Present to the Presence

For Dia de los Muertos we sat enfolded in profound silence.  Pictures of friends and family who have died filled the alter reminding us that there really is a very thin veil between us.  As we sat in silent contemplation, there was no separation but rather a sense of being at a banquet table of communion.  No words were exchanged.  The experience of deep and wide transcendence of this moment opened each of us to the eternal moment of oneness.  What peace and joy filled the room and even the cats knew something was new or at least different.

This was an encounter we would love to hold.  But like all sacred moments, we are invited to live it more fully in our daily lives.  How do we keep centered in the weeks that lie ahead?  How do we remain balanced when so much about the holidays creates a tension between choices that are presented to us?  What could this possibly look like?

Questions are the soul’s attempt to make our deep desires conscious.  We want to celebrate these beautiful days of autumn with joy and gratitude.  We want to share the holidays with people we love.  And we want to remain peaceful and calm in the midst of all these holidays hold.

Dia de los Muertos taught me something this year.  To make room within the fullness of life for contemplation is essential to life.  To sit in silence with others intensifies the quality of being present to the Presence (we are not alone, but rather with the Alone).

I am reminded of the quote from John O’Donohue that we have been pondering all year:  ‘I want to live my life like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding’   I am carried by the Love that is the flow of my life.  To be aware of this Love and flow is my soul’s intention.  And like the ripple of a river, I sense my soul skip with delight as I journey into November and all the moments of gratitude that fill this month.