I sat on my front step this morning, writing out all of my woes, certain that if I got them onto the page, my brain would stop spinning and I could sleep better at night.
I listed this experience and that feeling.
This loss and that pain.
The dream with the bear and the one where I decided to dye my hair back to brown.
I was nearing the end of the page when a tiny sparrow hopped across my front patio. I stopped writing to watch him jump into the grass and pluck out a fat moth.
He tore off one wing.
The moth tried to fly away.
He tore off the other wing.
Then he gobbled the moth and flew off.
It was like the proverbial “shot from the master.”
It pulled me from my outpouring.
I concluded my journaling session with this:
Life is short and weird
All of the goings-on in my brain are quite inconsequential
Move on
Be free
Much love,
Stephanie
A shot from the master is a Zen Buddhism concept that refers to being present in the moment. I once heard (or read) a story about a young monk who kept asking his master teacher what meditation to practice. Each day, the young student asked the question —all wrapped up in finding the right one— until one day, the master, upon hearing the question for the umpteenth time, pushed the student out the window of the meditation room and onto the grounds where the master then landed on the student’s chest.
Of course, both were okay. And the student finally understood what it was like to be present in the moment 😉
Life is short, people. Get out of your head and into the present moment!
Stephanie Hrehirchuk - Author 