Life Ring for the Queen of Cumberland – BC Ferries
I’ve been away for awhile…south of the border in the US…and then home again, but just long enough to grab some clean clothes before taking an inter island ferry to visit with my dear friend “E” for a few days. My friend was tackling the job of decluttering a lifetime’s worth of possessions. It can help to have someone who’s not emotionally attached when you decide to purge not only your own accumulations, but also those you’ve inherited from parents and other relatives who have passed on. It’s a difficult and painful task to decide what to keep and what to let go of when every object holds a beautiful and priceless memory and seems like the last “tie” to those who are gone. I went through some of this myself when I packed up my home last spring and I know there will be more of it happening soon when I unpack in a house that’s almost half the size of the one I left.
The photograph above of the life ring was taken on the boat when we stopped to unload and reload at Galiano Island. The bright orange colour is the international colour of safety and visibility so it fits in perfectly with this week’s orange theme. I’ve always believed that safety is an “inside job” and if we don’t feel safe deep within ourselves, no amount of locks, chains, guards or bolts will ever make us feel safe.
"Safety does not lie in contraction. Something has gone awry because you have believed that contraction could make you safe. Now practice the opposite. Start believing that it is expansion that will make you safe, and then be the observer. You can find a hundred ways to expand every day. Just try it. In the midst of something that looks frightening, start expanding with your breath. The natural act of filling your lungs with air will straighten your spine and extend your chest. Then you will be 'leading with the heart.' And the heart is where you feel the love."
"When you wake up every morning, plant this statement deeply inside your awareness: "As much as I am able this day, I will go within, ask and listen; and I am going to trust and risk by doing what I feel to be true. Thus, I will follow the response rather than the safety of my habitual patterns".
From the Heart of a Gentle Brother – Mary Margaret Moore
For more Orange inspiration, check out other posts at Lens Us Together.
Play well and be kind to one another.
