Hello Dear Ones,
This sweet reminder is a little unique.
It’s a love note I wrote to my beloved husband earlier this week. It feels a little personal and vulnerable for me to share with you, but the quality and heart of the moment it speaks to is innate in each of us, just under the surface of protection, fear or self-consciousnesses, where we are undefended, present, open and true.
Like the time I was …
… surprised by an unexpected time-stopping connection with a clerk in the grocery story
… sinking into the deep presence of a homeless man’s twinkling blue eyes
… melting into the captivated gaze of a week-old baby
… present with another during a dance camp, retreat or puja
… meeting the mystery in a dolphin’s eye, during an extraordinary snorkeling moment
… looking into the wisdom of the elephant I fell in love with in Thailand
… tenderly with myself, quiet in a mirror, dropping into my own gaze
Sharing some precious love with you,
Sharon
~*~*~
Dearest Kenneth,
Yesterday afternoon, when you and I were there on FaceBook Live with Deva and Miten and almost 2,500 other beloveds. I imagined each of us as stars in a global constellation gathering to sing and chant our hearts and prayers, connected in love. These Saturday gatherings are like the yummiest tupelo honey.
You and I, a part of that constellation.
And there, on our lanai, You. I. Alone together.
We begin to sing that Sanskrit chant which has woven itself into the fabric of us for over two decades. The Gayatri Mantra.
oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ
The way moments, memories and music intersect, evaporating time and space. It was like that for me; your gaze of presence drawing the idea of me into a spaciousness beyond an idea of you.
oṃ tat savitur vareṇyaṃ
I met the entire universe there in your gaze. I recognized you. Every cell of you, known as my very own self. I meet the gaze that has drawn me in thousands and thousands of times. The familiarity is welcome, like a deep breath of pristine air; yet, right now, it’s also like I’m breathing you in for the very first time. Again.
bhargo devasya dhīmah
The moment, and your gaze, is utterly intimate and beyond separation. In that exquisite intimacy I realized not only am I with the one I know so deeply; simultaneously, I am beholding Mystery. Unfathomable Mystery. It washed over me like a gentle wave, the realization that you are absolutely unknowable to me. Known and unknown in this now moment.
dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt
I know that this paradox is not new to either of us. We’ve chatted about it. I’ve written about it. And in that moment, yesterday, I absolutely knew you, and didn’t know you at all … for the very first time.
This morning I woke up early. Full of gratitude, I gently untangled my body from yours and tiptoed into the living room. As the sun rose, I wrote this for you …
Windows into our souls’ longings
In your gaze I dissolve
Everything and nothing between us
