As you read this, I am probably somewhere over the Pacific ocean, on board an airplane to Bali. I will post Grace Notes from there….who knows what will go on in the mind with a little change of scenery in the environment.
Many of us have had the opportunity and privilege to travel somewhere, some time, from point A to point B.
Doesn’t matter if it’s in a car, a train, a taxi, a boat, an airplane. You may have traveled five blocks, or five thousand kilometers.
I have a little joke that seems to appear in my mind every so often….and makes me often laugh out loud.
A little private joke with myself, and today I’ll tell it to you.
Have you ever read Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss? I read it about one thousand eight hundred and forty two times as an adult, about fifteen years ago. I usually had two kids sitting near me, or at least one, and was reading it out loud.
I also listened to it many times when I was a girl.
The images Dr. Seuss drew appear in my mind regularly….as the backdrop to the question “Will you question your thinking everywhere? In all circumstances? In absolutely any frightening, difficult or tricky situation?”
How about on a train? With a goat? On a boat? In a plane?
Will you question your thoughts anywhere?
Won’t you try on Reality, and question it, and see if you like it?
Won’t you see if it’s a friendly universe? How about just a taste?
NO says this little inner scaredy cat place. No, no, no. I will not try to relax, or change my point of view Here nor There, I will not try that ANYWHERE.
NO says resistance, the little self that needs a wall up, that is sure it needs protection from dangerous possibilities.
No, I will not change my perspective when my relationship ends, when I am terrified, when people die, when I get sick, when people do weird and upsetting and creepy things, when friends betray me, when I feel hurt.
Basically, that inner place that doesn’t wish to try on new orientations, or open to very, very radical different ideas….that inner “ego” place is one big NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Arms folded across the chest.
And then comes a day when you may be so hungry, you just have to try those green eggs and ham.
Or perhaps something (like Sam-I-Am) has invited you over and over again, never giving up, always tickling your mind (or nagging) to JUST TRY QUESTIONING YOUR REALITY and see what happens.
Maybe you’ll be beaten down by life circumstances, and you’ll think, “why not simply question what I’m thinking?”
“Deep down we all suspect that something is very wrong with the way we perceive life but we try very, very hard not to notice it. And the way we remain blind to our frightful condition is through an obsessive and pathological denial of being — as if some dreadful fate would overcome us if we were to face the pure light of truth and lay bare our fearful clinging to illusion.” ~ Adyashanti
Soon, I will be looking at a country I’ve never seen before (as far as I know) and encountering brand new visions, sites, people, languages, food, money, weather…
…and it will be so exciting to see what happens, in the mind, and watch as it dances the way it has tended to do, so far.
Thankfully, I’ll be there with inquiry.
You don’t have to change countries to do it. You can do it from your vista, where you are right now…at work, in a car, in a box, with a fox, in the dark, in the rain, on a train…
….and yes, even in that pretty rough situation, that feels frightening or full of anguish.
Do you like reality?
I do, I do like it! And I will see if I like it in EVERY situation!
Much love, Grace