One after the other, dozens of bats literally came straight at me, like right between my eyes.  I stood there beneath the canopy of trees, gasping for breath, not wanting my nightly run interrupted, but stopped nonetheless.  Each time a bat zoomed at me, I spontaneously jerked my eyes shut and lurched this or that way, trying to avoid a collision.  Whatever this was about, I was consumed by the experience.

In a split second, an unearthly command boomed forth.  It was my guides.  “Don’t flinch!!!!  DON’T flinch!!!!  We are telling you DON’T FLINCH!”  When creatures are seemingly zooming, one after the other, right into your face…don’t flinch?

My training had never been conventional, but this lesson was in a class of its own.  I stood as still as possible, transfixed by these tiny kamikazes, trying not to react at any level.  

The bats weren’t coming “at me”.  They were zipping back and forth through the corridor created by the canopy of trees, feeding on the kazillions of insects flying around me, attracted by two streetlights, one at either end of the canopy.  The more still I became—body, mind and spirit—the more I became one with this divine experience.   I could literally hear and feel the air movement these tiny wonders created within inches of my face, in a split second veering away…  

Being trained to not flinch had been a major part of my training back then… a few decades ago, one which I understood was preparing me for my path, my purpose, for a then unseen future…which has arrived. 

It truly is time for all of us to learn to be unflinching, to stay centered, steadfast and present—eyes wide open—despite what may be happening around us, despite these extreme changes upon us.   Whatever the form—whether the earth trembles, lightening strikes, floods besiege us, nation turns against nation— life comes crashing down around us like a “chicken little” phenomena, we must stay centered, present with and to whatever circumstance is at hand.  We can and we must!  For staying present, calm and collected will create the critical difference for ourselves and for all life.  Let us work together.  The time is now!!