In the Belly of the Beast

In the Belly of the Beast

By Frederick J. Blahnik

So without any explanation I abruptly and unexpectedly found myself entrapped within the belly of the beast

With obviously no place to turn for help in this dark and despicable place…..

And no one could hear my muffled screams either, even when I screamed from the very bottom of my lungs, from the very bottom of my essence, from the very bottom of my soul……

I was all alone in an impossible place facing impossible circumstances

The world as I knew it was over…..

Time stopped then…..

The world stopped turning…..

My life was effectively over.

And yet, just when the end was in sight—Not close, mind you, but plainly IN SIGHT!—and things could not have looked any bleaker, I discovered inner peace…..

That’s right, just when my life was on course to be effectively over, I connected intimately with my inner being…..

And this…..this is what my inner being told me at that harrowing, transcendent instant:

Be strong, Fred, you need to be STRONG now!!!!!

Stronger than tensile steel, stronger than the most massive elephant, stronger than the gravitational field of Jupiter, stronger than the hand of God…..

Stronger than you have ever been in the past!

Way, waaaaaaayyy stronger than you have ever been in the past!!!

Strength comes in many forms and iterations, and you must look deep inside yourself to find the strength you need in any particular moment or circumstance…..starting RIGHT NOW!!!!!

Sometimes there is no one else around to help you and then you must conjure the strength to save yourself…..

Sometimes “YOU” are the only option remaining…..

And thus I resolved to elevate myself to this hitherto impossibly giraffine level of strength.

And just at that instant—just when the end had come for me and my time as a living, earthly creature was set to expire, the beast shuddered involuntarily and regurgitated me out of its belly with a resounding convulsion.

Back into the earthly realm; back where the bizarre episode first started

But wait…..had I ever actually departed this verdant place or was it all some sort of grotesque dream???

Had it all been real?  Had these events even taken place??  Had I been dreaming all along???

Who knows???  Who can tell?  Who knows what the real truth ever is?

I didn’t then and I guess I never will know the correct answer either.

Yet I suddenly found myself not only alive, but divinely enlightened as well.

And I certainly do not plan on squandering this invaluable, newfound information…..

I have miraculously been granted a second chance at life and I surely don’t plan on wasting it…..

This is a bona fide miracle, this rebirth, this rising from the dead, this reenactment of a phoenix, and from this day onward I promise to carry forward a new perspective as my inseparable partner…..

A perspective based on faith…..

A perspective based on optimism…..

A perspective based on rejuvenation…..

A perspective based on enthusiasm and altruism and selflessness and alacrity…..

A perspective based on the most transcendent emotion of all, that being love…..

And finally, a perspective based on…..based on…..based on…..based on…..based on…..based on…..based on…..STRENGTH……….yes, towering, annihilating, all-conquering personal strength just as I was coached by that inscrutable, supernatural entity garbed in invisible clothing during my transitory stay in the belly of the beast!!!!!