Tuesday, April 19, 2011

4/19/11—Greeting the New

Today's Draw: The Princess of Wands from the Whispering Tarot. How do you greet the new and/or unusual? With anxiety? Caution? Ease? And at what point do you make a solid, unchangeable decision in your philosophies? Or can your stance always be changed?


With Easter around the corner, I find the dinosaur emerging from the egg next a child carrying a basket amusing and somewhat provocative. Like an odd meeting between creationism and evolution. This isn't what was intended by the artist, but choosing it at this time of year sent my mind "there". That and the meaning that WAS intended...greeting the new through childlike eyes of excitement and ease. The butterflies surrounding her signal transformation. And on the girl's walk, she encounters a dinosaur emerging from an egg. Yet she's not frightened. She doesn't run. Because this is just another of the wonders of life. 

So, combine the two, and you start thinking about the rigidity that occurs over the years as we sort through possibilities and set our minds on certain ones. Spiritual philosophies come to mind. As do personal belief systems ranging from "nobody likes me" to "I am a successful businessperson". We seem to assume that as we whittle these possibilities down into an individual set of attitudes and beliefs, we become MORE of ourselves. We chip away at those parts that don't jibe with us and what's left is our true self. 

But consider for a moment, that our TRUE self is that curious child, open and free to explore the world, constantly learning and endlessly open to the notion that our assumptions may be wrong. Consider that that's the mindset where real individuality and freedom lie...in the dynamic, constantly shifting seas of life's energies. It's an interesting notion, isn't it?

All that said, to answer my own questions, I usually greet the new with ease. Or at least determination. Which is to be distinguished from the anticipation of change and the new, which I greet with utter fear and anxiety...haha. But once it's here, I work with it. And as far as my beliefs and opinions go, I have strong ones to be sure, but I can't think of one area in which my heart and mind are closed to the possibility that I might be wrong and that there might be other answers out there. 

Which brings us back to the idea of the dinosaur emerging from the Easter egg. My spiritual beliefs encompass a mish mash of many religions and beliefs, Judeo-Christianity included. What I believe works for me, but every once in a while I hear a notion that intrigues me, I consider it and incorporate it into my beliefs. By being open, not closed, I manage to become more of myself every day. And because that self changes every day, it requires me to remain open. How many people have you met in your life that have experience a big life change, such as divorce, who say "I don't even know who I am anymore"? It's because they defined themself and stuck to a single role and when that role was gone, so were they. 

So consider today that you are not what you think you are. That you are so much more. And that the daily experiences of life are not to be weeded through, but rather they're there to smell and feel and experience before you toss them to the side. Just because you knew yesterday that a particular weed was a weed, doesn't mean it will feel like a weed today. But you won't know that if you blind yourself to the possibilities.



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