The sun typically illuminates the moon.
The moon relying on the sun to be seen.
On occasion they come into complete opposition.
The earth interferes with the sun’s capacity to light the moon.
For a moment there appears to be total darkness.
And then the moon emerges more strikingly in the sky than ever before, full of deep, rich color.
The moon becomes something new,
The dark more luminous,
The sun still shining.
Adversity the catalyst,
Throughout the darkness.
Change can be a trigger for grief when I view it as resulting in something I don’t want, something that requires me to lose what I have.
But when change is received as a marker of accomplishment of a stage or triumph over a challenge, it inspires a sense of renewal and growth.
To receive change in that way requires diligence and optimism. It requires a belief in me that all of my experiences are opportunities to get to know myself better and to play in the dance of life with you, this body, this world, even if it means it looks different along the way.
In this way, change becomes not suffering but nourishing, evolutionary, and a source of freedom.
Ever notice how sometimes resistance appears just before the moment of most profound change? Like the “click click click” of the wooden roller coaster as it chugs its way up to the top of the hill, dragging and pushing ever harder, and just when it seems to have no more momentum, it crests the highest hill and runs freely, wildly, ahead. Resistance makes way for its counterpart…freedom.
Let humor lift you. The ability to laugh at the drama in our lives, to laugh at ourselves, to not dwell in the heaviness grants us the full freedom to aspire to a higher state of being, a more gentle space of receiving, and a more generous place of giving.
To laugh at ourselves clears emotions, deflates self-importance, brings us to common ground, and reminds us of our shared humanity.
Smile…laugh…really laugh…really, really laugh…be free.
It’s the gnarled bark
the splintered edges
and the twisted growth
that craft the greatest character.
Monday Mindfulness 