White Poppy by Tessa Clarkson Mid spring inside rooms stacked high with books, magazines, papers, and paraphernalia finds me sorting through eons of my life. Clothing from the 80’s still smell of good times camping, dinner club parties, couples sans kids, skiing, dancing, singing, playing in the band, and long summer nights throwing darts as we downed tequila and spent hours reflecting on life and the state of the world....
Serious fashionable corporate work suits evoke the memory of long intense days and hours of loud contentious meetings amidst the incredibly rich satisfaction of designing, traveling, solving problems, coordinating disciplines, personalities and interests toward creating precision hardware. The camaraderie of team work, meeting schedules and productivity meant success.
A cache of photo albums, my daughter’s artwork and Girl Scout badges awaken a more familial decade of skating, ballet, gymnastics meets, rock climbing and caves, working at the local school as the computer teacher and technician while basking in the glow of watching my daughter grow in the 90’s. I feel the deep social bonding and connection that being in community with neighbors, town life and my spiritual group brought.
As I shuffle through stacks of "stuff" decades past and present stir up images and emotion. I find a letter that my mother wrote to me about her remembrance of the day I was born. My heart is touched feeling her presence and her love. Glad I took the time to open this note rather than simply tossing out the pile of cards and letters.
A cache of photo albums, my daughter’s artwork and Girl Scout badges awaken a more familial decade of skating, ballet, gymnastics meets, rock climbing and caves, working at the local school as the computer teacher and technician while basking in the glow of watching my daughter grow in the 90’s. I feel the deep social bonding and connection that being in community with neighbors, town life and my spiritual group brought.
As I shuffle through stacks of "stuff" decades past and present stir up images and emotion. I find a letter that my mother wrote to me about her remembrance of the day I was born. My heart is touched feeling her presence and her love. Glad I took the time to open this note rather than simply tossing out the pile of cards and letters.
Spring Cleaning…for the soul.
How often have I taken time to reflect upon the Wholeness of my life?
These bits and pieces are more than mere scraps of paper, cloth and possessions. They are the artifacts that record my time here.
I discover that sorting, tossing, giving away, and boxing up is a sacred act of love for myself and this life. With care and reverence I collect treasured memories of people and store them for eternity in my heart. What a gift to give myself time to scoop up every moment with relish, delight and appreciation for all of the days: the painful ones, the tough ones, the fun ones, the happy and sad. My reward is being fully present, awake and aware to the preciousness of every person I have met even the ones that have hurt or betrayed me. Each of those dear ones taught me something about love.
What I have learned is that it is all about Love. Every moment life is displaying Love. All of life is one of relationship…the relationship between people, possessions, work, play, achievement, nature, animals, the bugs, the clouds and the one I get a chance to be the most intimate with…myself. Relationship is the outward expression that shows me all of the facets of love. It shows me how I have or have not opened my heart to others and how I have or have not loved myself.
Love is everything. It is the gamut of emotions from fear and hatred to divine reverence. It is the experience of suffering and pain and ecstatic bliss. It is the will to endure and survive and the ability to gently care and give kindness in the most dire circumstances. Compassion arises when I realize that every one of us is having this human experience. We are bonded in this tumultuous unfathomable love.
Life is as fragile and fleeting as the delicate petals of a White Poppy. The Rites of Spring cleaning teach me to Cherish the unfolding adventures of Love through this boundless experience of life.
I discover that sorting, tossing, giving away, and boxing up is a sacred act of love for myself and this life. With care and reverence I collect treasured memories of people and store them for eternity in my heart. What a gift to give myself time to scoop up every moment with relish, delight and appreciation for all of the days: the painful ones, the tough ones, the fun ones, the happy and sad. My reward is being fully present, awake and aware to the preciousness of every person I have met even the ones that have hurt or betrayed me. Each of those dear ones taught me something about love.
What I have learned is that it is all about Love. Every moment life is displaying Love. All of life is one of relationship…the relationship between people, possessions, work, play, achievement, nature, animals, the bugs, the clouds and the one I get a chance to be the most intimate with…myself. Relationship is the outward expression that shows me all of the facets of love. It shows me how I have or have not opened my heart to others and how I have or have not loved myself.
Love is everything. It is the gamut of emotions from fear and hatred to divine reverence. It is the experience of suffering and pain and ecstatic bliss. It is the will to endure and survive and the ability to gently care and give kindness in the most dire circumstances. Compassion arises when I realize that every one of us is having this human experience. We are bonded in this tumultuous unfathomable love.
Life is as fragile and fleeting as the delicate petals of a White Poppy. The Rites of Spring cleaning teach me to Cherish the unfolding adventures of Love through this boundless experience of life.
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