Everything will be okay in the end..

 

and if it isn't okay, it isn't the end!

Optimistic statements are crucial to our sanity. Again whether what we hope for comes true  is not necessarily the issue, the issue is that it enables us get moving rather than sitting worrying about or lamenting something.

We can do this. We can do what needs to be done today, and tomorrow, and the day after. We may not feel we can, we may not think we can, but applying that optimistic statement to the situation enables us to partake in the loving, creative presence that lives within each one of us and surrounds us.

A loving presence that can only be experienced now. It's like food, we can't eat enough now for tomorrow, we can't drink enough now for tomorrow. We can't tap into tomorrow's energy and creativity, but we can tap into that beautiful, gentle presence available to us here and now. I've become quite dependent on nourishing myself with some creative beauty in the moment.

Recently, on my previously mentioned cycle-trip 'from hell' where not only my back was in pieces but the weather was cold, dark and drizzly and the final bike ride along the River Barrow before new restrictions, became more and more scary due to the amount of flooding and mud we encountered. I ended up having to take the busy road instead. Cars zooming by, dirty old road with rubbish strewn at the sides. 

I was desperately searching for a redeeming factor and thankfully I found it: I started meditation on the rubbish: 'There is an old ice-cream wrapping that somebody put a lot of thought into designing and producing. People working in the ice-cream factory facilitating the process and enabling us to go into shops and choosing ice-creams in beautiful colour wrapping.

The broken plastic bucket, how proud the person must have been who invented the bucket and how we all benefit, and how beautiful that bucket was when it was sitting there in the shop ready for someone to purchase and make use of it. 

A pair of trousers covered in dirt and how many hands might have helped design these trousers, produced the initial material, dyed it, the machinery that was designed to sew them together. What a masterpiece that could go so unnoticed.

We're surrounded by wonderful designs and produce of thousands of people, people who have put their love and energy into making something useful and beautiful for us, for man- and womankind. 

My dreary cycle 'from hell' became an inspiring opening of my mind towards that ever present creative energy within each one of us. May we be more aware and allow that creative spirit flourish in ourselves and encourage it in each other!