Mary O’Malley – There are two ways to perceive life that bring deep joy, trust and a nourishing sense of connection. And yet most people, most of the time aren’t in touch with these insights.
The first is you are not a separate individual. Instead, you have arisen out of the tapestry of life and it has taken all the vast creativity that is ever happened on this planet to allow you to exist. If you doubt that, notice the eyes that are making it possible for you to read these words. At one time there were no eyes on this planet and yet life wanted to see itself! So down through the eons it experimented with many different kinds of eyes and your eyes have come out of that vast creativity. (Thank God we don’t have 30,000 eyes like a dragonfly!)
Also, at one time there were no hands. Then life created fins and paws and hoofs. But none of these could even remotely do what your hands do for they can’t reach out, pick up and explore life. It took a long time in the unfolding of life on this planet to create even a rudimentary form of the hands that you are blessed with and which may be holding the device that allows you to read this blog.
Can you pause for a moment and be grateful for the astounding creativity that has gone before you and that is necessary for you to exist? Life is an interconnected web of being and every single bit of the intricate and delicate biodiversity that you have arisen out of has been essential to allow you the gift of sight, hearing, touching, breathing and even comprehension. Take a moment and allow yourself to be deeply grateful for all the gifts that life has given you.
The second shift of perception is that you have arisen out of this creative and mysterious process because life needed to express itself as you. In other words, you are a necessary and unique expression of life. In this time of chaos on this planet, one of the most powerful things you can do to become a healing presence is to know that you are essential and needed. Or, as Eckart Tolle once said, “You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. That is how important you are.”
The more you can see yourself through this lens, the easier it becomes to relax into the creative flow of life so you can allow life to live itself through you. You don’t need to figure out what to do. In the recognition that you are an essential thread in the tapestry of life, it becomes easier to listen and realize life is guiding you every step of the way.
The reason why I am sharing these two ways to experience life is because it’s so easy to reduce yourself to just your daily struggles. And being so self-absorbed, it not only becomes easier to be unskillful and even harmful to people and the planet but also, you can lose sight of the joy of living.
So, I invite you, on the next clear night, to lie down on the earth and look up into the inspiration of the night sky. See that you have not only arisen out of a vast, exquisitely beautiful and awesomely creative process but also you are an essential part of the whole. Let in the truth that you are so much more than you think you are!
And, if it calls to you, pause throughout your day and notice that life is breathing you. Most people, most of the time, think they are breathing. But it is a far greater truth that life is breathing you. If you doubt that, just try to stop your breath!
The more you attune to your breath, you can then begin to realize that all of life is breathing. Trees and butterflies and baby squirrels and ladybugs and roses and hummingbirds and spinner dolphins and even the planet itself are all being breathed by life right now as you read this. And this includes you too. The breath that is moving through you is a part of this interconnected breath that animates life.
So give yourself the gift of remembering that you are not separate from the whole and that you are a unique and necessary thread in the tapestry of life. Both of these invitations step you out of the tight and small box of your mind so you can re-member and live from who you truly are! And in that recognition, you will become a healing presence on our planet.
SF Source Mary O’Malley Jun 2019