“There is so much Everything, that Nothing is hidden quite nicely”  ~ Wislawa Szymborska

I spent the first 3 weeks of January in silence on a meditation retreat and this quote was shared in a talk I listened to on the first day.  As my nervous system slowly began unwinding from all the ‘doing’ of normal daily life, I kept reflecting on and feeling the touch of these words.

There is SO much everything.

And it was truly incredible how much was experienced in the “nothing” of my retreat.

I was tucked away in a wee cottage in the mountains of Maui and one day, after looking out at the expansive view, I was walking in some grass and just missed stepping on a ladybug.  I paused and bent over to watch as it climbed up one side of a blade of grass, only to reach the tip and return down the other side.  It was busy at its work and immersed in what, from the lady bug’s perspective, would have seemed like a dense impenetrable forest.

 

I looked up again at the vast panoramic view and marvelled at how often we are in “lady bug mode”.

How just a slight shift in perspective changes everything.

 This has been one of the many gifts I have returned home with from my retreat time, the understanding and seeing that spaciousness in the mind and openness in the heart are truly available in any moment.  Regardless of the internal or external conditions of our lives, there is always the possibility of widening our view.

A simple practice you might try when you recognize you’re being a ladybug and caught in the density of thinking or ruminating, worry or anxiety, is to practice “yes and…” meditation.  This is when we acknowledge what is here, we turn towards it actually, softening and accepting that it is like this right now…that’s the yes part.  The next step is the “and”, which opens us to exploring what else is also here.  Sounds, body sensations, seeing…like how I lifted my gaze from the grass and became aware of an entirely different horizon.

Life will keep life-ing and there will always be ladybug moments but the wider horizon is also true.  And it is always here and available as a deep resource for wellbeing.