bliss

Words are approximations. We name and label and sort because we need to communicate, but the words we use aren't really the thing. 

I don't want to have to say I think or I believe all the time. It's self-evident. If I've written something here, it's just a thought or an idea. Anything written anywhere is just a thought or an idea. When someone tells you that something is or something works, they are only telling you that the something is and the something works for them. At the moment.

No one - no healer, writer, sage, guru, doctor, scholar, psychic - can tell you anything more important than what you already know. No one is holier or better than anyone else. 

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." - Buddha

It's a quote that gets tossed around a lot and for a damn good reason.

Increasingly, I am aware of a subtle hostility. The backlash against the positive. (There isn't really positive and negative, but we have to call it something. We approximate.)

So many people saying so many things. So many teachers teaching. Because we're each a teacher for another; because we have a message and another message; because we make discoveries and we want to share; because we have questions and we want to learn.

But I know what it is to want it to stop, to want to be left alone. So I understand when people push against the positive. And I understand what's uninteresting about happy, happy, happy.

The thing is, bliss isn't always about the happy. Sometimes it's just balance. Sometimes it's just easing off of the blade. Sometimes it's just breath.

Yesterday, we were on the interstate and a car whipped into us. The driver decided to change lanes, moved before he saw us. We collided but he corrected and no other cars were involved. We pulled over the shoulder to call and wait for the police. My car was damaged but Tracy and I were not. The other driver was not. 

In every moment, there is a choice. We place our focus. Sometimes it doesn't feel like a choice; other times we know that it is. I'm not talking about emotion. You can be sorrowful and grateful. You can be confused and grateful. You can be angry and grateful.

Sometimes you question your very identity. The solar plexus swirls, the heart clenches, the tears rise. You retreat. But it's still bliss. 

We do what we can.

We're not stuck; we're not lost; we're on journey or we're resting from the journey.

We smile. We say good morning, good night. We mess up. We push restart. 

We flow on.

And I love you. I do.

for the August Break.

Comments

[cynthia]

I'm so glad you and Tracy weren't hurt in the collision. This post resonates for me in many ways. Most of the time, balance is all I seek; it gives me rest, peace, energy, which for me is better than "happy, happy". "We're not stuck; we're not lost..." I want that to be true!