This story began the morning I wrote the text about going beyond anxiety.
I wrote with a lot of passion and when I finished I was beaming with happiness - what was just a page from my August diary had just turned into a post that would help humans around the world to also realize how anxiety is only energy!
Sitting at my desk I looked out the window, and as I usually do, I took a good deep breath receiving the green of the lemon tree leaves that fill the entire view. Amidst so many leaves, the white of a flower bud stood out.
But it wasn't just any flower bud. It was pointing in my direction. The same moment I saw it, I thought to myself: “Oh, how beautiful it is! I imagine the moment it opens, the flower will smile at me, right in the direction of my window! I imagine the moment when that happens, I will be so happy to see such a beautiful flower”
I allowed all this joy to flow through my being and got back to work. I went to the living room with my laptop and only returned to my room in the late afternoon.
When I entered my room and looked out the window, a divine surprise: the flower bloomed!
So tiny but so full of life, full of love, full of the sweet smell that a lemon blossom has.
A smile spread across my face immediately as I walked towards my gift.
There it was, smiling at me, right in the direction of my window.
"Amazing!" I thought “didn't it blossom really fast? I thought it would take longer… Wow, so you mean I'm really manifesting my desires quickly?”
“Nonsense…” said a more cautious facet: “the flower would bloom anyway! It is its nature - whether you wanted it or not, whether you saw it or not, it would bloom.”
And then I got the insight!
Isn't it so with every choice?
Aren't my choices like beautiful flower buds that will open whether I like it or not?
The nature of the choices is simply to happen.
And no matter how much the human is lost in illusion, the choice will always be real.
The choice will always be a potential, a reality that is happening.
The flower blooms and the choice happens.
But am I present to see it?
That's what defines the experience.
The next morning when I opened the window, the flower was even more open and more beautiful, even more smiling.
On the third day, it began to fall apart, petal by petal.
And finally, the core with all the sweet aroma was on the floor.
I was not sad to see my friend fall apart and go towards decomposition. This is also the nature of things: "A true creator creates, blesses, and allows it to go!"
I let her go with great love and honor, as her short stay had reminded me of deep truths and had gifted me wonderful insights.
But looking at where she was and not seeing her made me think:
"What would have happened if I had not looked out the window?"
Let's use looking out the window as a metaphor for presence.
Let's suppose I wasn't present.
I was so distracted by the human activities that I completely forgot about the abundance around me.
So I don't even look out the window, or when I look I just see with human eyes: “a tree, leaves, nothing new”
What would happen? Would the flower not bloom just because I'm blind to it?
Would life stop flowing just because I can't see it?
No, life would keep flowing.
The flower would open and fall apart.
The birds would continue to rest on the branches of the tree and fill my yard with their singing.
The clouds would continue to dance across the sky in different shapes and fall to the ground in the form of rain.
And the rain would continue to release that delicious and unique aroma onto the earth.
But… am I present to receive the gift?
Am I present to perceive the present?
Imagine the birds, the rain, the clouds, and the flowers as your choices.
They are happening.
You just have to perceive them, and they will be part of your reality.
If you are distracted and unconscious, living out of your presence, you won't notice and you certainly won't receive.
You will keep saying that there is nothing new and you will keep perceiving only lack.
But if you allow yourself to be present, you will begin to see life with new eyes and you will discover that true creation is effortless. Creating is your nature. Receiving is your nature. Just as the nature of the flower is to bloom.
With love and passion,
Liah'ah.