This week I had the privilege of getting to be in retreat for three days with 27 souls with whom I felt a deep presence of Love Itself breathing within and among each one of us. It was a blissful experience to be with others in a safe space in which we felt we could share our innermost longings to live in such a sacred space of knowing and love.
Upon return home, I was reminded quickly of the sad weeks after summer camp as a child.
It’s challenging to move between immersion of Pure Love Itself and then to return to a world in which the messages of the ego-mind threaten to override that sacred peace.
This morning, as I sat to meditate and allow the presence of Love Itself to return to my knowing, my peaceful breath was abruptly interrupted by my sweet beagle, Lillie, who had just cornered a squirrel in our tree. If you’ve ever heard a hound dog’s bark, you will know how alarmingly intrusive this can be to any meditation…well really any state of being! Our other beagle, Mazzie, even had to come indoors to escape the piercing noise!
I quickly became aware that acceptance would be the only solution as the squirrel was trapped (and partially taunting), and Lillie was not going to relent.
So I sat and breathed….growing ever aware of the remarkable resemblance of the ego-mind to this frustrating situation.
Like Lille’s incessant barking, this voice of separation screams, “there are things you must do, people you must please, glaring shortcomings you cannot fix, your life is not yours…it is bound to this compulsion to get that darn squirrel out of the tree!
Just breathe…here with Me, I hear.
It’s difficult because, like Lillie, trying to will the squirrel down from the tree, I want to go outside and find some way to convince her to stop this senseless barking…just like I want the heavy pressure of my ego-mind to release its power over me.
Just breathe…here with Me.
The barking continues….
But I feel overwhelmed by the things I think I should do or need to do.
Just breathe…here with Me.
The barking pauses a moment…
then starts back up….
But maybe I messed up. Did I overstepped my boundaries? I said too much.
Let go the attachment to these ego messages. They are not real.
Just breathe…..here with Me.
Really?
Truly.
You are safe.
You are loved.
There is nothing you must fix.
There is nothing you must do.
This time, I breathe in a deep, cleansing breath. Ahhhh
You are already whole, safe, complete in Me.
You are home.
Just breathe…here with Me.
The barking finally stops.
Here is peace. Here is Love.
This day, I remember, my only priority is to live and breathe in this Holy Love.
I trust Love Itself to take care of the rest.