment, or I could hone in on the unique, foreign and potentially valuable elements of the experience.
 
The former would carry negativity and abrasion into the interactions and events that would determine the nature of the remaining day. The later would be imbued with possibility and the eventual outcome of the day stood to be positively created in that open space.
 
The path to a ruined Christmas, and the alternative track to a Christmas Miracle were available before me. The task was to be aware enough to choose.
 
A short time later I walked through the terminal with a new ticket and a positive feeling tucked under my arm. The smiling face of Julie, my harried customer service agent, confirmed the importance of recognizing frustration, possibility and the opportunity before me, and then choosing for value.
 
The message to me stands clear, the task of life is to strive, experience and understand the moments of our world. Not just some parts of each moment, but all of the varied and valuable pieces. From that understanding there can be choice. In order to choose, we have to breath, experience and be in it. 

Yes hello and welcome to the Be In It blog experience. A space of stories, reflections and insights into the highly variable human experience. 

Prepare, as you read, to be shown the true nature of life, and then prepare to have that truth modified immediately as additional information, experience and perspective arises. 



It seems clear that the conscious journey enjoyed by all people can include both spectacular disaster and startling joy, as well as a collection of meandering regular events to serve as a pretty solid backdrop. 

Into this journey humans travel, either blindly or searchingly aware, sometimes hurtling ahead wildly and sometimes stoically plodding. Some people experience fear and trepidation during their trip through life while others blaze with confidence and a bullet proof spirit. Some individuals follow a plan, others ricochet freely against the boundaries of the impossible and probable.

Through it all there is learning, experience, reflection and understanding. This is the adventure of life, and what a wonderful collection of unique, excruciating and uplifting events it is. 

Try this out for a collection of potentially debatable life truths:

• Challenge is opportunity
• Perspective directly contributes to reality
• Your personal experience is completely unique
• The task of life may be to simple be in it 

If as you read those statements a corner of your mind enlivens, or in a quiet moment latter something stirs and wriggles, then stay tuned. 



To begin with, challenge:

Through personal pursuit, or through the random and exuberant nature of the world each person encounters challenge. It seems that the vast majority of people could quickly and confidently answer the question ‘what are your challenges today?’ 

Challenges occur in a broad range of circumstances and include various characteristics.  

• A challenge presents itself - an event or an obstacle, a resisting force or a moment of drastic change 
• A challenge is variable - explosive or constrictive, significant or routine, unique or chokingly familiar 
• A challenge demands attention - internally or externally generated, grotesque or high-minded, seemingly pointless or necessary 
• A challenge is influenced by perspective - grand or mundane, equitable or unfair, malicious or dispassionate

When asked ‘what are your challenges today?’ an image is conjured, possibly echoed in the labels provided above. 
It could be an event, unique in nature, necessary for progression and dispassionate to the individual. 
Perhaps a moment of change, explosive and decisive coming from inside and grand in scope and impact. 
Maybe an obstacle, familiar and well worn that by now seems mundane and nearly pointless.

An important element of life is to be exposed to challenge - and then strive to succeed, to avoid, or to survive. For every person these situations are different. 

In all circumstance and through all phases of our personal journey, challenges pulsate in our awareness. Varied in as many ways as life itself is varied, each challenge comes as a unique event, even when a repetition of a previous challenge. 

People reach to understand and negotiate in the presence of presented, variable, attention demanding challenges. A first step to engaging with any challenge is description.  

If you can create a moment of relative peace, then consider your challenges today. What are they? How where they created? How do you feel about them? Have you been here before?

To examine and then to describe the features of a challenge may well provide the foundation to understanding.

From understanding, possibilities open vibrantly for engagement. When dealing with a challenge one of the potentially greatest tools is perspective. 

Presented with challenge, can you see opportunity?


Next time on Be In It, opportunity.