True Peace And Joy Is Within...
Anadi and I have been to the seaside for the day...
We went swimming in the very warm Mediterranean, skipping over 'too hot stones' that burnt our feet, splashing into the deep turquoise blue, feeling its healing embrace, diving down, 'let's swim to the buoy' - Anadi's idea... It was further away that it looked. We arrived a bit breathless, and then turned for the shore again... Onto the hot hot stones, feeling them on our back, almost too hot to bare...
I wanted to swim some more, so I left Anadi soaking up the suns rays and diving into the sea again, stroke after stroke, a Mediterranean meditation on the move....
And I noticed that being by the sea, instead of in our village, that I felt much better, all traces of the mountain lurgy vanished... 'I can feel a rising wellbeing in my body' I said to Anadi as we sat in the shade of a parasol eating Spanish omelette with salad and bread, drinking cold beer (shandy for me!)
When I am in the mountains I am managing this 'allergy to something there' with antihistamines quite well, and eating honey in a quest for my body to adapt...
A few days ago I noticed that feeling unwell reminds me that there is a part of me that can be okay whatever is going on, on the outer levels... I have an understanding that true stillness is to know myself so deeply, that I am not dependent on anything outside myself to 'make me happy', whether that be running in glorious mountain scenery, or lovely food, or Anadi himself or anything at all, even feeling a hundred percent well...
My 'journey' is to know that true peace and joy lies within me, not outside me.
This doesn't mean not fully appreciating all there is to appreciate in being on a human journey; but not to be dependent on anything...
To let go of everything, so that all that remains is the space within that is truth, love, freedom - the truth of who we are...
Yesterday when we were in Orgiva, I noticed the book the woman at the next table was reading 'True Refuge', and decided to buy it there and then for my kindle with one click!
I opened it yesterday evening and these are the words the author Tara Brach writes in her introduction...
'i was aware of a single longing. '"Please, please, may I find a way to peace, may I love life no matter what". This book (True Refuge) came out of my own search for a place of peace , connectedness and inner freedom, even in the face of life's greatest challenges. I call this place "true refuge" because it does not depend on anything outside ourselves.'
The words written echoed the words I spoke to Anadi only a few days ago...