By Kandice Henning, Alive Center Founder & CEO
February 24, 2018
“Seriously, you never know, so stop thinking that you do.” This was a conversation that I was having with myself on the last night of my 2018 yoga retreat at a beautiful resort Northwest of Cabo. I have been going on these retreats for 7 years and they tend to be huge for me, full of deep spiritual lessons and growth. I was still feeling unsettled from the week, however, my “ah ha” moment had yet to come. I looked out the window to assess the evening sunset situation and my heart sank as I saw thick clouds above the water. Feeling a bit blah I set out into the chilly , cloudy night without my nice camera and coat to head to dinner. As I walked the short distance to the dining hall I saw some interesting cloud formations. My step quickened as I hustled up to the roof deck. Uncharacteristically, everyone else was in the dining room chatting away since it was our last night together. They had seen the clouds and the felt the cold and opted out of sunset viewing for the night.
I took a deep breath as I stepped out onto the deck. It is an amazing place to be as you can see 360 degrees, including the Pacific Ocean and vast mountains, it’s truly breathtaking. Sunlight was beginning to escape from the clouds over the ocean and paint the sky like a beautiful watercolor. I gasped. Here I was, all alone, at what felt like the top of the world. I kept twirling around to get the full view as the entire sky began to light up. And yes, I held my arms out as wonder flooded my heart. God’s majestic canvas first put forth pale hues of light blue and yellow then slowly became bright orange and purple. I could hear everyone downstairs but I did not want to move. I was freezing in the cool night air, but I simply did not care. My iphone did its best to capture. It was one of those rare moments in life where you are so present that you can feel the entire Universe. My heart broke wide open. It was exhilarating and awe inspiring!
Some friends were walking to dinner and saw me on the roof and called to me (see photo). I whooped with unbridled joy! Eventually others noticed the sky and came to the roof to join me and we all shared in the magnificence of the moment, a beautiful goodbye to us before we headed back home.
This was my lesson for this retreat. There is always a lesson: Stay open as you never know! I have found that I am wrong as often as I am right. I thought there would be no sunset as thus I was not prepared for a sunset, yet life completely surprised me! I am slowly learning that life is easier and more fun when I don’t try so hard to be right and instead just stay open to what is. You just never know. Miracles, beauty and love are all around us. I want to stay open to life and to life’s mysteries.
I don’t want to ever let a cloudy day get me down as it just might have more to reveal.