"Sometimes, one door must close before another can open"
In 2012, On The Backroads is becoming ONE WORLD ASCENSION!!! Evolution is necessary to the survival of any living thing, including the soul! I set out for expansion, balance and solvency in this up and coming year(which I talked about in my last entry) and One World Ascension will take me to those places and do it with grace!
It came to me today that a shift was taking place within my consciousness. For the past 4 years I have flown under the flag of "On The Backroads". I realized that as I have grown, my place in this existence has shifted along with my priorities. On The Backroads is not going away, it is just switching places with One World Ascension as what primarily resonates in my heart at this point in my life. On The Back Roads cradled me like a loving mother cradles her young child and encouraged a life of adventure and self discovery. One World Ascension is that young child all grown up who now cradles his elderly mother.
The external meaning of On The Backroads started out as a concept that was a play on words about my life as a traveler and later as a va(n)gabond. The depth of the concept was that I would take the back roads while traveling to see more nature and more of the "real world". The internal meaning was to show how I had started thinking outside the box and acting on it, how I started to walk the roads within and always taking the road less traveled to get there.
On The Backroads has been a primary way in which I looked at my life from late 2007 until now.
In April 2011 I gave birth to One World Ascension and allowed it to lie dormant, awaiting for a more purposeful exposure. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with it until sometime in October 2011. I have now decided to make OWA a model in which I could invite others to share their views on any issue or topic that makes their heart beat fast or their mind question insatiably. I believe that while we benefit more from remaining in flow with our hearts calling, we should not discount the intellect and the importance that thought plays in the human experience. It plays much to the same tune as the marriage between science and spirit that is so often denied by so many.
I want to go on the record of saying that On The Backroads is not dying off, it's not a "brand" that will be disappearing because it is a HUGE part of my life, in fact at this point, it's still by far the biggest. However, as with the evolution of anything I too must evolve. It is because of OTBR that OWA came to light, in more ways than one. Allow me to explain:
In 2007 I had just entered my 20's and I was caught up in a very unfulfilling and miserable life in Corporate America. Though I was always a rebel and a free spirit, I was highly asleep to all of lifes natural and precious gifts, as well as to all of the horrible darkness that also exists. As many of you know I started traveling heavy in the years to follow. 2008 saw a 4 month spiritual journey to all of the western states and National Parks. 2009 saw a journey to the entire southeast and back to the western great plains. 2010 saw numerous trips all around the Great Lakes region and then 2011 saw a year long journey that is still currently happening across the entire United States with the exception of the southeast. Since On The Backroads started in late 2007 I have traveled all of the lower 48 states, Canada and Mexico. I have stayed in countless hotels, campgrounds, strangers couches, friends hospitable accomodations and even did the "van thing" where I lived in not only one, but two different vans on two different occasions. During this time I also explored great depths within myself. I went from a rage-o-holic with massive black out depression feeling like I was stuck in a box in 2007 and beforehand to...err...well the same exact thing in 2011, but it's been the SHIFT IN PERSPECTIVE and my VALUES that has been the whole damn ride!
See, it's rather simple. On The Backroads is just an older version of me, One World Ascension is the new and improved version. It's no different than Windows XP becoming Windows 7(forget about Vista) or the best selling American economy car the Ford Escort becoming the new best selling American economy car, the Ford Focus. This is largely what I set out to do at the end of 2010 with this year, I wanted to evolve.
Does the shift from OTBR to OWA mean that my life of travel is over?
Does the shift mean I'm no longer taking the back roads within myself and in life?
Does the shift suggest that the old design is no longer present? That it's no longer working?
The answer to all of the above questions is a loud and honest, NO!
