Enlightening

I was in conversation with a neighbour who is very careful what she puts into her body and what she pays attention to. She wants to be in high vibrational energies as much as possible and I get that.

I mentioned that I end up watching Netflix at the end of the day. I read the Montreal Gazette every day because my husband is addicted to the crossword puzzles and I am addicted to having something to read while I eat my breakfast.

"Oh," came the comment, "that stuff is so filled with bad news and low vibrational energy. You are giving it power as you give it attention."

I thought about this afterward. After we had parted ways, I felt into how much I enjoy reading the news either in the old Montreal Gazette or online. I felt into how long it has been since I made a commitment to 'watch what happens.' I was living in Vancouver, briefly and rather tragically, as a penniless twenty-one year old. My older brother - whom I emulated in everything important - read The Economist. I picked up the latest issue and understood so little of it that I was ashamed. It was then that I made the commitment to read and watch and listen to the world - all of it. There is a sense of honouring us all in this... saying, "Yes. I see you. I hear you. Yes, even this."

I have the sense of shining on it all as I place myself as witness to it. It does not anger me. It does not take me out of joy. It does not bring me to despair, although I do sometimes find myself amazed at what we collectively are creating for ourselves to experience.

I suddenly gave myself the gift of a beautiful image, which I will do my best to share with you.

The news and views, the outrage and violence, all of that turmoil and turbulence is like a fast moving river, the waters swirling and churning downstream in a mass of movement that is beyond our control.

My steady gaze, my loving attention, shines like sunlight on water. The turbulence is bathed in that light. I am love incarnate, observing with that steady gaze. I do not turn away. I do not condemn or betray. I am that shimmer above the water, on the water, permeating it, enlightening it.