On this summer solstice, I am bathing in the stillness of in-between. After months of edits and polishing, my soon-to-be-released book, Voyage of the Templar Guardians, has been passed to the design team at Lulu Publishing, for an interval of rest on my part. I am also coming off of a series of several family life passages that have placed me in ‘all hands on deck’ mode, which has also resulted in less travel which feeds my soul.
But at this moment, I am now sitting in a place of calm in Sedona, Arizona. My view across the valley to Munds Mountain never fails to take my breath away. The majesty of the rock formations serves as an instant meditation on the goodness of Nature and the Creator. Chipmonks skitter across the patio in mysterious dances, while ravens ride the wind, sometimes calling to one another across the valley.
A strong breeze wisps through one window and out another, keeping the house cool on this late June day, fresh air cleansing every corner with its vitality…and yet there is stillness in that stream. The ebb and flow of life brings constant change. I am, in the words of Amanda Pua Walsh, learning to poise myself for the next round of challenges instead of bracing myself for them. NO MORE waiting for the other shoe to drop. I now know that I am in the flow and happy to feel the slowing , even if for a few short hours.
Sedona has a way providing space for listening and cutting through the noisy static of work-a-day life, whether it be a need to rest or standing at a crossroad. But today, I am writing about the experience of sitting in the ‘eye-of-the-storm’ and luxuriating in a suspension of activity what is part of just being. The scent of juniper, piñon and sage intermingles with the pot roast slowing cooking for dinner.
In this moment, I am a human ‘being’ instead of a human ‘doing.’ I am enough by merely being. In this moment, I can see past the barrage of technology infiltrating life, dividing it into nanoseconds. I cannot speak for the future, but in this moment, I accept the challenging segments of human existence as part of cycles spiraling though the same celestial trajectory as mother earth and our solar system barreling through space within our galaxy.
And while my thoughts are anything but linear in this blog post, I feel most at home in the quantum, where thoughts coexist alongside the 3D world. In linear existence, the present moment is a step stone to the future; in quantum, the present moment is all there is. .. at least in this in-between place…Here my feelings can be as real as the mountain across the valley and my past challenges can recede into a more comfortable place in memory because they no longer hold sway over my psyche. I can accept what has happened and release it.
In this in-between place, life becomes more gentle. Here I can savor the abundance surrounding me without jumping ahead to the next round of book edits or home repairs. So, I will sign off for now and listen to the story the cicadas are singing to the summer wind.
L.S. Berthelsen 