content='index,follow' name='robots'/> Plain Talk and Ordinary Wisdom: Connection or Separation

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Connection or Separation


Everywhere you look there’s the evidence of separation. It screams at us from the commercials on TV, grocery shopping, to deciding what you’re going to wear to work. It’s the have to’s and the voices clamoring for our attention. We’re so inundated with the demands of this world that we zone out and don’t hear it much anymore but it still continues. I noticed a long time ago when I decided to take the spiritual path that there appeared to be two worlds and those that were most enlightened learned best how to blend both. I was thinking about this today as I was driving home from work. I was noticing my feelings and how I felt different coming home than I did at work – I was putting on a different hat. Is that what it’s like when we separate and connect? You unplug from one aspect of your daily life and plug into the other when it’s the right time. Our lives are like pushing remote buttons – go here, do that – and it all gets so routine that we go through the motions mindlessly. If we’re conscious of who we are – a living, breathing expression of God - we can blend both worlds and not have to unplug from anything. We don’t have to act and think on autopilot or zone out and not be present. We can become conscious of our thoughts and actions and the different energies they carry and how they interrelate to others. Thich Nhat Hanh gives some insight from his book, Peace is Every Step and in his poem called “Walking Meditation”.

WALKING MEDITATION

Take my hand.
We will walk.
We will only walk.
We will enjoy our walk
without thinking of arriving anywhere.
Walk peacefully.
Walk happily.
Our walk is a peace walk.
Our walk is a happiness walk.

Then we learn
that there is no peace walk;
that peace is the walk;
that there is no happiness walk;
that happiness is the walk.
We walk for ourselves.
We walk for everyone
always hand in hand.

Walk and touch peace every moment.
Walk and touch happiness every moment.
Each step brings a fresh breeze.
Each step makes a flower bloom under our feet.
Kiss the Earth with your feet.
Print on Earth your love and happiness.

Earth will be safe
when we feel in us enough safety.
Thich Nhat Hanh, Call Me by My True Names: The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh,Parallax Press, Berkeley, California, 1999, p. 194


We can bring the real I Am into every situation, every conversation because whether it’s who you are seeing or talking to and whether you’re writing, or driving somewhere, all of what you’re doing is also connected to the I Am.

If we put our attention on separation, living a life to its fullest eludes us, missing all the joys. I believe our purpose is to remember who we are and that we are all one from the same Source. Connection and relationships have always been important parts of what I’m about and how I go about my life and it’s difficult for me to just unplug and plug back in. I am a work in progress when it comes to being mindful throughout my day but I’m better than I was yesterday. How is your awareness throughout the day? Are you living in the world of separation or can you blend both worlds and realize our oneness – our connection to each other?

From the kitchen table - Pat
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