"The spiritual journey is not about heaven and finally getting to a place that's really swell."
- Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart
I've just come in from yet another abundant harvest. Tomatoes galore! (I recommend the Arkansas Traveler heirloom variety from Seeds of Change for fat, flavorful slicers.)
Ben has been busy doing all of the canning this summer, and I've been busy giving away to family, friends and neighbors. Our pantry is full of the fruits of our labors, and the season of plenty isn't over yet! There's always more work to do in the garden and in life. Thank you for coming with me on this path.
Harvest is a time to recognize and enjoy how much we've grown. And believe me, we have had abundant growth this year. It's been fun. Well, not all of it. But I love it more each day. To really enjoy the fruits of life, we must lean in closer and look more deeply. Finding the fruits requires us to get down on our hands and knees and get a little dirty, a little itchy, a little... uncomfortable.
The book by buddhist nun Pema Chodron has been calling out to me from the shelf of my local bookstore for nearly a year. Yesterday I finally brought it home and started reading. Chodron reminds us that the courage to look honestly at our selves and to change is available to us in the worst of times. It is when we are humiliated, pissed off, jealous and hurt, that we have the opportunity to discover that all is not lost. We feel as if our bottom is dropping out, until we hit bottom. Then we sense the groundlessness of our beliefs, ideals, attitudes--everything that failed us. Only then do we begin to feel there is something still there, holding us up, cradling us, letting us know that we are okay.
That something is the very ground of our being. It's always there, and yet, we don't know it until we have the courage to lean closer into our wounds and fears and experience them as part of us. Not something to get rid of. Why would we? Aren't these wounds part of what makes us the individuals that we are? Aren't they what eventually leads us to discover our ripest, juiciest fruit?
Indeed, we may never overcome our deepest wounds. But we can become closer to our true nature, our ground of being, by digging deep and getting dirty.
Happy harvest,
Jessica
