Thursday 20 January 2011

I AM


This tree in all it's glory took my breath away. I felt an immediate connection to the tree, but it's taken me awhile to understand why.

I now realize that for me, this tree is life affirming.

It just IS. Everything about the tree is open and displayed. It's showing it's light! Through that light, you can almost hear it saying "this is who I am. I've got nothing to hide".

And, isn't that what we are here to do as well? It's like getting a life lesson without a word being spoken or a sound being uttered. But the lesson is there just the same. It's a whisper in the wind or a sparkle in the light, available to anyone who takes the time to listen. It's a reflection or mirror of what's written on our souls.

I love trees in general. They move without any resistance and show us how to flow with life. If you sat for a time and just watched them do their dance, you'd understand what I mean. They share the same life force as we do, but the grace that comes with acceptance of all that is, is inherit in their nature. In all of nature for that matter. There is no ego, no doubt, no fear, no striving to be, no shame or guilt. There is just existence in a natural state of grace.

Our goal is to find that peace within and conduct our selves from that state of being. Not so easy when you've got an ego to contend with, placing labels and limits on our being. We strive to be this or that, always with the aim to be the best, the biggest, the richest, the prettiest, and on and on. We get so focused on our goals that we limit our abilities to be so much more than what we think we ought to be.

I'm taking a lesson from this tree, and removing the labels I've placed on myself. My focus moving forward is learning to just be.

My Affirmation: I AM

I am everything, and I am nothing.
I am Sandra, Sandy, Sand, Sam and Sis.
I am a child, a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a friend.
I am strong and weak, happy and sad, silly and serious.
I am brilliant and ignorant, focused and oblivious.
I am a warrior, a victim, a leader and a servant.
I am independent and powerful, dependent and powerless.
I am soft and feminine, hard and masculine.
I am resilient, breakable, flexible and rigid.
I am adventurous and scared, popular and lonely.
I am divine in nature, and evil in intent.
I am a mother without a child, yet I nurture.
I am a wife without a husband, yet I love.
I am a lover without a partner, yet I feel.
I am an artist without a canvas, yet I paint a picture.
I am a photographer without a camera, yet I capture with my eyes.
I am a musician without an instrument, yet I still play.
I am a writer without a story, yet I tell one everyday.
I am a doctor without a degree, yet I can heal with words and touch.
I am a leader without a following, yet I reign over my domain.
I am you and you are me. We are one.
I am here because of you.
I am here in spite of you.
I am here at your request and you are here at mine.
I am whatever you want me to be.
I fulfill a need for you and you fulfill a need for me.
My emotions are a reflection of you.
Your emotions are a reflection of me.
It matters not where we are in time and space or whether we’ve even met.
We still have an influence on one another.
Every decision I make impacts you and every decision you make impacts me.

I am responsible for you and you are responsible for me.
We are nothing without each other.

The whole idea of being anything makes no sense because we are everything. It is our birthright - our reason for being.

So if I am and you are – how are we any different? How can you be this and me that?

The same light that gives me life gives you life as well. It’s that light that makes us one. It’s the same no matter what I am. It has no name, no identity, no ambition and no motive.

It just is and I just am.

Call me what you like, tell me who I am, it changes nothing. I will continue to be everything and nothing.
©SLP

Picture taken in Washington Park, Portland Japanese Garden (Portland, Oregon)

2 comments:

  1. When I first saw this picture, before I read a single word, I instantly saw a heart. You can see the shape of it and the branches as veins and arteries across it. So when I began reading I was not surprised that you viewed the tree as life affirming. But you took it to an even deeper level, one which will forever change the way I look at trees. From my window at work I can see a huge bearded fig tree that is over 100 years old. Two years ago it was cut in two lengthwise so that it could be picked up by a crane and moved to its new location, right at the front of the entrance to the new Crane Village, greeting everyone that comes. It suffered a bit and I thought we were going to lose it. I hated to see it get ripped from where it had grown from a tiny seedling a hundred years ago. But it has settled in and has come back bigger and better than ever. Life affirming... indeed.

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  2. Thank you SLP for the profound gifts of insight and inspiration. As you said "It matters not where we are in time and space or whether we’ve even met.
    We still have an influence on one another."
    I am genuinely humbled by the reminder that I am connected to all things and all things to me. Like the tree, I just need to be most powerfully and beautiffully--without judgement--me. My awareness pulsates. Another link between spirits has been awakened. Thank you is the least I can say. Thank you for being you.

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