As I was getting ready for bed the other night, I heard the news anchor in an excited voice begin to talk about the Perseid Meteor Shower. The newsperson, out on the field, was somewhere in the dessert interviewing a man with a gigantic telescope excited about the moonless night and his being in the perfect location to see the stars. “Bummer!” I thought to myself. I am no where near the dessert and I have city lights all around me. I considered for a moment driving to the dessert and immediately decided against it. Then I thought… how about seeing the stars from my own backyard? I woke up my two fearless companions (Sadie and Lucy, my two dogs) to accompany me. I stood out there for a few minutes looking to the skies for one shooting star. The night sky did look different — no moon and more stars than usual. There I stood straining my neck willing a shooting star to appear — nothing. My ego chimed in, “You are not at the right place and forget about seeing any shooting stars. It’s all your fault for being too busy to have known this was happening.” I gave up. No shooting starts tonight. I decided to enjoy the beauty that was around me. As I was twirling in a circle relishing the stars above me and the cool summer air around me, there it was — a shooting star! YES! Happy dance! I quickly decided to lie down on the ground. Looking up at the sky, my two companions next to me, I slowly breathed and observed the darkness above me. I quietly told the sky, “Show me.” Funny what happened next. The dark spots of the night suddenly became lit up with stars and, right on cue, more shooting stars made themselves visible. The more my vision got used to the darkness, the more I could see. The show that the Universe had orchestrated above and around me could not fully be described with words. Then it hit me — what a reflection of life this is; if I force life, nothing happens, and, most of the time, experience frustration and upset. If I surrender and flow with what is happening around me, the Universe greets me and is given the chance to meet me half way. If I look into the darkness and not fight it, more of the light is revealed to me because one does not exist without the other. I looked at my companions whose loving eyes said to me, “Yup, you got it.” I couldn’t help it …lying on the ground, shrouded by the night…I laughed… |
Originally Posted on 8/15/2015