THE LEAF AND THE RIVER (A New Story) Most of you are already familiar with my thoughts regarding the Truth that we are BOTH the “Leaf” floating upon the River of Life AND we are this “River, that brings the Leaf all it seems to experience. Some schools of thought espouse one or the other, but in fact, we are ever BOTH. Ever BOTH! We are this Leaf, drifting seemingly at the will of the mighty River, AND we are this River that brings the Leaf all it seems to experience. This means if you clean the pollution out of your River, then your Leaf has a much more enjoyable ride without lifting a finger….or stem. ;-) And that’s a lovely thing to do! Cleaning the pollution out of our River involves mining both our conscious AND our unconscious thoughts/beliefs/fears/desires. In a recent article I wrote titled ‘HOW TO REVEAL YOUR TRUE SELF AND GET A FACELIFT IN THE PROCESS’ we are exploring how there are bits and pieces of experiences that we have not yet truly forgiven ourselves for, whether that be because they are ongoing somehow, or because we believe they are TOO grievous TO forgive. Hopefully, many of you will have read that too because it is very relevant here. In an effort to cope and get on with our lives, we do an HGTV House Makeover on the sly: We move metaphorical furniture over these ‘red wine stains’ of what remains unforgiven within us and what we still sit in judgment of ourselves for. With the Makeover, the stains lurk out of sight most of the time, but they are part of the hidden pollution that is gunking up our sacred, pristine River of Life, which is bringing what we commonly THINK is “Us” (the Leaf) all we seem to experience. And so, it’s very important we speak the Truth to those stains and remove them, isnt it? It sure is! Even though I have been recently surprised by several hidden wine stains on my metaphorical carpet, I have also been well aware of being this River of Life, and have an entire permanent crew (ok – they’re actually ME) dedicated to the preservation and ongoing beautification OF my River, which brings my little Leaf what it experiences as “Life”. It is my ongoing endeavor to remove a great deal of common pollutants that prevent us from having gracious, fun, and enjoyable lives. For example, I have removed a lot of what is adversarial and replaced it some of my most favorite “tion” words…..Beautiful concepts like appreciation and accommodation and cooperation. These are now the common things that grow on the banks of my River of Life, and it makes it easy for the occasional sprig of “Adversarial Unexpectus” to be easily spotted and pulled. ;-) It’s an ongoing endeavor that is SO worth your time! I cannot express strongly enough how wonderful it is. Because of my ongoing “Preservation and Beautification Crew”, my life typically rolls along in a delightful way, with dozens of little gestures seeming to rise up on their own and make me feel embraced and loved by my world every day, and it DOES so because I have removed as many things out of my River as I could find that would bring a different response. And this is something each and every one of us not only CAN do, but we were BORN to do! Find those stains and remove them and watch the world absolutely BEAM at you! It will surprise you constantly with the most wonderful people, experiences, blessings, and events! Things you won’t SEEM to have lifted a FINGER (or stem ;-) ) to obtain, but here they come….and they just KEEP coming! And your happiness and good fortune works the same way as unhappiness and misfortune – The more you experience (whichever), the more you call the same TO you! Here’s an example: The day before yesterday we went shopping at a store here because I had what the store calls “Kohl’s Cash” – which is store credit they give you for a prior purchase that could be used in a few days on new purchases. It keeps you coming back. ;-) Not that I need a reason to shop! :-D Since my normal body temperature typically runs about 300 degrees, I wanted to pick up a couple of gauzy shirts to wear the remaining summer months here in hot and humid GA, and they’re sort of hard to find, believe it or not. But I unexpectedly found 5 or 6 that I liked. I started to put all but a couple back because I really only wanted to spend the “Kohls Cash”, buuuuuut……did I mention that gauzy tops I like can be hard to find? And that I am so hot? And IT’S so hot? :-D And so I decided to just go ahead and get them all. At the register, I dug out my Kohl’s Cash and handed it to the cashier. Then I saw a couple more Kohl’s Cash coupons that had expired, and politely asked her if she would mind just throwing them away for me. She looked at me, smiled and winked, and said “We’ll see….” I had NO idea what she was talking about, but after she had rung up my purchase and applied my non-expired Kohl’s Cash, she somehow went back and reactivated my EXPIRED Kohl’s Cash. Bottom line was…. I WENT SHOPPING FOR ***FREE*** My total was something like negative -$2.78! I owed nothing. $198.00 worth of tops, absolutely FREE. And I didnt ask for her to do this. I didnt know anyone COULD do this! She volunteered. Oh, and of course, I got my prerequisite “Princess Parking” right up front at the store also...totally expected though – I am aghast when I don’t get it! :-D And why? Because I am special? Not even one tiny BIT! Not a BIT! I have simply removed some of the pollution from my River of Life and permitted these lovely experiences to come to me. And they will come to YOU just as easily if you allow them. THIS is the embrace that I am talking about, and I like to tell you little stories like this now and then to inspire you to get the gunk out of YOUR River of Life so that your Leaf can float along and have a wonderful, caring, embracing experience. It’s there for you! It’s waiting, and not the least bit rare or uncommon - Believe it or not, this is pretty normal for me! I could also tell you about the equally wonderful and unexpected experience Patrick and I had with the waitress yesterday at the Cheesecake Factory too! It happens ALL the time. And it will for you too. Doors fly open, the road rises up to meet you, and the sun is warm on your back! (But now, not TOO warm…thanks to my free gauzy shirts! :-D) Clean out your gunk and may there never be another moment where you do not feel embraced by life, and if there IS, never fear. Just make a note of it and know that for whatever reason, there is a bit of garbage in your River, and get your Crew in there to find it and get it out! Thats all. Because you are this Leaf AND this River. You are both! Make yourself the experience you WANT to have.
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 15:04:21 +0000