Vibrant pink berries,
amongst a sea of red and orange
foliage,
standing naked before the
crowd,
feeling the discrimination,
of the mass
majority,
and the weight of their
judgement,
as red and orange
foliage
entrench their insecurities and
inhibitions,
on vibrant pink
berries,
standing alone,
pink berries
are
more vibrant than
ever,
refusing to be
less,
to conform to the
needs of
the
mass majority.
Johanne Fraser
Every morning before work I have the same routine, I rise, head to the bathroom, shower, get dressed, fix my hair and face. I like the mirror in that bathroom, it’s big and it seems to me that the lighting gives my complexion a lift and I feel good about myself as I head downstairs to set the motion of getting the boys up, making breakfast, organizing the lunches and rushing out to work and school.
My boys have an annoying habit of leaving all the lights on in the rooms on our second floor and I usually dash room to room closing the lights before we leave. I’ve given up the main bathroom to the boys and boys will be boys as the bathroom is usually in an undesirable state. As I reach around the corner to turn off the light in the main bathroom, I catch my reflection in the mirror and the sight makes me stop in my tracks demanding a closer look. The reflection in the mirror in my bathroom is pleasing to the eye but the reflection in the boys bathroom clearly shows all my flaws and faults making me realize that the other mirror is reflecting a false image.
The lighting in the boys’ bathroom is closer to the mirror and the angle of the lighting illuminates objects in the mirror in such a way that there is no room for the illusion of beauty like the mirror in the other bathroom. There are days I prefer the illusion, but I choose to live in reality and accept my flaws and faults as part of my raw and authentic beauty.
I’ve come to realize that we all have two mirrors, a mirror that reflects an illusion and a mirror that reflects truths. Depending where we are in our lives, we have times of comfort with the illusion mirror and times of reality with the truth mirror. Human relationships can become twisted in the mirror and the chaos can crash and break the mirror into many pieces if it is not anchored in a secured and proper way. When reality meets illusion, the reflection can be cloudy leaving one angry,fearful, frustrated and disillusioned.
Standing in front of the mirror, I see the refection of my naked self down to the depth of my soul and it is there where I find the truth mirror leaving the illusion behind. As I go about my day, I meet many different people and they are all holding different mirrors, some illusion and some truth. Some disguise the illusion mirror as the truth mirror and somewhere in that disguise the truth mirror is hidden so deep giving strength to the illusion leaving one in a confusing and superficial state.
Life would be easier if we all held up the same mirror, but life is about complications and working your way through the illusions. Energy reflected from the illusion mirror follows a sloping road leading to a life of frustration, fear, stagnation, adrift, despair and disconnection. However, energy reflected from the truth mirror leads to a life of happiness, courage, refreshment, purpose, hope and connection. The truth mirror is your authentic self. It is the place where you accept all flaws, faults and truths leaving fear and illusion behind, giving you the space to breath and accept your imperfections permitting a fulfilled and purposeful life.
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.” Melody Beattie
Thanksgiving weekend for me is a chance to hangout and catch up with rest, refresh and rejuvenate and of course plenty of food to fill the belly. I try to live my life in gratitude every day not just one weekend during the year.
To live one’s life in gratitude also means living your life with a wholesome perspective. If your view of the world is always negative, never admitting to faults, never picking yourself up from your falls, then you are approaching your life with a pessimistic, cynical and gloomy view leaving you open to disease and creating havoc with your spirit.
To live with gratitude doesn’t mean that every day you have to be the happiest person on the planet, it doesn’t mean that you never grumble, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have negativity in your life, and it certainly doesn’t mean that human relationships are not a source of frustration. We all live with these emotions and frustrations, but how the individual approaches and reacts to life’s struggles is where gratitude can take hold and change one’s perspective ultimately creating a fulfilled and happy life.
I am an empath and the very nature of an empath makes it difficult for me to deal with negativity as I wear other’s emotions as they are my own. As a child and a young woman I did not understand this chameleon ability and at times thought I had lost my way as I didn’t understand why I was so chaotic in my emotional makeup. Once I understood that I was taking on other’s emotional state, I changed my approach and looked inward to gain a better understanding of my spirit. I discovered many things about myself and I believe others can discover the same. The most critical discovery for me was that I was stronger than I realized. I believe this to be true for everyone, I think if we connect to our spirit, or our inner child, I believe we all have strength beyond our dreams. I discovered that I have the ability to walk with light rather than walk with darkness and I also discovered that when you walk with light you attract light and the same happens when you walk with darkness you attract darkness.
When I walk into a dark room my senses are closed, cautious, on guard, insecure and hesitant. However, when I walk into a room filled with light my senses are open, happy, free, confident and assured. It is possible to always be filled with light even when facing darkness and the best place to start is with gratitude.
Today we have more technology than ever and most of us fill our space with commitments and agendas and we allow our phones and computers to distract us from the very essential elements of life. We don’t take time to just sit and talk about nothing in particular, we don’t take the time to walk with nature and we don’t take the time to notice our breath. It is vital to our emotional and our physical state to take the time to relax, breath and give thanks for what we have today and give blessings to the many bright lights that fill our lives leaving the darkness behind.
To all my Canadian friends and family, I wish you a Thanksgiving weekend filled with light and gratitude.
MOMWHEARINGLOSS 