Bomb-proof Anchors

I am thinking tonight of the view from the cabin my sister and I had in Utah, and the talks that we had on the porch.

I'd shared with her that there were some essential elements I'd experienced up where she's from at LCO, and how I wanted to be able to retain those when I'd left there, and over time, I did. The lessons and growth I'd experienced back in those days I was able to bring into my personal life. I'd shared with her that I wanted to be able to do the same with aspects of our Utah trip together.

For our trip, I'd set a course and made a plan. As we were driving up to where we were staying, my sister said something to the effect of: "Boy, when you say you want to get away, you REALLY get away." I think it's safe to say we saw more mule deers than people up in the La Sal mountains. I'd never been there before and wasn't sure what to expect. But sitting there on the porch late at night, watching the stars watch us, I felt somehow this was worth bringing into my heart, mind and experiences. In other words, something to bring inside and take home with me.

What I'm talking about aren't just trip memories. I've got a lot of memories of LCO, and now Utah. Those are fine, but this is something more. I felt a sense of wonder, amazement and security.

In climbing, there's something called bomb-proof anchors. My instructor on real rock walked me through setting up some basic ones. I'm not as well versed on this aspect of climbing as I'd like to be, but bomb-proof anchors are critical to top rope climbing. Some features they have are setting them with the gates opposite each other in order to ensure maximum strength. They have redundancy to them, if they're going to be solid and secure. They are reliable and secure, which enables the climber to take the risk of climbing itself with relative safety.

I am thinking about bomb-proof anchors because of the similarities of my experiences at LCO and Utah in that I grew a lot from both and want to bring that growth back with me. I think in both cases, I trusted my instincts about people and let the Creator provide the experience.

Maybe the Creator's my bomb-proof anchor. The gates set in opposition are the balance of both the positive and negative experiences that create for me the opportunity to develop awareness, learn and grow. Perhaps it was never a matter of bringing back from LCO or Utah some essential element of an experience. Rather, it was bringing the awareness of my bomb-proof anchor to my daily life, trusting it and allowing the experience to flow.

I had to get away pretty far to recognize what's always with me.