I was six
years old. The sun was setting in an orange-y glow on a summer afternoon.
My father
was teaching me how to shell sunflower seeds as we sat on the driveway, after
he taught me what an 11/16 socket wrench was, to change oil on the family car.
In this
moment, he did 180 degree turn from our day, as he began talking about life.
He told me
that life is a series of both slices and shelled moments.
Some days we
would peel away the shell of what we believed we were protecting ourselves from,
‘out there’ in the world. Other days, we
would step into life’s own ‘slices of life,’ or what he referred to as vignettes.
Throughout
our journey we would have them – thousands of them. As I write this, I see that he was taking in
that driveway scene with the sun, the sunflower seeds, planting them in my head
as he removed his own shell, to reveal to me a vignette within said vignette
and that itself was its own slice of life.
While he
would die just 20 years later from that day, the seeds he planted
remained. Every time reflection takes
place, my mind’s eye sees vignettes, slices of life and sunflower seeds
sprinkled all through it.
These
thousands of vignettes are ours to cherish, learn from, behold, or do with as
we please, but the most important thing is to learn what we can from them as
they do add up to creating our perception, our choices and what we see as our
own life unfolding.
It is here
we can LINK to what matters as we break apart our wishes, our dreams, our
goals, our time, our energy, and SEE THE TRUTH of our daily grind.
This place where you may want to ask yourself the following:
- · Where am I finding awareness within said vignette?
- · Who am I as a result of what I learned?
- · What slice of life most defined my growth and awareness?
- · Which seed was planted within me that is still part of my value system?
- · When do I reflect most on these vignettes? ----(i.e. needing motivation, inspiration, clarity?)
- · What vignette have I chosen to define my actions and future actions?
- · Why are certain slices/seeds more significant to my evolution?
- · Where will I take this next?
As you take
a moment to dive into these questions as you begin your brand new week, create
a new habit of reflection for every ‘slice of life’ you have experienced to
dissect the above list of questions.
You will
find your greatest insight and awareness growing, expanding, and broadening
your perspective on your life’s journey.
In this ‘space’
you may find hidden gems of wisdom that are unique to your pathway that can
assist you with defining what matters to you in a way that you may not have
thoroughly explored for how you want to take on life next.
My father
believed in finding wisdom in everything – even what may appear to be a silly
or stupid event, because he said that sometimes humans focus so much on what
appears to be, they miss what something is really all about unless hindsight
kicks in to show what something was really all about for the bigger picture.
So Lovely
Souls, I will leave you with that to shell, plant, peel, slice and dice however
you wish in how it applies to you, with the hope you find something that you
didn’t know was there to take into your next steps.
Blessings
and light to you.
Namaste.
