Black Fur and White Cotton

Sitting in the garden, whites drying on the line and black cat sleeping in the chair beside me, life is good.

Stopping to read my first sentence, I feel blessed for the simple things which add to life. Often too easily we get caught up in drama, focusing only on problems or imprisoning ourselves in the web of pettiness. It’s good to be reminded held within any struggle are bountiful moments of ordinary peace which can go unnoticed flitting by a busy mind.  Something more pressing holds attention, like the last ping on our phones, the rampant to do list charging through our minds or echoes of conversations, both had and not had, reverberating, scoop us up and away.

As that is what the mind does. It has a propensity to draw us into whatever concern at the time. Changing reality. My whites drying in the sunshine is the reality I sit in now but only when I focus on what is around me. Otherwise, seemingly on cruise control I slip upwards and hang out in the reality of the mind, which has different rules than this present one.

The problem with the mind is it can’t tell the difference between what is real or imagined. When we worry, we totally believe whatever  we think about. Which is odd because in this realm of the imagination, we end up making stories to feed our fear. Very negative, limiting and uncomfortable.

While in this reality, the one I sit in as I type, “It is what it is.” It is a chair. Of course, I could imagine that chair to be a throne, or a car but the chair does not change, it is my mind that changes the chair.

“It is what it is.”

One of my favorite sentences reminds me to look at what is real. Not change, hope it is different, refuse to see by looking at it through rose tinted glasses or self-reference, making everything about me. When I struggle I find just by repeating that simple sentence “It is what it is” brings me into the present, into the Now. At which point I relax, accept the situation, work with or around it the best I can. As well, come up with appropriate action to help me best deal and move forward. In other words, a simple “It is what it is” brings fresh perspective, always what is needed when trying to resolve a problem.

A wise person guards themselves from hanging out in the mind too much. Spending more time there than here, alters how we see the world around us. More to the point it takes away from the simple joys, black cat sleeping, whites stiffening as they dry.

Balance is key. We are able to shape shift realities just through thought. It is a gift to create a more harmonious world simply by not feeding the negative. As we harness the positive of the emotionally fertile mind we find balance and moments like this, do not go unnoticed or unfelt. Life is good.