Over the last several months, I have taken tai chi classes and recently learned tai chi simplified 24 form. One morning this last week while visiting family in Texas, I decided to begin my day with tai chi. Barefoot and excited to put my new skill into practice, I found a shady and secluded spot in the back yard. Forty-five minutes later, I was on a “peaceful high,” energized by my active meditation and overflowing with gratitude for life. Walking back into the house, I reveled in how good I felt and how good life is, and then...I stepped in runny animal excrement, which seeped between my toes and slung onto my other calf and ankle with my next step. Ha!
Yesterday, I returned from my trip, expecting to find my outdoor potted plants sick and wilting, as the case has been for years when I travel and leave my plants in my family’s care. Literally, for the first time, my plants were thriving and beautiful! I showered my husband in kisses and compliments and gratitude. Every time I looked outside, the vibrant colors painting my front porch and back deck made me smile. And then, just a few hours later...the mother of all hailstorms hit. My potted plants, and my garden’s flowering plants, are now completely stripped of their blooms and leaves, leaving sad lonely stalks protruding from the soil. What was lush and vibrant moments before, is now barren.
I feel like I have opened two fortune cookies with the same message: the only constant in life is change. I am reminded that life is constantly in a state of flux and that I should enjoy and celebrate my good mood and the beautiful flowers when they are present, and then do my best to find humor or an underlying silver-lining when faced with (or stepping in...) the “shit” life throws at us.
Sitting with the possibility that beauty can still arise from muck and destruction, I discovered a couple of hidden blessings! First, the contrasting experience of no flowers significantly enriches my experience of flowers. Just wouldn’t be the same experience if flowers were around 24/7/365. Second, I realized that in the past upon the unfortunate occasions when I stepped in feces, my response typically was on the same energy level as the feces (#@!!%)! Yet, this time was dramatically different. Feeling blissfully connected to my spirit having just meditated, I had spontaneously laughed and found the “crap” in life remarkably easy to handle!
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