Friday, March 30, 2012

Whole and Complete


Photo of the Month:
Cherry Blossoms, Maryland, March 2012


Quotes of the month:
Never be ashamed 
of the scars that life has left you with.  
A scar means that the hurt is over,
the wound is closed and you endured!
- unknown


Whole and Complete
Just the way you are!
- Billy Joel, (with a little editorial license...)

I recently went to see the cherry blossoms in the photo above.  These are not the well-known blossoms on the Tidal Basin in downtown Washington, DC but further out in Maryland.  A neighborhood planted the same type of trees at the same time (100 years ago!)  The trees on the Tidal Basin are beautiful, but have been replaced over the years.  The trunks of the cherry trees become gnarled and "ugly" over time.  The ones downtown are kept "beautiful" for the public to "oooohhh" and "aaawwww" over.  


I couldn't help thinking that these trees were even MORE beautiful than the trees on the display for the public downtown.  Sure, the trunks were old and "gnarled" but the trees themselves had an even deeper beauty!  The limbs reached over the street and met each other at the top....  Even the trunks reflect what is talked about in the quote above... a beauty that comes with life experience.  A beauty that says you are whole and complete... here and now... just as you are!  For those of you that have been with me for a while, you may recognize this as a re-post from year #2.  I will start back with new posts soon.  There are so many of you that have joined us more recently!  To ALL of you, please enjoy....


Look around you right now - what do you see? I see stacks of laundry that 1) need to be washed, 2) need to be folded or 3) need to be put away, 4) floors that need to swept and  5) dishes that need to be washed!   I could go on, but I am sure you can see your own “to-do” list in front of you. The things on this “to do” list will get done….


Come in a little closer. Put your awareness closer in to where you are. What do you feel? I feel heat coming in through the vent. What this Florida girl is doing in Minnesota (and now Maryland) is still a mystery to me (paraphrasing a line from another singer, Jimmy Buffet!) Anyway, maybe you feel something different - a fan blowing, a dog laying at your feet, the chair under you, the mouse or keyboard under your hands…..


Come in a little bit closer. What do you sense? Feel what your body is telling you. Are you hungry? Cold? Hot? Comfortable?


Can you come in any closer? Is there really ANYTHING you need in this moment? Right here, right now….


Right about now, I can hear a few of you saying, “Sure I need one thousand dollars…. Or one hundred thousand dollars…. Or one million dollars….. Right now!”


Really? Do you really need it right here and right now? How would that change or add to WHO you are in this very moment? The very first thing it would do, is add 3 or 4 things to your “to-do” list!


Maybe you are saying, “I need a boyfriend or girlfriend, or a husband or wife.”
Really? Right here? Right now? (I can tell you FOR SURE, that will add to your “to-do” list!) : )


It might be a “want,” to share your life with someone special, and that is fine, but in this moment, right here, right now, you do not NEED another person to complete you, add to who you are, change or improve you in any way.


Maybe you need to exercise, eat or shower. These are all fine things to do to care for your body, but in this particular moment RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW, even that you do not need to do.


Maybe you have scars like the cherry tree trunks above... allow that to be a symbol for you of Who you have become and what you have OVER come!  


Maybe your health is not what you would like it to be. Let’s all take one full deep breath - can you feel your lungs expand? Can you feel your chest and stomach rise and fall? Can you find your pulse somewhere on your body and feel the blood flow through your veins as your heart beats? Just feel it for a moment as you take another breath. Can you feel that you are alive?   


Right here, right now.


Truly is there anything missing from THIS moment? Right here, right now?


If you have read this far, my suggestion would be to take a few additional minutes to sit in this stillness we have created together. Your mind, your ego, your internal voice, will start up soon enough... and tell you to get back to that "to-do list."  Even if you only glimpse it from reading this post, if you can sense the stillness, the peace, the sacred internal space, or consciousness, allow yourself a moment or two to memorize this place. Carry this peace and stillness into the world with you as much as possible and return to the memory when you need to…. Or to this post to re-energize!


I will leave you with one last thought from the writing of Iyanla Vanzant.  She says, "Profound inner Peace does not come from fixing yourself.... it is the result of discovering that you are already whole."


Until next month….
Keep it simple!
Penelope

4 comments:

Kent said...

A profound postscript by Vanzant to a beautiful piece by you. Thank you.

Laura said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Laura said...
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Laura said...

As always, Penelope, what you write gets me thinking...keeps me thinking. Love the cherry trees...looks like snow in springtime. I have many of Iyanla Vanzant's books. Love them all. Got my first one back in 1997. Wow..how time flies.