Paradise

The heart has its reasons which 

Reason knows nothing of.

Blaise Pascal

The ramp off the freeway was like a parking lot.  The road fed into a nearby shopping center, which was a sea of cars, both parked and in motion with drivers who were in search of parking spots.  I had forgotten that it was one of the busiest shopping days of the year.  Most of those with whom I had spoken over the last couple of weeks had declared a hiatus from shopping, so it wasn’t in my awareness to change my driving route.

To the east and across the road from the stores is a large preserve of wetlands.  When the tide is in, streams of water meander through the brass-colored expanse.  During the spring and fall, flocks of migratory birds make this a stopover on their way to their destination.  During the winter, the most visible bird is the egret with its white and graceful shape.  It is common to see moms or nannies with children, and people walking their dogs along the pathway.

As I sat in the traffic line, I turned my attention toward the open landscape.  There was a break in the otherwise grey sky.  A band of brightness shined through.  It reminded me of a similar pattern earlier that morning when a stretch of cloudless sky was bright orange.  Both felt a little like some greater force – God or cosmic intelligence – was sending a little seasonal wish for clarity to anyone who was noticing.  

Ironically, the road between the wetlands and the shopping center is called Paradise Drive. Each of us in the row of cars had our own experience of being there together.  And likely, most of us felt that paradise was something ahead –certainly, not where we were at the moment.  Yet, there we were, in a place given the name “paradise.” 

It was humbling to be forced to stop in the midst of the everyday flow of life.  Instead of sitting quietly at home in meditation or prayer, I was sitting in stalled traffic with nowhere to go but into that moment.  There was no other choice or option. Had I been zooming down the road, I would have missed the parting of the clouds and the play of paradoxical duality.  For no rationale reason, I felt there on Paradise Drive that I had glimpsed life’s heartbeat, or that which is neither here nor there, yet everywhere.  

This event inspires me to consciously step out of our cultural tendency to value the rationale mind and its capacity to analyze, categorize, and quantify all that comes near. Rather than measuring my breath or my steps or judging one direction as being better, I will cultivate a bit more reverence, compassion and loving respect as I breathe, walk, observe, listen, and move within the landscape of all life.  I hope you will join me. 

Practice

This short practice is a reminder of your expansive and divine nature.

Prepare – 

• Find a quiet place where you can sit comfortably for a few minutes.  
  • If in a chair, place the soles of your feet on the floor.
  • If you have had a busy day, take a moment and shake out through your arms and legs – one at a time.

Practice – 

• Place one hand over the center of your chest.  Place your other hand on top.
  • Feel the touch of your hands on your chest. 
  • Allow your hands to relax.
  •  Invite a sense of ease in your face, shoulders, chest, and breath.
• With bent elbows and open palms, open your arms to the sides.    
  • Imagine you are holding the entire universe in your hands. 
    • If comfortable, feel as though you are holding the most beautiful and precious baby in your hands.  
    • Breathe softly and gently.
• Again, place your palms over your chest, one hand on top of the other. Breathe.  
• Again, with bent elbows and palms upward, open your arms to the sides.
  • Imagine you are holding the most sacred and divine presence in your hands.
  • Breathe softly and gently.
• Allow your hands to relax in your lap.  
  • Breathe softly and gently.
  • Pause for as long that is comfortable.

Transition back into your day – 

• When you are ready, return to your day.

This poem appears in Mala of Love: 108 Luminous Poems, page 3, edited by Ravi Nathwani and Kate Vogt and published by New World Library.  HEARTH is posted each new and full moon.  KateVogt©2019.