Lighthouse as seen from the top of the Mackinac Island house that owns the beautiful flower gardens up there in my blog banner.
Mackinac Bridge at SunsetFrom the outside, it would look as though my travels were about visiting a friend and sightseeing. But most of what truly happened, happened within me. I didn't know when I left home that I was taking off on a ride that would change the way I perceive the world in many ways.
I learned a lot about love.
I saw how much I tend to close down when faced with the unknown, AND I learned how to open to those scary, unknown things, only to find out that my ideas about them were much worse than reality.
I experienced and practiced total acceptance of others and myself. For the first time, I lovingly accepted this body and this being.
I stayed an evening and a night with a family that lives with love, respect, excellent boundaries, and the ability to truly enjoy each other as friends. So alive! So refreshing! I can't necessarily have that, but I can be that.
During much of my trip, I felt as though I was stepping off into thin air. I felt a tiny bit wiggly, but I found that I was 100% safe. That was empowering.
Why do I feel like crying as I read over what I just wrote? I think because the experience was so dear, so valuable. I am thankful for it all. I feel like the "real me" (whatever that is) was awakened. I feel freer, lighter.
We are all capable of being free from our ideas of who we are. They are only ideas, after all. Not facts.
Sometimes it takes a wonderful friend who lives a different life to help nudge us a little past our imagined safety net that we think we hide behind. The thing is, there is no safety net and we are always free-falling in this wonderful, beautiful life. We only need to open our eyes and hearts to enjoy it.
I learned a lot about love.
I saw how much I tend to close down when faced with the unknown, AND I learned how to open to those scary, unknown things, only to find out that my ideas about them were much worse than reality.
I experienced and practiced total acceptance of others and myself. For the first time, I lovingly accepted this body and this being.
I stayed an evening and a night with a family that lives with love, respect, excellent boundaries, and the ability to truly enjoy each other as friends. So alive! So refreshing! I can't necessarily have that, but I can be that.
During much of my trip, I felt as though I was stepping off into thin air. I felt a tiny bit wiggly, but I found that I was 100% safe. That was empowering.
Why do I feel like crying as I read over what I just wrote? I think because the experience was so dear, so valuable. I am thankful for it all. I feel like the "real me" (whatever that is) was awakened. I feel freer, lighter.
We are all capable of being free from our ideas of who we are. They are only ideas, after all. Not facts.
Sometimes it takes a wonderful friend who lives a different life to help nudge us a little past our imagined safety net that we think we hide behind. The thing is, there is no safety net and we are always free-falling in this wonderful, beautiful life. We only need to open our eyes and hearts to enjoy it.
I'm so glad I checked back. I got to enjoy a little more of your trip - the external one with the photos, and the internal one with the newly awakened you. Thanks for sharing both! But what a VIEW from the flower house, eh?
ReplyDeleteG.G.,
ReplyDeleteI bet you would have enjoyed the flower house. An old, old house with so many rooms I would have to revisit in order to count them all. The grounds, as you know are WONDERFUL. the insides are old, falling apart, and ready for the remodel that will take place soon.
I absolutely LOVE to explore complex floor plans and this house was perfect for it. AND it has the best view in town!
I'm pleased to hear you had such a great trip ... and am enjoying the photos.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to feel freer and lighter!
Dancing,
ReplyDeleteThe lightness couldn't have come at a better time, since I got to come home to the heaviness of the situation with my parents. We never know, do we???