Visual Concentration

My very first trance experience for my study programs happened in a way that I was not expecting it. This week I attended the Midnight Flame Festival in Michigan, which is a twelve hour drive from my home. We decided to make the drive overnight because there were 4 of us going, which meant that no one would have had to drive more than a couple hours, and we could still make sure to be at the campsite in time for the opening ritual. However, as the trip started it quickly became clear that this was not the case. As I drove across the dark plains of Iowa, the rain started to pour heavily. I drove through it knowing that I only had two options, first, stop driving and wait until it was far enough away that we wouldn’t catch up with it (it was moving the same direction we were) or two, keep going and get ahead of the storm. I knew that I wanted to be at Midnight Flame in time for opening, and knew we were driving my car, so I took it upon myself to take over the driving through the storm. I listened to my breathing and focused on the roads ahead of me. I could hear the rain splattering on the windshield and the steady rhythm of my windshield wipers. I could feel the thunder rumble through the skies, and see the flashes of lightning across the skies. It was on this drive that I received notification that I had been accepted to the Clergy Training Program, so I let my thoughts wander to the work ahead, while driving down the very real road ahead. By the time the rain stopped, over six hours had passed, the sun was rising above the horizon, and I felt like it had washed away my doubts about the path I was supposed to be taking. It wasn’t trance work that I had expected, but allowing myself to focus so intensely on driving energized me in an amazing way. I ended up being awake for over 43 hours without ever feeling tired and it was worth every single second.