Butterfly Landed On My Hand
Resetting Reality is a game I play when I go for a walk or watch the world go by through the windshield, especially on days when my senses are feeling hyper-aroused by the news, or life in general.
Perhaps the level of effort required these days to sift through all the fake news coming from all sides in search of what’s actually going on in the world, the information formerly known as news has become too time consuming and unpalatable. Life feels murky as fiction passes for fact and I like many others want to press the reset button.
Nature provides that reset button or “palate cleanser” for me. I know myself in nature; I trust the experience I am in – I come alive! The sky above, the horizon beyond, the flowers in the spring, teach me and remind me of what is real and what is illusory.
No alternative facts or truthiness, but rather an isness abounds.
I have found myself being drawn by nature more and more in recent months; a gorgeous sunset or a morning stroll feels more inviting than reading the news or checking my Facebook feed. Instead of staying in the grips of the news or social media commentary, I’m listening to that call and letting myself do a reality reset and create equilibrium within.
I would love to share this exercise with you.
Please start by setting aside a little time from your day to practice this calming and nourishing exercise.
Begin this exercise by asking yourself a question, pick one from one of the examples below. The questions are like a little riddle or amuse bouche to get you started. Allow thoughts and feelings to freely associate and congregate. Notice your breath and how your body responds as you continue to contemplate the question.
What could a swallow teach you about flying?
What could a road teach you about journeys?
What could water teach you about transformation?
What could a nightingale teach you about singing?
What could a snail teach you about time?
What could a tree teach you about relationships?
What could a star teach you about the dark?
I can think of a dozen, hundred more such questions. When I contemplate such a question as one of the above, I feel myself being humbled and communing with teachings that life in its many forms offers: as a bird, a tree, a star.
From the questions above, I am especially drawn to this one: what could a star teach you about the dark? Thoughts and feelings flow from my mind and heart. My body begins to relax as I contemplate the dark and a star.
I imagine the dark. Vast space. Cold and quiet. I imagine a star surrounded by this darkness. Not separate but entwined. I sense particles, gasses, heat and massive nuclear reactions. In my mind’s eye I see the star convulse, roar, shake and all the while, the dark is just there as the star expands and contracts.
Thinking of the dark in this way i.e. vast, quiet and ever expanding makes me relax. On a profound level of being, I realize, that I too can expand and contract in my life and the dark of space holds me regardless of my mood, shape or status. Or, that I can be vast, never ending like the dark universe.
Just a few moments of this contemplation can turn my thoughts away from worry and things that need fixing to feeling part of a bigger whole in which all is as it should be.
How about you? What helps you reset? Did any of the questions resonate with you? Do you have questions for us? Please share them with us as we’d love to hear from you.