Sunday, April 18, 2010

Pointing Toward Harmony

I love setting up house, it's kind of like creating a collage. You work with colour and texture and form, moving pieces around until they work together in some harmonious way. You work with couches and chairs and tables and Buddhas and bowls instead of paint and paper and canvas.

I don't even mind unpacking boxes. It's the preparatory work, like cutting the bits of paper or painting the ground. It doesn't seem like work to me, it's energizing, creating this sense of home; a place for spirit to live. And so that's what this week has held. A week of settling in, enjoying some sunshine, helping the Buddhas find their proper homes, finding the right wall for each painting.

And then there was the joy of hanging clothes outside on the clothes line attached to a giant fir tree. I swear clothes get brighter and cleaner just from hanging out in this lovely clean air (this is a paid advert brought to you by a bit of rope and some sunshine). And there was the sheer delight of digging in the dirt and planting lettuce and radishes, some parsley and spinach and radicchio and taking the kilometer walk down the gravel road to the mailbox. I can feel my spirit breathe a sigh as it settles into this sheltered, rural spot with forest on one side, orchard trees and straw covered garden beds on another, and a stretch of panoramic ocean view in front. It recognizes home.

And where is the Dharma in all of this? I think it is about the many steps it can take to get closer to some goal that's in your heart. I can look back and see the many mundane steps it took to get here, the painting and cleaning and the ups and downs of house selling and packing. But mostly it's about honouring the call of the heart, doing what may not always seem logical or safe but doing it anyway. And somehow as you take the mundane, daily steps, you move closer to the heart's calling. Sometimes it's clear what the next step is and some days clouds cover the horizon. Some days you need to adjust your course around fallen trees and downed power lines and sometimes you just need to sit still and wait for the direction to make itself clear.

And so gradually it becomes clear at the gut level that we can never really know what's around the next corner but we have faith and trust that life is unfolding as it should. And there is always that sign in our heart pointing us toward harmony.

9 comments:

  1. What a sense of satisfaction I hear in this tale. Lovely. Welcome home!

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  2. Welcome "home" indeed! Have missed your presence here! And what a lovely post this is - speaking directly to the heart of things: "honoring the call of the heart... moving closer to your heart's calling... there's always the sign in your heart... recognizing home..." Am so glad for you that you have found Harmony in the way your life is unfolding. Hear Smiles :)

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  3. Your settling in is a delight to read. Your rural setting has so much to offer...harmony.

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  4. Wow, how much I can relate! You are a few steps ahead of me, Dharma sister, and I find much comfort in these beautiful put words of yours:

    "But mostly it's about honouring the call of the heart, doing what may not always seem logical or safe but doing it anyway. And somehow as you take the mundane, daily steps, you move closer to the heart's calling. Sometimes it's clear what the next step is and some days clouds cover the horizon. Some days you need to adjust your course around fallen trees and downed power lines and sometimes you just need to sit still and wait for the direction to make itself clear.

    And so gradually it becomes clear at the gut level that we can never really know what's around the next corner but we have faith and trust that life is unfolding as it should. And there is always that sign in our heart pointing us toward harmony."

    I may even make them the center of my next post.

    What a gift! Thank you, thank you. And may you dwell in harmony, and mindfulness, and creativity, and love, in this new house of yours.

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  5. Welcome Home! Great post and I really resonate with visual of navigating around fallen objects!

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  6. you sound so content.... tis true, everything unfolds... much love to you in your new home...

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  7. such a lovely feeling of community to have you all stop in and say hello, now if only I could offer a cup of tea!

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  8. Now that you live in the islands you may literally have to find your way around downed power lines and fallen trees...after one of the many storms that pass through here....i'll join you for coffee sometime when i'm over there..
    all the best in your new home, carole.
    dawne

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