The wagon wheel of life

I adore the metaphor of life as a wagon wheel on its side. There's a rim, spokes and hub with a hole in the middle. Finding home base in our minds is like an ant exploring the outer rim and eventually reaching the hub in the center of the wheel.

The metaphor of the wheel reveals several hidden choices for each of us to consider:

• where to be on the wheel
• which direction to head in next
• when to make a turn

When we're traveling along the rim of the wheel, we're convinced we're making progress. Our past is behind us and our future lies ahead of us. We have a personal history of great importance to our conviction to stay on the circumference of the wheel. We rarely have a sense of getting nowhere, going in circles or kidding ourselves about making significant progress. The passage of time and coverage of distance provide us with physical proof of really getting somewhere.

At some point in our lives, we question our sanity. We wonder if we're climbing the wrong ladder, chasing after mirages and getting nowhere quickly. At this point, where ready to get off the rim and move down a spoke of the wagon wheel.

When we get on a spoke, life is about our immediate experience. We come from being here and now rather than mindlessly doing stuff for the future. We're attuned to how we're feeling right now. This adds a delicious dimension to what we're doing whenever it feels right, timely and balanced.

When we reach the center of the wagon wheel, there's a big hole there. We discover we're nobody significant as a separate individual and all encompassing in spirit. We find we're better off not-knowing that knowing too much. We're aspire to be as empty as the center of the wheel so that we can be filled with inspirations, peace of mind and deep enjoyment of simple pleasures.

We realize we feel at home in the center of the wheel as if the rim and spoke was merely a dream of being homeless, lost and abandoned in eternity. We can feel the difference of coming home to the center after becoming very attuned to our feelings on the spoke of the wagon wheel.