How has your week been?During this quarantine with the jet lag of a ten hour time difference, there seems an overtone of having no time yet only time. A pregnant sense of hurry up and wait. The no time component is influenced by what will be provided by the body’s energy bank. No matter what we hope to do with our time, when the tank is empty, it’s empty. Fourteen days of isolation when you just want to sleep feels like forever.
The hurry up and wait syndrome I’m very familiar with. After a brush with death as a child. Even at the age of ten, I felt that my life was spared in exchange for a mission. A mission that seemed urgent and timely was all I knew. The details were for me to discover. I had no idea and there was no roadmap. Indeed, it still feels a bit like the search for the holy grail. Now fifty years later, I’ve come to accept the mission was to know my purpose in this life. Knowing one's purpose amidst an overhanging feeling of urgency on this ever-changing planet remains a challenge. Direction and messages are so subtle that one can only tune in to the next clue or direction when there is stillness. Hence the dilemma of hurry up and wait. In the meantime, I am listening attentively to the silence between the thunder claps. Life is a miracle and a mystery.
I must say that during this quarantine I am getting better at exercising self kindness and am dropping the judgement more. When wide awake at 2am, I’ve been creating a moment of gratitude, then turn on a light and read. For one hour, two hours or I might simply get up. Even though I’d rather be sleeping I’ll remind myself of a Buddhist expression that always lightens me up. “Right now G, it’s like this.” I remember from previous years how jet lag would destroy a sleep pattern. Staying awake at night and being tired all day, I’d get really frustrated. I’d use various tricks to get back to sleep but rarely would they work in this context.
So the take away from this challenging and blessed time of solitude is to gentle up, send copious amounts of love and compassion out in the world to the endless suffering and count one’s blessings. . ;-))
Now what I really want to share is the journey of the great X that I am gleeful to be able to introduce. These rings we created in India with a couple of goldsmiths. It was a project that was in my head from the early days of lock down. It was inspired from this time when the world stood still and the only certainty was uncertainty. Once there was movement again, I spoke to the occasional jeweller but it wasn't aligning. I guess what I wanted it to signify hadn't quite gestated in my head. Once I met Sunil and his jewellers, my details were crystal clear and they nailed it with me.
These rings are simple for complicated times. They are elegant to counterbalance the grossness that evolves from fear in complicated times. They are delicate to remind us to gentle up on ourselves. The X reminds us that this present moment is the one we have to work with. X marks your signature that you have shown up, with your highest intention, integrity and purpose. X reminds us that there are always enough conditions in the world to support our joy. And X also says enough or no to what pushes us into what we cannot support.
This ring was created as a gentle nudge to be wide awake and fully present to all there is. Knowing that there is so much more within us than in the external world, when the two meet, it's electric.
During this quarantine I had fun photographing it with what was available in the back yard and writing it's intention. The significance of X is vast. There is more writing and details on the X on our site. Love to hear your thoughts. visit https://www.mindfulnecessities.com/collections/x.
