Recently I was traveling, visiting a very dear friend in Vancouver, Canada. I imagined running into Eckhart Tolle, but no.
Entering another country, even if so many things are the same, is rather funny. Suddenly we’re lifted out of the usual scene of our story. The surroundings are different. Every store has a brand new name (well, mostly), all the shops have a different appearance, the money is completely different, the street names are unfamiliar.
On the scale of what is different and what is the same, this city that I don’t know well is mostly the same as life where I live most of my days.
Same climate, same language, same evergreen trees, same accent (a few different words).
Still…there is something so fun and exciting and mysterious about believing “I am in another country!” That moment crossing the border.
I drive or step across a “line” and now this place has a new name, new officials, new traditions, new rules, new money, new economy, new food.
Doing The Work, inquiring into our thinking and what we deeply believe, can sometimes feel like crossing a border into a new land.
Before, we couldn’t seem to get across. We may not have even known the other country existed. We may have been planning a trip here for years.
Being somewhere new brings a wonder to the experience of the world, a reminder of how different, how strange, how wild, how unusual it all is.
To be somewhere “foreign” reminded me again that in the end, whatever HOME is, is some place, some feeling, some experience of a landing spot. Home is in the center, where there is no wild variety, no overwhelming newness, it just IS.
This world, whatever country you live in, is not really quite home when you attach to the place being the thing that brings home-ness to you…at least that’s what I have noticed over time.
Everything changes and moves here; things turn to ruins, buildings are torn down, places have new borders, families members come and go.
The only place that stays intact is like a humming, constant, alive, buzzing, empty, spacious center in the middle of “me”. Whatever exactly me is…not entirely sure (isn’t that hilarious?)
Home. Here. Now.
There is no “best” place to live or “worst” place to live when you are in touch with your own borderless center. You are drawn to what matches your home already. You may move, you may be surprised, you may feel like you “have to” move and its not your preference, you may sleep in many different places in your lifetime.
Home is with you everywhere, even in times of trouble, even in times of celebration. Right in the middle of your amazing journey here.
No one has to go looking for it. No one has to be somewhere and think they’ve lost it.
The mind will start chattering away: why don’t they have good cream here, I don’t like the toilets, there is too much garbage, the exhaust smells funny, I miss my bed, I want sunny weather, the food sucks, I need a good internet connection, it’s too cold, I don’t understand the map, that man is trying to rip me off, I don’t understand what they’re saying.
Many of the thoughts in a new place come down to “I am scared” and “I could get uncomfortable” or “I could get hurt!”
Oh horrors! An uncomfortable moment could occur? GOSH!
When I question my chatterbox thinking, I can see that I am very safe, I am alive and breathing, I am aware, I am not in denial, I am free, I say NO, I say YES, I take care of myself, I find the bathroom, I find a restaurant, I watch the most beautiful theatrical show unfold before my eyes…perhaps with a little drama thrown in for excitement.
“The truly open mind doesn’t have a goal or a purpose other than to be what it is. It’s not attached to concepts of self or other. It realizes that ultimately there are no humans, there is no mind. When the mind opens, you lose everything, gratefully. I’m sitting here as a woman, and in the next realization I’m a galaxy or an ant. It doesn’t matter.”~Byron Katie in 1000 Names For Joy
As I look around at the country or place I happen to be in on any given earth day, I am amazed at the variety, and amazed at the incomprehensible, open crazy mystery of this world.
“Colors blind the eye. Sounds deafen the ear. Flavors numb the taste. Thoughts weaken the mind. Desires wither the heart. The Master observes the world but trusts his inner vision. He allows things to come and go. His heart is open as the sky.” ~ Tao Te Ching #12
Love, Grace
Horrible Food Wonderful Food Weekend In-Person Intensive Seattle January 12-13, 2013 Saturday 10 – 5:30, Sunday 1:30-5:30. $215. To register click HERE now and then send me an email grace@workwithgrace.com.
Mark your calendar for Breitenbush, the end of June 2013! We will be looking at all aspects of what we consider to be flaws in the body, and Un-doing our beliefs about them. Stay tuned if you’d like to join me and Susan Grace Beekman from June 26-30, 2013. You can change your internal beliefs about what you think bodies should be like….and change your entire experience of being in yours.
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