The shaman motioned for Dehlia to go through the waterfall and, upon doing so, she found herself in a cave filled with warm light. In front of her stood a table made of solid oak, and on it were three round boxes covered with sand colored cloth embossed with roses of all different sizes. The three boxes were nestled one inside another.
Opening them one at a time, she found that the smallest box contained all the memories of her youth - painful and joyful alike. This included the memories of her first marriage and the birth of her two children.
The middle box held the wonderful treasures of those middle years when she made her first journey to the centre of her Being. Among these treasures were the memories of the first man she trusted enough to open her heart to - the man she dared to love whole-heartedly. It also held the disappointments that their human limitations imposed on them from the emotional wounds of their youth. Looking a little further, she saw the enormous grief she felt when he died and the anger she had towards her God who encouraged her to open her heart all the way and then left her mortally wounded.
The largest box was almost empty except for a few rose petals which floated in the space that seemed to go on forever. She recognized these petals as being the ones she found on her most recent journey to her centre. This box was waiting to be filled with the endless possibilities of her future. For now these possibilities were dancing on moonbeams, amongst stars twinkling delicately in delight, waiting to be claimed by her.
When Dehlia asked the shaman who the gift was from, he told her it was from the bag lady that she had shown some kindness to at the homeless shelter. "The gift of your True Self can never be found on your own," he said. "It can only come to you as a gift of gratitude for a kindness you have shown another."
Dehlia remembered the lady he was talking about but didn't remember any act of kindness on her part. In fact, she had almost walked right past the bag lady; she was so preoccupied with feeling sorry for herself and beating herself up for not possessing certain qualities that would make life easier to get through.
Then at the last possible second, she noticed the matronly figure long ago rejected by society and smiled at her as she passed by. She shamefully admitted this to the shaman, worried that he would take this valuable gift away from her.
"That was the gift," he said. "To the invisible, the greatest gift you can give is a look that acknowledges them as a Person. Our Presence is the most valuable gift we have to share with one another."
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4 comments:
Paints with Words. So absolutely true.
Validation. I tell myself in my Alpha male mode that I don't care. I can't be touched. I am above the fray of human emotions.
And then, from Deep inside, I hear, and feel my balancing femine side.........cry.
Whoa......I can't be posting that on My blog. I've an image to uphold!???
G'nite Miss Judy.
Consider yourself Hugged fiercely.
Wollf
Thank you, Wollf. It always feels good to be validated by a friend. Being in touch with the feminine as well as the masculine makes us so much more REAL! And it gets rid of the need for much of the gameplaying that gets in the way between us human beings. And thank you for the hug. As Martha Stewart would say - a hug from a friend is a good thing!
Yup.........helped me sleep more soundly too, ha!
Wollf
'Our presence is the most beautiful gift we can share.' How true and how strange at the same time. I just finished writing about the same thing but on a much smaller scale. This is beautifully done. I enjoyed reading it.
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