Bhutan

Mi Casa del Arból

So my love affair with Mexico doesn't seem to want to let up ;) I did an intensive yogic studies teacher training back in the Fall. Our book list was so tremendous that one person suggested we create a book club to give us a chance to read the books we never got to during the class. The book club expanded to books that were not yoga-related, the last one being "Gift form the Sea".

I thought it was perfect since I could read the book while I was away in Mexico. And I did... lying on the beach or before bed, encased in my beautiful, white mosquito net. So apropos. The book is laden with wisdom that is as relevant today as it was 60 years ago when it was first written. I'd take up several posts with all the passages I'd want to quote from it...but there was one in particular that stood out for me, that resonated most in terms of where I've been and where I'm going in my life. It was so simple.

"One never knows what chance treasure these easy unconscious rollers may toss up, on the smooth white sand of the conscious mind; what rare shell from the ocean floor...but it must not be dug for...the sea does not reward those who are too greedy, anxious, or impatient...one should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach—waiting for a gift from the sea."

So I didn't dig. I let the shells come to me. And they did. And this is a learning I've taken home with me. To wait for the gift, not seek it.

Since I was hosting last month's meet, I wanted to incorporate an art element with the book. I'd always loved Joseph Cornell's shadow boxes http://www.josephcornellbox.com/ and thought the juxtaposition of objects and use of metaphor and symbolism might be fun to play around with for an art project.

So using an old wooden flower box, I went to work creating my "shadow box". Didn't really know what I was creating. I just put shells and sticks and driftwood together...and what did it start to become but a tree house. Those that read this and were in Mexico with me know that it's been my dream to live in one, and one reason I came to Haramara. So maybe this is my way of manifesting this? It makes me happy looking at it and I imagine myself living in the trees and walking down my "driftwood" trail to the ocean, were proverbial shells wait for me to collect them.