Serenity

Artwork by Tu-2

The day began in darkness and the energy was very still. Big winds seem to have passed, breaking only a few things along the way. The temperature sits at 46 degrees fahrenheit. Today is Monday.

Thanks to the fact of Sundays, supposedly a day of rest - the beginning of the week has a greater chance of starting with calm. For some, the week begins with a bang, like when a race begins and one is at the starting line, at the ready. For others, a slow entry into what could be an eventful cycle. And for still others, the day of the week doesn't matter because every day is a fine day... whether others think so or not.

We live in a time when serenity is hard to experience if one has work, family, and community responsibilities. The location of this space of calm observation is always there, but finding it can be a challenge. Think about serenity as that place where it is all happening around you, but your particular spot in the picture is one where you can see, hear, and be aware of all the action, without being caught up in it. It takes the capacity to surrender or yield to find this place.

It is error to think serenity is just a passive state. It's not. It is a very engaged and clear state in which everything that swirls around you can be taken in and because you are able to appreciate that all of it needs to happen, and will happen no matter what YOU want, you just drop into it. One realizes there is little or no control over the events and circumstances created by others. This does not mean one doesn't care or cannot be affected simply because there is no ability to direct (or redirect) the energy around you. Rather, it means that one has a chance to simply experience it all. Without having to go deeply in into analysis, judgment, or advising - just allowing what is, to be. Act in accord with who you are.

It also doesn't mean one cannot be moved. That would not be human. It is life unfolding beyond the self. It is the opportunity to sit on top of a mountain, or a garbage heap, and practice how to be so still that all of the energy of events and conditions can penetrate into your bones, and still - you are there.

Human beings cannot cut off passion, and should not cut off compassion. Human beings already know that the resources available and being tapped each day, are but a fraction of what exists in their potential. But we forget. We get fearful. We get caught up.

We become numb.

Then, too often we realize when it's too late that there was so much more we could have done, should have done, and wanted to do in this lifetime. So when searching for a place of serenity, don't forget that you are asking to be put into the eye of the storm of living. And with that in mind, anything and everything that may arise in your awareness will find its rightful place in your consciousness.