Relax, Let Go, And Open To Life!

It is early morning and I am sitting on my swing in my back yard, watching the sun begin to fill my magical garden as it highlights the riot of spring blossoms in every color you can imagine and the vibrant greenness, redness and newness of the baby leaves. My heart is full. 

Every year when spring arrives, I spend more time outside in my garden and everything is inviting me to relax into Life. I have a lovely, private yard with a beautiful waterfall cascading into a fish pond and magical bonsai everywhere. I call my back yard  “my oasis” and I love to sit in stillness in the midst of it all and simply open to the wind blowing through the trees while listening to the gurgling of the water and the birds singing. There is a sense of celebration in the spring air as I make space to truly be present for Life. This is a core source of joy – learning how to be quiet enough that you not only can feel Life, but in return you can feel Life celebrating your recognition of it. 

After all these years of awakening, after all of the practices I have added and let go of in my life, after all the longing and trying, it seems to simply come down to……relax……let go……open to Life and rediscover the Love that is.  Everything we long for and everything we are is always with us right here, right now. We can trust Life! It took me a long time to see that all the trying and doing and figuring out, while a part of the journey, ultimately keeps us separate from ourselves and from Life. Yet, to the ego, it is an invitation to let go of the handle bars on a wild and scary roller coaster. The ego truly believes that controlling Life is the only safety there is. My hands have been pried off the bars by the circumstances of my life, and I have found the exact opposite to be true – the greatest safety is to show up for Life with as much curiosity and compassion as I can discover. 

Since we have been caught in doing for so long, it is helpful to sprinkle moments of relaxing into Life throughout your day. So I invite you to be still for a moment and open to Life right here right now as you are reading. Allow a long slow out-breath and simply notice this moment. It is different than every other moment of your life. See what is unique about it. And if this calls to you, give yourself the gift of sprinkling these kinds of moments throughout your day. Pause and really taste your morning coffee, be present for water cascading down your back during a shower, allow a deep breath while sitting at a stoplight. Nature helps too. Take a hike, sit on a park bench, stop to admire a tree that you have walked past hundreds of times. 

There is great power in lifting your attention out of the world of doing and bringing it back to the only moment that matters, right now. In cultivating opening to Life, you are taking your hands off the handle bars of the roller coaster for a few moments here and there so you can discover that it is safe to show up for the life you have been given. It is not only safe; it is your pathway home.

Image of Crocus with Corm© by artist Gail Niebrugge  http://niebruggestudio.com/