Cardinal Red, Cardinal Bright,
I hear your call in the waning light.
Your distinctive whistle heralding your presence;
Spied on your perch, a shared allegiance.
Comfort and strength, I gain from your sight.
I am not alone, forever or tonight.
I believe in synchronicity. I believe a thread of connection can be found between events and circumstances, if we are tuned in and open-minded enough to see them. Receptive and playful—like penciling the connect-the-dots. Before you start, it’s just a bunch of random dots on a page. Nonsense.
My dad passed away four years ago. I miss him. But, how I miss him, and how I think of him, has grown and changed. I think this is because of my own growth and change, as I continue my own journey—my life. I’m so grateful for how he showed up and what he was in my life. I certainly would not be who I am without who he was. He lived a certain way, and I know that I’ve made it mean certain things. I’ve been challenging myself to explore my stories about my dad; to see our relationship and his identity from different perspectives.
This I’m pretty sure of: the way I think he lived and the choices he made has given me a lot of information to help me make some of the choices I make. He was a role model for me, as everyone is to each other; and the causes and consequences of his actions are as much a part of me as the DNA I inherited from him.
Along with considering this, the message I received for the mantra I did today from Deva Premal & Miten was:
Today’s mantra honours the guiding lights, the guardian angels, the teachers in our lives – those precious souls who have appeared apparently at random (and yet, all is pre-destined) to open us to our potential for living in Awareness – the divine avatars who indicate the way, on our great journey within.
“There is nothing in the world that does not speak to us. Everything and everybody reveals its own nature, character and secrets continuously. The more open our inner senses, the more we understand the voice of everything.” -Hazrat Inayat Khan
And from the book I am currently reading, Anthony De Mello’s The Way to Love: the last meditations of Anthony De Mello:
“Now understand that if you invite…this beggar…into your presence, he/she will make you a gift that none of your charming, pleasant friends can make you, rich as they are. He or she is going to reveal yourself to you and reveal human nature to you…The revelation that this beggar is going to bring will widen your heart till there is room in it for every living creature. Can there be a finer gift than that? …Now you will realize that this beggar came to your home with an alms for you—the widening of your heart in compassion and the release of your spirit in freedom.
Here’s where this is pointing for me (and let me add, I’m still trying to wrap my head around it, not to mention have it sink in and being it): we are all mirrors and lessons for each other. If we are uncomfortable with someone or don’t like their attitudes or opinions, do we go out of our way to avoid them? Because (here’s the magic secret part) it’s not them. It’s us. It’s a light bulb that’s going on to show us that we are not accepting others for who they are. We are being judgmental. We are being conditional. And, when we do that, we are the ones who lose out. We sacrifice our freedom and our happiness.
Our hearts and minds are big enough to love and accept the whole world. Really. If we just open ourselves to it, it can be a truly wonderful, full experience.
P.S. I’m still trying.
P.S.S. I love you Dad. Unconditionally!
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