Just because I am shifting my energy at this moment doesn't mean I will be giving up a life of travel. In fact, if you read my last OTBR journal entry you would see that I would like to engage in even MORE travel in the coming years. I'm by no means "settling down" for the long term or walking away from the very lifestyle that revolutioned my life and allowed OWA to even be discovered in the first place. I will ALWAYS take the back roads when navigating, I learned largely this year that sometimes I have to take the main roads. Taking the back roads isn't so much about LITERALLY taking the back roads all the time anymore, it's about the philosophy of doing what works for your soul and being outside the box in your mind. If taking the main road either when traveling or within myself works better, then I'll take it but I won't take it just because thats the "mainstream" thing to do and what culture suggests I do. The "old design" of OTBR is actually not much different than OWA in its birthing process. OWA is not a replacement of OTBR, it's simply a different flavor or different updated version.
On The Backroads was largely in part, all about me. It had to be, it was my time to discover the soul that lives inside, to use the mind I was blessed with in marriage with the heart I was given to feel something out and then decide how to go about it. During the time of OTBR I traveled the entire country, all the National Parks, all the major cities, I fell in love, I learned to have gratitude for the people I love, I let my hair down(literally), I lived my dream of living in a van, I confronted demons that were plauging me since childhood, made peace with myself on a lot of levels, learned about where I stood on many issues, I made the best friends I've ever had in my life, I've relocated from an area I was unhappy to my favorite part of the USA, the west AND I discovered myself! I did a lot of things!!! The easiest way to sum up OTBR is I found my heart, I found my passion, I found the things I loved to do the most and I was able to do a lot of them while living OTBR. Now, One World Ascension can be birthed because I went through the much needed lessons of OTBR.
One World Ascension is still about me, we are all selfish beings and have to be. It's important to learn the difference between selfless selfishness and ego-centric selfishness though, that is what makes the difference. As I write this on December 26th at 7AM as the sunrises I realize the need for what One World Ascension offers, not only to me but also to the world. On The Backroads was always something that served me and those around me on a smaller scale, OWA is an expansion of the passions that drove me to it, on a larger level!
As a spiritual being, human being and person in our collapsing society I am evolving!
One World Ascension will go where On The Backroads couldn't, OWA can do what OTBR can't BUT! Without OTBR, OWA would never have come to existence! It's a beautiful way that they have interacted with one another and how they have given life to one another. On The Backroads feels a sense of completion and happiness to see One World Ascension birth and blossom into something beautiful. OWA reflects in gratitude and wonder towards OTBR for the chance to be.
I want my Universe to expand. Along with my awareness in my mind I want my hearts consciousness to expand and GROW.
Is it not the most important intersection of life? The one where the avenue of Awareness(the mind) meets the court of Consciousness(the heart)? This intersection is aboslutely essential to the development of the human spirit and the human mind. In the abscence of one another, they create an imbalance so grand that the one which is present cannot make up for the one that is lacking prescence. This encourages us to find a way to stay on both sides of our human reality.
Some say the journey of life is all about finding our way back home, or back to self, back to Source. I like that rationalization. One World Ascension is more mature and closer to Source than On The Backroads was because it presents me in a more complete fashion, much like whatever will come after OWA will be.
In this process of evolution I will always leave the door open for On The Backroads to resurface. If it makes sense and resonates in my soul on my path, why not? My references and working of OTBR will be seen in a lot of OWA, afterall it IS OWA and it IS what I have been from between 2007 until now, the end of 2011. Both of my blogs for OWA and OTBR will remain active at this time, along with my others that are open.
OTBR will still remain at this time for more personal introspections, road trips or travels I may take and whatever else I may present. OWA is something I want to share largely with everyone and will be more direct and to the point. This is how they will both work together. Consider this a transition from DVD to Blu Ray rather than a transition from VHS to DVD or Blu Ray to digital media. Just a few tweaks!! =:)
As we head into 2012, I find myself excited and scared. The raw truth and power of my spirit remains alive to share all of my thoughts and feelings. This new era is only new because I have shifted a few key values...you will see what they are as the year ahead unfolds. I am happy you could join me.
Being "On The Backroads" is already in my blood, its a very real and alive present version of me...now I am excited to spread this to everyone else and share my inner findings with the world! After all, that is what "One World Ascension" is all about!
-Zachary Hill 2011 (C)
No comments:
Post a Comment