Taking Time to Play.

Author Alan Watts once made a compelling distinction with respect to the creation of this great Universe:

“It is interesting that Hindus,” he offered, “when they speak of the creation of the universe do not call it the work of God, they call it the play of God; the Vishnu lila, lila meaning play. And they look upon the whole manifestation of all the universes as a play, as a sport, as a kind of dance—lila perhaps being somewhat related to our word lilt.”

I was quite moved by this passage—as, I’ve often noticed our tendency to take on so much of the seriousness of this world; adding even more weight to that which doesn’t need to be made any bigger.

I remember when I was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s—everything seemed so big, so heavy. I couldn’t see beyond my own threshold of fear. I lost sleep, I cried until my heart actually hurt – and, sadly, even spent an hour or two tucked away hiding in the farthest back corner of my closet.

“Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.” Oh, how Ani Pema’s words rang through my mind—like a soothing melody, offering me comfort in my greatest hour of need.  Little did I know, that this lesson would later be reinforced in a manner my heart was most ‘willing’ to hear.

One day, while visiting a dear friend—these ‘floodgates of emotion’ nearly burst open at the seams. My friend graciously listened as a I relayed each of my deepest fears. And, when the moment allowed for enough of a pause, he simply smiled at me in return.

“Life is hard enough as it is,” he winked “try not to add so much to it, ok?”

And, just like that—this weight suddenly lifted, as I realized how much I was adding to the story.

What is it that causes us to make things so much bigger, so much heavier? And, whatever happened to our capacity to lighten up and play?

My darlings, do you remember the ‘lightness’ of being a child? That indescribable sense of knowing that the sky was not our limit?

But, what if I told you that it was always right there—waiting for you to disentangle, to live the life you’ve always dreamed?

Life is big enough as it is, my darlings—let’s try not to add so much to it, ok?

 

About

Tara Lemieux is a mindful wanderer, and faithful stargazer. Although she often appears to be listening with great care, rest assured she is most certainly‘forever lost in thought. She is an ardent explorer and lover of finding things previously undiscovered or at the very least mostly not-uncovered.

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2 Comments

  • Gosh that’s beautiful Tara. It’s such a wonderful spiritual discipline to be aware of the embellishments that we make around an event – even totally imagined events. I still do it even though I’m more and more aware of it now.

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