Every morning we greet JR
on our way to Ah Cacao.
He sells tour packages
to people wanting adventures.
One day he approached us and said,
hey, I want you to know
that I don’t see you as money,
I see you as real and we all smiled.
Each day it’s a sweet sharing
or simply another smile.
Each day we delve a little more into the real
and the differences in real,
but whatever we share,
we end up appreciating the moments
that open up together,
to life’s perceptions and experiences,
like a cup of fresh water.
Today he said:
every day I meet someone new
to “touch in” with.
He went on to say how he had a very long
conversation with a woman yesterday
who is on the threshold of dying
and she wanted to share with him
about life’s fragrances.
I said I understood
the realms of groundless-ness,
thresholds and fragrances and
the things that are really there
when everything else isn’t,
like the sunrise, the big blue sky,
the stars,
and the flavours
and fragrances of life.
We smiled.
I shared with him that we take up life practices,
and we’ve created a new one where
each night we reflect on who has walked
into our lives that day.
No story, just bringing awareness
to each person with appreciation and awe,
simply taking the time to notice
what that moment opened up,
and just sitting with it.
I mentioned to him about those little papers
handwritten with a line of gratitude
collected in jars or envelopes…
and he smiled his lovely smile
making a broad gesture
of pinning his to his wall
so I said or creating
handwritten gratitude wallpapers.
We laughed.
Most of all I wanted to say to him that
I valued his interest to be real,
to reach out,
to speak his truth, to say hey
you two matter to me
and let him know he mattered to us as well.
Truly and honestly.
I find sitting in zazen
is likened to walking in zazen.
It offers us the stillness
to just be, to just notice,
to just be sensitively
and quietly aware
of each moment
for what it is
and humanly care.
With no need for story lines,
no right or wrong,
just being and beholding
and sitting
in the subtle beauty,
connectedness,
and simplicity of life,
these moments
time and time again
offer solace and silence
as they unfold each day
through shared existences,
and slippery slopes.
These simple moments
of living connections,
within times that stand still,
find over and over again,
their source
and destination in the
deep and wide,
oceans of existence,
offering each of us,
a space and a place,
to be connected
inside and outside
to that which is always whole
and alive and real.
To experience
the breezes of breath
and the quickening of life,
pulsing and beating,
shining and radiating,
within each one of us,
is to perceive ourselves
as instruments
offering our voices,
our words and our questions,
our presence and creativity
to the larger than life,
grand and majestic
world symphony being
composed out of the
harmony of hearts
one moment
one connection at a time.
Written by Jillian RoseMary LaBelle Sophie