“I will be calm. I will be mistress of myself.”
Jane Austen – Sense and Sensibility.
Yesterday we sat for an hour and a half meditation on the beach, took a swim in the turquoise waters and walked on the white sand. We listened to a podcast, Marybeth had suggested, or maybe a different one, called Jenny Slate: Off Camera with Sam Jones. It was perfect, deep, lots of self-inquiry, and humour. I felt tears and laughter all at the same time.
It is my practice in life to acknowledge life’s full catastrophes, as coined by Jon Kabat-Zinn, by focusing on, not just the positive or negative, but what I call the growing tip of one’s self, of life itself, full of expression.
As the compilation of experiences rise higher and higher everyday, I live that collage of experience as an opportunity to embrace all of life, in the world, in our personal lives, in the unexpected pain and pleasure, in the kindness of others.
I love sharing beauty and reflections–deeply experienced– within meaningful moments, in the continued midst of an evolving life which includes all of it– happiness, sorrow, joy, terror, peace, sadness, compassion and love. It is within this mix that the illumination of light, time and time again, appears as silent, quiet companion asking only of me to stay present, look, hear, speak, go inward, see outward, dive deep and fly high, participating and entering into the spiraling vortex of perception, into the alchemy of radiant human dignity, honouring time and time again the unfolding of a timeless, blossoming beauty, ever changing.
And I in my nature, humbly imagine everyone, and all of us, in this living reality together helping each other, being kind, offering a hand of heartfelt concern and genuine interest…in this sacredness, I call the art of accompaniment.
There are so many tools we accumulate along the way; practices we strengthen; nourishment we discern and partake of; paths of peace and and ways of being together that matter, that reach out, touching and connecting us.
It is wisdom living, inside and all around us, that knows, despite our willingness to jump in, we often have no control. Yet, we always have a choice to be, to become, to be ourselves, to create a life, to share and care and love and uphold others. Our life is a compilation of experiences, a collage of pictures, a mosaic of thoughts, a puzzle of choices.
Today, I feel the vulnerability of the evolving story of the universe, all around and on this beautiful planet and within the vastness of the cosmos. I feel that vulnerability that moves freely in and out of each one of us.
I feel the foundation of the sun rising and the sun setting,
illuminating the moons’ ebb and flow.
I feel the presence of the stars’ and planets’ evolving energetic movement
..the seasons changing.
And I see between the sun rising and the sun setting,
there is one full breath.
And within that one full breath, there is one full life to live.
Namaste.
Jillian RoseMary LaBelle Sophie