Inner Directions

“Our dwellings become as temples and our branches intertwine.” – Alice Waters 

 In my last post, I wrote about roads not taken and a thoughtful comment by my Mom (touching on circular roads that show up in our lives) got me thinking about inner roads. We are on our inner roads all the time and when I focus on my compass to lead me in the right direction, I know I travel on an inner road to get there. These roads are important, they course through the very heart of us and no one can touch them. A great many things can also dwell on these roads, there are those places where we hang out, tuck away precious images or house memories – and when the world seems threatening, as it does now, we can always choose to travel in an inner direction to find the peace that others may try to shatter.

As we live our lives on this beautiful blue planet, I’m reminded that there are no “exit” signs – we are all here together, those we know and the unknown. There are no others (so far!) that we are trading with who might live on other planets, still no others that are providing us with the material things that we require or covet, only us. There is enough for all of us; for example, if we look into our cupboards, we might come across five cups, we could ask ourselves this question, how many cups do I really need? If we share one or two of those cups, we might be able to help someone else put a cup in their cupboard, I believe that many of us are beginning to become aware of this. Also as we begin to share what we can, something else starts to unfold, a cleansing of our homes both inside and out. We start to create our temples, places where happiness can dwell, places where we can invite others to come together and those places where we house the mystery that we all want to discover and unravel while we are here, together.

I like to discover other temples as well, they can be places that I find in nature or moments at my neighbour’s table – they are the quiet trails in the forest, the roar of the ocean waves at night with the ever rising moon and the tealight that is always burning at Huguette’s, a light to remember and honour those who have left us, a light that makes me pause when I see it.

As we move through the uncertain days ahead of us, I hope that we will all begin or continue to live more, share all , smile often and reach out to those we already know and to the ones we have yet to meet. This blue jewel, our planet, is moving through space and time and we’ve all been invited to the party, all that is required is that we show up every day and enjoy the ride!

This post is dedicated to Johnny Fushtor (R. I. P. November 2015), a dandy West End character who always showed up to the party!

Twin Spires (Stanley Park)