Go ahead, shake your snow globe

About two years ago, I drove into my neighborhood to find police cars around my driveway and on the street.  A sense of panic washed over me as I thought of my dogs inside the house.  To my bittersweet delight and horror, it was not my home the police were visiting.  Apparently, something was happening at my neighbors house next door.  The panic rose again as I found out what was going on.

Apparently my neighbor’s roommate had passed away while she was at work, and the police were there to help notify the family and make necessary arrangements.  With mixed emotions, I went inside and started to cry.  I didn’t know this person very well at all, but I felt the palpable pain and tension in the air.

I called my mom and explained what had happened, and asked, “why am I so upset? I barely knew him.”   My mom responded with, “someone shook your globe.”   Perplexed, I asked her what she meant.  She explained that we live in bubbles or ‘snow globes’ and we’re all OK so long as the snow has settled and none of the pieces have come unglued from their foundation.  I giggled at the notion’s simplicity and absolute truth.

Here I was living what I believed to be a ‘drama-free’ existence; protected from disturbance.  The truth is, we’re never really ‘protected.’  We could spend our whole lives changing course and building walls to avoid the very situations that are inevitable for all of us — loss, rejection, pain.  But, we risk closing ourselves off to the positive experiences that shape us too — love, giving, forgiveness, and healing.

I immediately began to take notice of all of the things I tried to protect myself within the confines of my snow globe, as well as what I might be inadvertently keeping myself from experiencing ‘good’ or ‘bad’ (I use the terms in quotes because good and bad don’t really exist.  Experiences and life events just are.)

Little by little I allowed myself to open up and began to notice things for what they are, even the fear that had helped me construct such an elaborate bubble in the first place.    Pushing up against the glass of my snow globe, I began to shake it up myself.

Sure there are experiences in life that aren’t physically pleasant, or may be disturbing, but they exist.  You can try to stay inside of your globe, even reinforce it with lead glass and glue it to a table.   But, something much big than us, than our own world will eventually come along and shake it anyway.  And the delusion is that the more you think you’re protected, the better off you’ll be.  When in reality, the more you think you’re protected, the more surprised you’ll be when you’re shaken.

Shake your globe from the inside out, and let the flakes fall where they may.

Namate.

– Your Charmed Yogi

Related post: Keep your cool amidst chaos

(Photo: Paris Play)