I know my title is weird today. My washer and dryer is something I refer to back in the day when I got this appliance from my family. For a long time through college and after I had to go to the Laundromat, as most of had to. It was something I really disliked so I will never forget the day I was gifted with my very own washer and dryer. It was such a joy, such an incredible help, and I knew I was set on a new journey with the comfort of this gift. For a long time (and sometimes I still do) while using the washer and dryer gratefulness would overcome me, knowing how special it was to be able to use it. I don't know why and maybe it is silly. But for some reason my washer and dryer came up in my meditation today. The symbol of receiving a great gift, quite simple, but something that gives you ease, gives you help, and shifts your life for the better. Thich Nhat Hanh expresses in some of his teachings that our daily chores are not separate from our spiritual lives. It is all connected and good to pay attention too. So my washer and dryer that has come to mind today is a reminder of what it means to receive such special life changing gifts. Sometimes gifts come with ease and sometimes they come without us understanding them. Either way they are gifts of the Spirit.
Spring has arrived and I sit here overwhelmed with tears of joy. A year later and I am just more and more in awe of living here, more and more grateful, and more and more I see the gifts of it. This place is never old to me. Through the trees, rivers, creeks, lakes, mountains, birds, coyotes, and a multitude of other life that lives here, I am constantly surrounded by sacred teachings beyond anything I have ever known. It is a gift I am truly thankful I received. You see, I didn't want this gift. I tried to refuse it when the path revealed itself to me. I was very scared and fought the powers that be. Gifts don't work well that way. It kept knocking on my door or shouting in my ear till it broke me down. The gift wanted to ensure me that if I received it fully the joys would be overflowing. It was the most mysterious gift that has ever come onto my path.
I received a book a long time ago called "Earthway" by Mary Summer Rain. I highly suggest this book. I probably read this at 18 years old or so. No Eyes is the teacher in this book of Native American Mind, Body and Spirit Health. In it I will never forget the part about geographical location. How the vibration of our molecules is important to match the vibration of where we live. To be open to understand where our body needs to be planted. My body, for whatever reason, now matches where I live. I followed the calling. It is a most marvelous experience. No Eyes says "The human need to belong is intense. Whether you feel the need to belong to the center of a bustling city, in a desert adobe, or in the middle of pine forest atop a mountain, get there. Search out your true inner promptings and follow them." I truly understand this now. It isn't only about that land we live on. I feel it is also about community we wish to be close to, what we eat, how we treat each other and this earth and so forth.
So a little over a year now, I sit here in the gift I received with my washer and dryer still cleaning my clothes. The gifts of this place are still opening up like the buds in springtime. I feel this is a gift that will keep on giving. It is never ceasing. I think of you as I am writing this today and hope that you receive the gifts coming your way, even if you don't understand them or have great fear of where they might take you, but I say with great confidence, don't turn your back on the gift. Follow it. I hope you also follow where you need to plant yourself in the land where you need to be, feeling the multitude of gifts of your sacred surroundings and how they teach you and give you great comfort and joy. It is possible. Receive with gratefulness. Enjoy!!
And So It Is!
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