Wisdom in Waves
  • Home
  • Classes
  • Meditations
  • Books
  • Poems
  • Musings
  • About
  • Contact
  • Love

Monet's Water Lilies

7/31/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture

​"The path is not about perfecting the self. The path is about deepening compassion for the self."

-Jack Kornfield
 
Our limited views imprison us.  We paint our reality from a palette of color preferences.  We live in a large eclectic museum of artists.  But if we stand admiring one painting for a lifetime, ours and ours alone, we'll miss multiple opportunities to appreciate other points of view.

I have the great fortune of sharing my life with a husband who constantly challenges my point of view.  Our disagreements used to scare me.  I was afraid that the cracks in our conversation would form canyons, where the distance would be insurmountable.  Any words spoken would not be heard by the other, but echoed back as an internal reverberation of fear.


Hello, hello, hello!!!  Is anyone there, there, there???

On a recent hike on the Palomarin Trail in Bolinas, my husband and I stopped for lunch at a clearing off the path.  The clearing overlooked a lake dotted at the surface with several lotus blossoms.  The scene was perfect, as if I were witnessing a real life version of Monet's
Water Lilies.

Until I spotted some Starbucks paper napkins several feet away from us.  Suddenly, the perfect painting changed into a picture I no longer wanted to see.  Mother Earth's sacred ground was polluted by a careless, ignorant being (or group) who had no regard for anyone but him/herself.  I sent some nasty  words out to these nameless, faceless beings that was the exact opposite of metta.

My husband watched my self-righteous performance in silence.  After some time, he painted some alternative possibilities for me.  What if the wind blew the napkins out of a hiker's open back pack?  What if a group was having a picnic like we were now, and one of the group members got too close to the edge of the cliff, slipped and fell, while others left in a hurry to find help?  What if someone intentionally littered because they had been hardened by life circumstances, and no longer considered anyone or anything sacred?  The possibilities were endless.

I looked away from the lotus blossoms.  Though I preferred a serene scene sans scattered Starbucks paper napkins, I was beginning to open to other still life possibilities.  Once we finished eating and packed up our belongings, I walked over to each napkin and picked it up.  I wasn’t the perfect environmentalist or Buddhist practitioner, but a humble being who was given the opportunity to deepen compassion for herself and the being(s) who left the napkins behind.

Our limited views imprison us.  We paint our reality from a palette of color preferences.  We live in a large eclectic museum of artists.  If we walk from one painting to another, we’ll have multiple opportunities to appreciate other points of view.  We might even visualize the napkins as a possible part of Monet’s
Water Lilies, and get curious about the folks who left them behind.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Kaveri Patel, a woman who is always searching for the wisdom in waves.

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014

    Categories

    All
    Anatta
    Body Wisdom
    Burnout
    Communication
    Compassion
    Creativity
    Diwali
    Doubt
    Elements
    Energy
    Equanimity
    Fear
    Forgiveness
    Freedom
    Gratitude
    Guilt
    Habits
    Impermanence
    Joy
    Kindness
    Light
    Middle Way
    Mindfulness
    Motivational Interviewing
    Parenting
    Passion
    Patience
    Peace
    Poetry
    Relationships
    Sacred Feminine
    Self Compassion
    Surrender
    True Nature
    Trust
    Uncertainty
    Wisdom

    Click to set custom HTML

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly