Unlocking the Hollow

Photo Credit: Artist Lucy Campbell

I witnessed something that I never have before in all my years on the planet. My husband and I were opening a can of fruit cocktail, a childhood treat we both recall with fondness, and it was empty. Filled with only juice. No fruit, not even bits of it at all.

These kinds of happenings do not go unnoticed by me. I trust there may be a nugget of wisdom contained within.

Days passed and in-between some deep dreaming and quiet meditations I sense I may be onto something.

I have been unpacking, unlearning, questioning why I respond to things in the ways that I do for quite some time now. Removing each piece of fruit out of the can to inquire whether it’s still of value to me or desires to be tossed?

Some of my discarded fruits have been around illusions of control that I believed I possessed. Fear always the undergirding. A discomfort rather than trusting that I am not anyone’s higher power. Nor are they asking me to be.

Another fruit I no longer find of worth nestled within my can is personalizing. If I notice a tone, a look, an irritation that someone is experiencing, most likely it has nothing to do with me. Phew, such a relief to not make everything about me. Deeply humbling.

Obviously the universe with her infinite wisdom understands me inside and out. Offering a tangible expression of how she has been faithfully healing me. Creating a tangible and unmistakable sense of freedom and spaciousness.

What has become abundantly clear is that I do not desire to pick anything back up to place within my can that I have let go of. It can become part of human nature to do so when unaware and on automatic pilot. Most often this occurs because it is familiar, a habit, an unconscious moment.

Maggie Smith, the writer/poet, describes shards that break off of our hearts when they are shattered which poke at us no matter what position we lay our bodies in or twist and turn. The poking slowly dissipates as we direct our time and attention to what is causing the discomfort by naming and calling it forth.

No shards going back into my empty can of fruit cocktail is becoming my ongoing practice and hope. If a former thought form, behavior, default mode of being sneaks and slithers in, I try to notice, and feel into it. My body is becoming a trusted barometer for foreign objects trying to enter into my no fly zone. Oh, she’s often working overtime on my behalf. Such a grateful receiver I am.

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”

~ Anaïs Nin

Photo Credit: Dreamstime

*My gratitude for your presence here. If you like what you are reading, clicking on the heart at the bottom of the page helps me get this out into the ethers. Also, your comments are engaging, assisting our community, and please never hesitate if you feel called to pass any along to someone you are thinking of.

https://www.missfoundation.org/scholarships/