StopLights and The Excercise I Use to Center

I am going to let you in on something I hold secret. I think it is time to let that secret go. What a waste of energy to hold onto it, and worry if I say it "out loud" I will....I dunno....be called names, or be rejected. Blah blah. I am over that now. :)

So.....the secret (ooooh, sounds like a little DVD Oprah loved).

A few years back, I was sitting at a rather major stoplight, wanting to turn. So I had plenty of time to sit and watch the cars drive by. Instead of mindlessly seeing the cars go by, one by one in an energetic colorful blur, I started seeing INTO the cars and seeing the faces of the people passing by. I wasn't trying to do anything. I just shifted consciousness unwittingly, and realllllly took in the faces of each car passing me. And then "it" happened. I started crying, because I saw something "more". I saw Gods expression of creativity in each and every face. I saw our CONNECTEDNESS. I was humbled, and cried these tears of hope and joy at how amazing it was to see the divine and sacred plan of each person passing me by. Grouching, laughing, happy, frustrated. etc. It was all included and it was all perfect. I felt connected to all things and all people and was in awe of it all.

And that brings me back to the exercise I promised a few days back. I missed my window of time to write it down in, but am back after chemo and resting. So here it is:

Take any object. I love taking a piece of fruit for some reason. But it can be anything. Your clothing, your couch, your favorite football. Really, anything.

Hold it in your hands and take a few deep breaths just to slow down the monkey mind we all have in our society. The one jumping around from to do list, to do list. And really settle into your object. What is it texture? It's color? It's weight? Take your time and don't "think" to much about the answers, just let them be and let them go. It isn't about those answers.

Now, that your focused and settled on your object. Let's say, an apple. I see it's beautiful streaks of green and red. I feel it's coolness in my hand, and I maybe smell the flavor of the apple if it is cut.

And this is the key step:

Now I start to trace it's origin and it's web.

I know I bought this at the market down the street this afternoon. And at that market, I met a very friendly salesperson who said Hi and was very kind. She helped bring this apple to my table.

I also think of the produce manager and the produce workers who chose this apple, and it's display and made sure I found my way to what I needed.

I then think about the person who drove the truck, and brought this apple to the store. I think about the company they work for, and the gas they used from some forgein country to drive this apple to the store mananger who gave it to the store produce workers, and then to me. I am grateful for the gas company who gave the truck driver the ability to make the run. I think about the truck makers, probably some forgein country, that made the truck in some factory. I think about that factory worker who goes home to his or her family and has a evening meal, and loves their child, and the family around the table that share a meal.

And my mind pops back to the truck driver here. And they family or friends they go home to every night, and share meals with, stories with, and the food they eat.

And I think about the field worker, who picked the apple, and the farmer who grew it, and the warehouse manager who set the order to the store that I bought the apple from.

And as I let me mind linger on all the connections, and the branches of the connections, and the branches off the branches of connections....I begin to shift my awareness, something shifts to a sacred and deep level. How disconnected we can feel from one another, but how truly interconnected we are in the web.

That moment at the stoplight was similar. But without warning, without trying, I just saw it all in an instant. We really truly influence one another, and are all in this together.

Do with it as you will :)
Jenna