The sound of crickets chirping through the night, the fan whirring gently above my head, waves caressing the beach and a gentle Caribbean breeze rustling the palm trees outside my bedroom window no longer lull me to sleep.
City noises. Traffic murmuring along the street, a dog barking, a yell outside, the hum of the refrigerator down the hall, these are the noises lulling me to sleep. The sounds I awaken to.
All is well with my world.
My sojourn on a tropical island has rolled itself up into a memory ball stored in the corner of my mind. It is visible in the photos on my computer, the trinkets and gifts I brought back and the tan I carry that is fading way too fast.
The visible evidence of my holiday remains as I find myself once again in the ebb and flow of daily living.
We're lucky. We've returned to temperate climes. The temperature only dipping to close to freezing every night, the day time warmth's balmy waaay above freezing heights -- especially for this time of year.
It is giving me time to slowly ease my way out of island time back into the frenetic pace of my life.
It is the frenzy I push back against. The hurry up and get it done, all of it, right now. The juggling twenty balls in the air, fending off chaos here, creating chaos over there, that I resist.
That which I resist, persists.
How do I retain some of the moment by moment pleasure of my island holiday so far from the epicentre of calm of a tropical holiday in the sun?
Like the hurricane moving past, as I move out from the eye of my daily rhythm I lose ground, I lose my sense of balance. Caught up in the winds of living too fast, doing too much, I lose myself to the winds of calamity.
I breathe.
My island sojourn is over. It was a beautiful moment in time, filled with rich and vibrant memories I shall always cherish.
Just as I cherish my life today. Every moment. Every event. My life is not made up of islands of pleasure surrounded by a sea of despair. My life is what I make it. All of it. It's in how I live it right now. How I expand into each moment, or not. I decide -- do I contract? Do I constrict the flow of joy, of harmony, of pleasure and love and laughter or, do I expand, into each moment, letting the waters of life flow through and in and around and under and above me? Do I choose to be conscious of life in this moment, or grind my way through this moment wishing I was in some other time and place? Waiting for the next island to appear on the horizon, a tiny mirage of joy somewhere far away as I bemoan where I'm at, swimming against the current of life flowing all around me?
I cannot carry the island with me. I don't need to. Where every I am, whatever I do, is my little island in the sun. I create my oasis of peace and calm and harmony, no matter what the world around me is doing.
No matter how many things are cluttering up my To Do List. No matter how many people are hammering at my door for answers, I determine the pace and tempo of my response. I determine how I move through my day.
When I choose to move with the beat of an island drum murmuring in my ear, or the sound of the sea lapping at my feet, I become master of my own destiny, the creator of my own island in the sun.
No matter where I am, when I chose to live in joy and harmony with the world around me, flowing effortlessly with the sounds and sights and smells, swimming in the abundant seas of life all around me in this place where I live, I let go of resistance, and fall into, love.
I let go of wishing I was somewhere else, and fall into being right here, right now, awash in the joy of living this one wild and passionate life in the rapture of now.
If my intention is to live each moment, in love, then I most do it now. I must choose for life and let go of wishing I was somewhere else.
I choose, right here, right now. My sea of life is full of possibility, full of joy and laughter, love and harmony. Right here, right now, I am alive, joyfully expanding into this moment, in love.
Nameste.
May your day be spent swimming joyfully in the abundant seas of life all around you living in the joy of being right where you are, in love.
3 comments:
I was watching a wonderful video the other day in which the interviewee said of music that "you can have music in your head and go into another world". I think that's why we have memories. They're our music.
I think I get caught up in the winds of "living too fast."
Thanks for the reminder to "breathe." Glad you made it back safe and returned to balmy, Canada weather. I have a feeling that's still waaaaay too cold for my tastes:)
you brought all of us the balm island life and of slowing down ... now you're helping us hold onto it and bring it into the flow of daily life. What a gift you are.
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