Greetings from near the top of the Rocky Mountains!
Well, it is January 6th, and although I don't make New Year's resolutions, per say, I do love that magical clean slate feeling of the New Year! There's nothing i want to 'leave behind' in 2011, just alot of amazing growth that i hope to build further upon.
Of course, I do have a few goals that i am going to be striving for...a few are very specific, but they are all mostly under the umbrella of one ultimate goal. My focus this year is to stay on the path to becoming and being the most authentic and genuine spirit of human being that i can be. There is much work to be done! Constant shedding of the ego, continual union with spirit, staying present, observing my thoughts, lessening my dependence upon distractions, deepening my compassion, joy, and sense of humor, etc. There are many lessons to be learned and i am grateful for each and every one!...they all contribute to the raising of consciousness...and isn't that the ultimate path?
Here is one lesson that i have been mulling over lately...'it's that old 'grass is always greener' friend of mine. For most of my life i have been very passionately living somewhat in the present, but my present has usually been the pursuit of a happier future, or struggling with regrets or hurts from the past (or the momentary escape of both)...always reaching, reaching, reaching for better than the past or the present had to offer. It makes me smile, right now, just to think of it...always scheming for the future..."won't it be great...?" (when life is like this or like that...) Well, sure, it will be great! But right now is great too! And we should always be grateful for the right now because it is actually all we truly have. no? and even when it is less that stellar, at least we have it, right?...which is abundance in itself, really.
Which leads me to the lesson behind this super comfy, cozy pixie hood. I spun the yarn for this hood in the colors of tropical flowers, trees, ocean and citrus...i added in crystals to represent the sparkle of the sun off the water, and the feel of that same sun on the glistening skin...there are seashells, and feathers to remind one of the beach and the joyous sounds of the birds' calls. I created this hood to keep one warm physically, yes, but also to take one away, visually, from the drudgery of winter as we curse and scrape off our cars daily, everything looks dead around us, and there are no birds in sight. This 'tropical dreams hood' is the ultimate 'wouldn't life be great if...' representation ...and i love that. But there is another point here, too...
I love the winter, i really do, and it still can get the best of even me, sometimes. Here is what i want to say, though...in buddhist teachings (which i study alot, but fail miserably at following, most of the time) it is explained that this kind of attachment is the cause of all human suffering. We spend most of our time wanting what we don't have until we have it, then we don't want it anymore, just to want it back again. Ever experienced that?...yes, i thought so. So, instead of wishing to be in Hawaii as it snows and blows, i will embrace the beauty, and i know that even if i were in Hawaii i would be saying 'it is just not the same without winter in my life...'
And here's the ultimate joke's on me lesson in all of this...here i am in Vail, CO, near the top of the Rocky Mountains, brand new snowshoes waiting by my front door, and we don't even have an inch of snow on the ground! Here, where people come from all over the world to ski, snowboard, etc....we have NO snow except what the resorts are making and blowing on the slopes and that little bit that stays up on the peaks almost year round. That's it. I am checking the weather daily (jealous of all the places that have that little snowflake under their city name), willing mother nature, to bring me that blizzard...because surely we will all be happy then...happy, happy, happy...with our snow and our snowshoes, AND...with our 'tropical dreams hood' to keep us warm and remind us of somewhere else, somewhere else that doesn't have all this miserable cold and SNOW!
