Existential Reflections on Tropical Depression

This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series Debby Downer: My Existential Vacation Through A Tropical Depression

Debby Downer: My Existential Vacation Through A Tropical Depression

The Unexpected Arrival of Debby
Escaping Before the Storm’s Grip
Existential Reflections on Tropical Depression
Reality as a Subset of Dreaming
The Debby-cation Silver Lining

Now, looking back, I can see this vacation had layers of life lessons built into it. This vacation was 7 days, of which, only 2 actually consisted of us vacationing. And yet there was so much that happened internally, on a contemplative level, as these events unfolded. A couple examples:

The Cup Overflows: Life (family, friends, business, experiences, contemplation, etc) follows the 80/20 principle. 20% of life is what happens to a person. 80% of life is that person’s perception of that occurrence. Some people would say our vacation sucked. Some people would go further and say this attempt at glamping was so traumatizing, they would never want to do it again in their entire life. But, we were not (thankfully), sucked into the ocean, or forced to wade through 4 feet of water in our primary residence, or in an area where wind flipped our car upside-down. Nothing we endured was all that bad compared to what other people suffered during this storm. For me, Debby was a tropical storm and true to the metaphor, the glass was not empty or even half empty – clearly, with that much contemplative rain, the cup was overflowing.
Wheels within wheels: Years ago, I read this book where the author described the universe as an ever-reflective hologram experiencing itself. My first reaction to that statement was to cast judgement: this person had clearly done a lot of [insert mind altering drug name of choice here]. But that was just a fear-based response (as casting judgement typically is – a labeling mechanism to reduce thought cycles and defend existing paradigms). Typically, however, when we press beyond these artificial (and often egocentric) boundaries we’ve created for ourselves, we open ourselves up to learning more about the world around us. I finished that book, I practiced the techniques in that book, and years later, I started to see those reflective mechanics in play – no drugs required. This vacation was a reflection of my year, which was a reflection of my life, which was a reflection of the energy I gave to my life. The thoughts I think, creating intentions and generating the reality I have existed within. It all folds back in on itself while the universe expands hypothetically faster than the speed of light.

If Debby and this vacation is a reflection of my past, a manifestation of my present, surely there could also be intentions for my future evident in this event. I’m not a firm believer in predestination, in fate-based destiny; as I have written before, I think humans currently lack the ability to determine the existence of predestination, so until we get further into the quantum mechanics of life, it is a moot debate. From that place of ignorance, I choose to believe we do indeed have freedom of choice and forge our own unpredictable journey through life. Ergo, when I am looking for inklings of my future in events transpiring in my past, it’s more with an eye for what choices did I make, what thoughts did I think, to bring about these events, and is there anything in this Debby-cation that I want to capitalize on or re-script moving forward?