My sister sent me an email with a link to information about the warning signs of heart attack/stroke. It was a caring and thoughtful gesture. I considered following the link, but chose the delete button. I'd prefer for Death to surprise me. Then, I let the dog out into the backyard.
When he came in, he gifted me with a frozen turd. Maybe he discovered it today in the melting snow. I'm sure he felt disappointed finding it rock hard and impossible to eat. On the other hand, I was pleased to avoid his post-turd vomit session. I headed out the back door with a plastic bag to search for the source.
And I landed on my butt.
It was a legs-in-the-air, flailing slip from the icy stoop down to the second step. I think my arm slammed down on the dog's tail, but he didn't hold it against me. My first thought... Well, my first thought was OW! So, my second thought was Wow! I could have died right here and now, falling down my steps. Thank goodness I didn't spend much time this morning worrying about my heart. I soon felt an urgent need to get up. To move. To go forward from the experience. I pulled myself together and headed into the yard looking for the poop pile. Never found poop. Instead, I walked a couple of laps to ease the ache in my left butt-cheek (I believe that's the anatomically correct term) and found some good ideas.
What I found on my mindful walk was an understanding of life as a flowing stream where I ride the twisting, turning current. I don't want to see my experiences in this flow as bad or worrisome. A stream flows onward in spite of branches and boulders. I want to see myself continuing to learn and loving my progress as I'm carried forward. There's no point fighting the flow. It's a power bigger than the universe. I think it links all of everything in a perfect plan of action.
I wondered how much perfection of the big picture I could recognize. I made a cup of tea and thought. My dog always poops during neighborhood walks. On Saturday guests delayed his evening walk. He probably pooped in the backyard. How perfect that it snowed and froze the poop. How perfect that he found it this morning in 27 degrees and not this afternoon in 50 degrees.
I thought some more while I made a batch of granola. How perfect that I could chop a handful of almonds left in the fridge to fill in the amount of slivered almonds I lacked. How perfect that I had the exact measurement of brown sugar remaining in the cannister. How perfect that my music video ended in time for me to hear the oven buzzer.
Noticing perfections that manifested this morning reinforced my trust that everything represents perfection in some way. There are folks who might have said the fall, the poop present, and the almond shortage were bad. Last night, I removed ice from the stoop thinking it would be safe this morning. Am I able to explain why I fell on my left butt-cheek? Not really. Maybe I needed a free adjustment to counterbalance a fall on my right hip a month ago. Maybe the fall established a condition necessary to some future unfolding of good. It is easy to accept the neat little coincidences in life. It is more challenging to grasp the idea that life is consistently good. That every moment of the day coincides with a perfect plan of unfolding goodness, even if a moment is a painful "bummer."
I finished drinking tea from my Kar-ma cup. Karma--a Sanskrit word meaning "action." In Yoga, the broadest sense of karma is that it is action that leads to more action. I appreciated that my morning was filled with so much interesting action leading to more action. So much evidence of a continuity in goodness and life. I thought, after 10 years, this blog is still here and I am, too. I'll write something.
Now, I wonder what this action will lead to. Where is your karma leading you in life?
