In the last couple years or so I have been confronted with a lot of change, needing to short sale our house, release our possessions and downsize, the illnesses and death of friends and major changes at the places where I teach and offer therapy.
What I have received from all the events and changes is a new relationship to the feeling of impermanence and knowing on a deep level that nothing lasts except the Inner Self, the bigger energy, or God.
I was holding the feet of a friend of mine, offering craniosacral therapy about two weeks before she died. I was looking around her room and thinking about the lovely little house she owned and the possessions she had acquired that had brought meaning to her in her life. In that moment none of these things held a strong meaning for her or were an aid to her as she was preparing to transition from this earth plane, but even though her physical condition was weak and compromised, the energy which we call in craniosacral, the Breath of Life, was beautifully strong and present. I felt very little separation between her system and mine.
At this time I had been struggling with a way to hang on to our house, pay our mortgage, keep the “status quo”. That afternoon I had the awareness that nothing of the physical world really matters ultimately. What has brought and continues to bring me meaning is my family, my spiritual practices, my relationship with my friends, students, and clients, my love of animals and nature. and I played the game in my mind of “what’s the worse thing that could happen?” If I were homeless or unemployed even estranged from friends or family, I could never lose my connection to God. I live an awakened life through the grace of my guru, my teachers and the people in my life.
I have come to understand that attachment to any of these temporary things brings great suffering. One of my teachers has said”Cheerfully accept what comes to you unsought” This has been a powerful teaching for me. I can add, cheerfully release what leaves your life at any time. If I can truly value and appreciate the gifts of this present moment in whatever form they take then I can let them go. In that way I can find freedom and joy.
So, now, sitting on the couch in our little two bedroom rental with a furry little Shitzu’s bottom pressed against my leg as she sleeps, I have in this moment, contentment and peace. I don’t think i would feel better if the couch were on a yacht or in a mansion. Once I heard someone say to a child who was upset, “If you focus on what you haven’t got you’ll always be sad. but if you focus on what you do have, you’ll always be happy.”
I have work that I love. I have many amazing people in my life. I live in a beautiful part of the world. And if all of that disappeared I have a powerful connection to the Divine.
Speak Your Mind