The Light Gap
ATTACHMENTS…
ATTACHMENTS…
There are times when we find ourselves ATTACHED to a routine, an outdated belief, or even things we have grown to like having around us. I know that many of us have a place in the house where we find the peace and tranquility we need when we meditate. I know for myself I find that I am quite attached to the plants, the candles, my special books, nature items that sit there, words of wisdom on signs and my comfy chair…”things” that are in that space. Of course all of us know that as we transition back to our soul’s HOME in the Everlife, we are not taking any of those things with us. No “routines” or “beliefs” or “things” go with us. As someone you have cared deeply about leaves this life, that fact becomes front and center in our minds . These experiences provide a framework for thought about what really IS important in the here and now. And of course top on the list for me is always my family and loved ones whom I LOVE beyond anything in my life.
The other day I had just heard the news of the death of my husband’s brother…an unexpected loss in our family. I had just had a long conversation with his daughter. I became distracted in the kitchen as I was preparing lunch. So many thoughts were threading in and out of my mind, and somehow I knocked over a ceramic sign that I’ve had sitting on my kitchen counter for too many years to count. I loved the message on it that I could read every day in my kitchen while preparing food. It was always a reminder that JOY lives inside of me each and every day regardless of the difficult situations that might arise in our lives. The title captures me still today…The ^REAL^ To-Do-List.
- Sing.
- Smile at strangers.
- Keep learning.
- Notice kindness.
- Eat Ice cream.
- Hope.
- Laugh.
- Love.
- Love some more.
I was not happy with myself. Now I had my words of hope and love in two pieces instead of one. Doug heard my loud cry, “Oh NO”, but unfortunately he heard some other rather unpleasant words I won’t repeat. I started to think…wow…life can be broken just like that in a heartbeat. I had to give Doug a big long HUG and said, “It’s only an object”…the words on it are sitting in my heart. I was justifying why I should keep it anyway not just toss it into the wastebasket, when the thought of my ATTACHMENTS to things came forward. I realized that this is a lesson learned over and over all of our lives…LOVE is what is real and it’s the energy of LOVE that keeps our Universe in its place while we navigate life through that love.
It was about an hour later that I walked out to the mailbox and THERE was a box saying “Happy Easter”. Who is sending me an Easter present through the mail? I have to share that it was Marj…always putting a smile on my face, knowing life has been pretty difficult lately. But, she had no way of knowing about the death of Don, Doug’s brother. Along with some precious things in the box, there was a book that I LOVED. Doug sat and read it right away! The photo on the front just captured memories from a past experience…still always present with me due to the miracle of stopping time for me YEARS ago! The words inside brought me comfort and a smile on my face!
I will share the short version of the experience I had in case you haven’t heard it before or didn’t remember it from our book. It’s a reminder to me that miraculous events happen to us all.
I was traveling in Peru, on a very slow moving ship down river on the Amazon. We had a baby sloth with us because the students in my group thought they should “rescue” it from the market. They were selling way too much of everything including animals in Iquitos. So they bought it. Thinking we could possibly release it down at our very remote camp, we carried him on our boat. I was holding him, marveling at his beauty and his attempts to climb off of me up to a wooden branch on the boat’s ceiling. I was completely contemplating life, when all of a sudden I realized that people around me had frozen in my mind’s eye. I was moving, the sloth was moving…but the people on our boat were NOT. I’m pretty sure I left the reality/ or the illusion we know as TIME. I was numbed by the experience as all of life around me resumed as if nothing had happened. I asked several students by me if they just experienced something and they looked at me like…what ARE you talking about? So I sat humbled with little to say the rest of the way to the camp, lost in thought. How? Why? What is the message?
So…today I again sit humbled remembering the experience as I enjoy WORDS in a special book shared by Willow Creek Press. Here’s the description: “If offline is the new Zen, these legends of lethargy are way ahead of the curve. Sloth Mode celebrates a state of mindfulness that encourages living life at your own pace. Think green, eat slowly and by all means, enjoy the occasional vertical inversion however it feels right. Hidden beneath that mullet haircut and Mona Lisa smile is a chill, contemplative creature that knows it’s not about how the world looks at you, but how you look at the world.”
I now have two similar books about sloths. Their messages still have meaning in my life and both of them filled with beautiful photographs of real sloths like I remember seeing in my adventures into Peru so many years ago. The other sloth small book I have is called, Life in the Sloth Lane: Slow Down and Smell the Hibiscus by Lucy Cooke.
Is there a message for me? Absolutely! ! Right now I will say it in just a few slow sloth words…
“Cherish LIFE now as it is, don’t be in a hurry, but instead simply ENJOY, SMILE and LAUGH!”
I had forgotten that story from your book! Wonderful!
Animals have so much to teach us if we pay attention and live in the moment as they do.
Thank you, Terry, once for a beautiful message to start my day.