Sunday at Molly’s

 It’s Sunday afternoon in mid-November.  I’m enjoying people watching at my favorite local sidewalk cafe in Upland, Molly’s Souper.  Molly, the previous owner (she just sold the restaurant right before COVID) whom I’ve always found delightful, is also tuning in to Eckhart Tolle.  

Tuesdays with Eckhart Tolle’s Being the Light webinar have been sweet and uplifting.  Life is busy, but I’m carving out more time for being creative and also for being present.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be fully, spiritually conscious at all times? And yet, I’m not.  But I find that I catch myself more quickly when I slip into judgmental unconsciousness or being closed.  I’m also fully accepting of this fact that life is messy, relationships are messy, and we don’t have to be perfect.  Well, let’s face it: we absolutely cannot be perfect.  But we’ve never been called to perfection.  We have been called to live in peace, to be peace, to walk in light and to be light.  

So on this precious Sunday afternoon at my favorite hangout, I’m soaking in the dappled sunlight, glimpses of a sweet puppy at the next table over (only 10 weeks old), street noises, hushed conversations, loud motorcycles, people walking in the soft sunshine, and the gentle strength of several ancient trees lining the streets.  

Life is sweet when we allow ourselves to be open to the universe, to whatever is, to this moment.  When we turn off the thoughts about yesterday or tomorrow, when we stop listening to fear and judgment, we find that love is there.  It is in us.  It is all around us.  Love flows from us, through us, into us.  

Fear leads to anger, hatred, judgment, and so many other negative emotions and actions.  It keeps us closed. 

But “perfect love casts out all fear.”  Fear cannot stand in the presence of real love, unconditional love.  We experience that kind of love when we see that we are part of the great cosmic dance, not separate from it, from God, or from “others”.  We are interconnected.  That is how we can love our neighbors, our planet, other creatures, other people, and our enemies as ourselves...because we recognize that “they” are “us”.  We are part of the whole.  

Now, I’m headed home to be with family.  I hope I can remember this and hang on to inner peace....