There’s a Mayday tree outside my office window. I love that tree. I love watching its sun dappled leaves fluttering in the breeze the way they are right now; I love watching the leaves turn golden in the fall and drop off. It’s pretty barren of course through the winter months but it still has its own beauty. Then of course in the spring, the return of leaves and beautiful white flowers.
We had black knot in the tree last year and my beloved had cut it way back to deal with it but sadly the black knot fungus returned this year even though it seemed to be all gone last fall.
It brings to mind the way old fungal thoughts and beliefs seem to come back even after I’ve ‘pruned’ my thinking. It’s in the environment, collective consciousness, and I don’t live in a vacuum so fungal thoughts tend to reattach themselves whether I like it or not. To be honest they most often aren’t new ideas that attach themselves but old ones that are triggered and resurface to make themselves known again.
That’s why I must constantly be ‘pruning’ my consciousness. Far as I can tell, as long as I’m in a body I will be susceptible to fungal (false) ideas so I have to keep paying attention. The more I can nip the fungus in the bud so to speak, the less likely it is to spread throughout the system which is what happens when I don’t bother dealing with falsehoods as they arise. What starts as an uncomfortable feeling or a habitual criticism or worry thought in the moment can take over my whole mood and attitude and the next thing I know, nothing seems to be working.
This is where mindfulness and meeting whatever arises in consciousness with love comes in. I pay attention in the moment and feel whatever arises as completely as I can then I let it go and surrender. Whenever I do this, I am rewarded with a lightening of the spirit and a new sense of openness to a fresh perspective; that is if I truly surrender and don’t just pay lip service to it. It has taken some practice, but it pays great dividends. That ‘fungus’ has nowhere to grow in me as I focus my attention to the Divine nature of the moment. I am filled with gratitude, and I am better prepared to meet it quickly when it shows up the next time.
Namaste,
ps, don’t you love the downspout my sweetie made on the shed?
