HAPPIEST HEART: Moving

While driving up the inner corridor of California yesterday, I was musing on the joy of moving around in the world. What an easy way to shift our focus and get into our bodies in present time. I was treated to the beginnings of California spring, miles of budding to blooming orchards that line the highway from mid state to Oregon. It was a deepening pleasure to think about the myth of Persephone, who, in mythology was stolen by her father into the underworld and became the Queen. After some trials for her mother, Demeter, Persephone was allowed to return each spring from the underworld and with her return, we see the budding of flowers and life, a revival from the little death of winter.

In that same myth, an almost forgotten fact is the smell of the flower Narcissus, that allows her to tumble into the darkness of Hell. The character of Narcissus is synonymous with sleep and numbness. This God was known for his attention to himself, staying in that little world of his own self centeredness. I think it is easy to get bogged and mired in our world of troubles and concerns, and we lose the perspective of where we fit in the larger world, a hell of our limited vision. Our world is known, usual, familiar and we move around inside of this place, and perhaps as Narcissus's name alludes...we are asleep and numb.

I was heading north and traveling about 350 miles to my destination, but I was thinking that, it needn't be such a big trip. Whenever we leave the usual, the normal, we pop outside the unconscious bubble and we see everything as new and different. Think of your last vacation when you were out of town and noticing EVERYTHING. When we break the routine, we wake up a little and SEE again. Think of your day today as a wake up day! Look at something new! Don't just blow past your neighbor's yard, or the fallow field on the way to town. Take a new path!

Move yourself around in the world. Allow the world to wake you up. This can mean a trip to Bolivia/Paris, driving over the hill to see what is on the other side, taking a new street to work, or simply taking a walk. Remember to breathe deeply.

Offstage cues: Move, Contemplate, Wake up!

The Myth of Persephone - Greek Goddess of the Underworld

These works of art are from the above website.