2.15.11

AYNSLEY:
I received so many precious gifts today. It was honestly an amazing day. Perhaps whiplash from Valentine's Day? Everyone was a little over-saccharined from all the commercial crap, so they turned their cheek to face true sweetness and I was the lucky recipient of the over abundance? Whatever the reason, I feel it all. You all are, of course, the bearers of these gifts and just please know you have my eternal gratitude.


Gift One:
The Manifesto of Encouragement (excerpts) From Danielle LaPorte of whitehottruth.com

right now:

• There are Tibetan Buddhist monks in a temple in the Himalayas endlessly reciting mantras for the cessation of your suffering and for the flourishing of your happiness.


• Someone is writing a book that you will read in the next two years that will change how you look at life.


• Nuns in the Alps are in endless vigil, praying for the Holy Spirit to alight the hearts of all of God's children.


• A farmer is looking at his organic crops and whispering, "nourish them."


• Someone is willing to lend you money, wants to know what your favourite food is, and treat you to a movie.


• Someone in your orbit has something immensely valuable to give you -- for free.


• Something is being invented this year that will change how your generation lives, communicates, heals and passes on.


• The next great song is being rehearsed.


• Thousands of people are in yoga classes right now intentionally sending light out from their heart chakras and wrapping it around the earth.


• Millions of children are assuming that everything is amazing and will always be that way.


• Someone is in profound pain, and a few months from now, they'll be thriving like never before. They just can't see it from where they're at.


• Someone just this second wished for world peace, in earnest.


• Someone is regaining their sanity. Someone is coming back from the dead. Someone is genuinely forgiving the seemingly unforgivable. Someone is curing the incurable.

How many times have I been that person in yoga class, sealing my practice with the mediation "may all beings be healthy, may all beings be happy, may all beings be whole"? Countless. And to just be reminded that there are countless people putting that energy into the universe right now...a beautiful gift.

Gift Two: gorgeous clumsy love

A dear one shared an experience a friend of his has been having with their mother, who is also gravely ill and has also lost many of the things we take for granted. She has also been cared for by her adoring husband, and wanted to give him a card for Valentines Day; she could only manage to draw wobbly hearts where she wanted to write poetry. And yet, as frustrating as that is, to know what you've lost and not be able to reclaim it...we are still so capable of loving and receiving love. Imperfect. Clumsy. Gorgeous.

Gifts Three, Four And Five:

A friend made arrangements for her housekeeper to come clean our apartment. Another cancelled plans for Costa Rica to be at our wedding in the Seattle rainy reason. Another made arrangements for me to have easy access to flights back and forth, and back and forth.

My phone just keeps buzzing; every time I get an email, a text or a phone call, it's someone else giving me something huge and amazing. It's a major karmic imbalance-I have not put out nearly a fraction of this goodwill into the world, yet I am receiving so much. And then I realize-it's not a reflection of anything I've given. It's all about what Mom has done. I'm reaping what she's sown, and my interpretation of that is that it's not a karmic imbalance after all. It's merely an investment that I now owe back, to my mom, my family and the world.

We lend strength when we are able, and we take strength when we need it. What a realization that there's exactly enough to go around.