I had a lesson in transience this week…my gorgeous big cat Jasper accidentally knocked a mug tree off the kitchen bench, and gone were a range of mugs, most of them old and sentimentally valuable to me.
Now, young Jasper is not allowed on the kitchen bench, and I was pretty upset at the loss of mugs given my dear friends and family, or collected on trips abroad.
At the same time, I was worried for Jasper, who thankfully had no cut paws or damage, and for the kids who were really upset by the considerable mess on the kitchen floor.
On this occasion, I was pleased to be able to pause for breath, and take a moment to be thankful for the significant amount of pleasure those mugs and the now deformed mug tree had given me over the years. It felt good to honour that, and to let it pass. Rather than dismissing it as ‘just stuff,’ I was able to take a few moments to be sad, and to be annoyed, and to really mind!
It’s crucial that we let feelings run through us, and do not stuff them down or block them. It might seem daft to be upset about a mug tree, or a meeting, or whatever other small thing has occurred, but feelings are messages, they let us know how things are landing with us, and when we let them flow through we can learn the lessons they bring and we are more able to be present and take things as they come.
I’ve had a lovely shopping trip this weekend and bought some new mugs, quite different to the ones I lost, but just what appealed to me here and now. They are not sat precariously on the edge of the bench and Jasper is not pleased at the ferocity of the way he is being chased away if he ventures where cats should not be! It seems I have managed to learn something along the way, which makes me smile. Sometimes it’s in the little things we encounter ourselves in ways we can so clearly see, and we can make changes because the learning is not so intense or painful.
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