Scratch-free

Continuing on the thread of the posts from the last two days, I’m still pondering the perspectives of “No Enemy” and “That Which You Resist Persists.”

I’ve also been reflecting on the beautiful word “ease” and thinking about how I want its essence to infuse my life.

If resistance is essentially a frictional “no” then perhaps its antidote is a welcoming “yes.”

Jessica Dofflemyer ~ all rights reserved

Affirmation to the moment at hand.

I used to hike hidden goat trails with friends in remote valleys.  The paths were narrow and usually overgrown with flora, especially the invasive lantana plant, full of thick thorns.  As we made our way through the underbrush someone developed a mantra “no resistance, no scratches.”  

We found that the more we relaxed into walking through the brush without recoiling or fighting the branches, the more we became almost impermeable to getting scratched.  It was an energetic, almost like Tai Chi, where we became ‘one’ with our surroundings and moved in easy coherence with our environment.

Saying “yes” to the moment doesn’t necessarily mean a passive existence.  I believe we can still shape our moments, like a sailor uses a rudder to steer a boat within the current.

To apply these metaphors to the here-and-now, I’ll tell you that Jeb has now woken from his slumber.  He’s hungry and desiring to share with me the record-breaking animals from his Book of World Records.  It’s time to prepare his lunch and make my bed.  Life calls me away from this writing realm here in the Archives.

I could either cling to the banks or simply go with the forces that are now moving me in new directions.

I know I’ve got my symbolism all overlapped.  Brambly bushes on earthen trails and the watery currents of life’s river.  I won’t resist, just accept that it’s a makeshift morning with little time for writing refinement.  Hopefully, you catch my drift.

I’m thinking ease.  I’m envisioning gentle currents with steady steering.  I’m feeling scratch-free.  I’m saying “yes.”

Exiting the City of Familiar

Maybe it was the talk last night on the 8 limbs of Ashtanga Yoga.  Maybe it’s the fact that I’m leaping into the unknown in multiple areas of my life these days.

For whatever reason, this morning I’m flashing back 10 years ago to my solo sojourn through India and Nepal.

I was twenty-seven with a mini-disc recorder, my camera and a backpack.  I had friends in Delhi but wasn’t sure they’d gotten my email about when I’d be arriving.  I had no itinerary.  No particular destination in mind.  My idea had been to go to India for two months and see what happened.

I remember looking out the window of the plane as we approached the city.  Shacks and tents and railroad tracks came closer and closer into view as we descended.  The realization that our landing was inevitable ran through my body with pulsing electricity.  I would have to disembark.  The chances were slim my friends would be at the airport. I would have to make my way through customs, fumble through a money exchange and find a ride.  There was no turning back.  We were touching down.

To my amazement and surprise, my friends were there to greet me, guiding me to an auto rickshaw and taking me to a place to sleep for the night.  It was wonderful to travel with them for a few days as we made our way out of Delhi and into the foothills of the Himalayas.  Our paths diverged in the hill station of Mussoorie, and I traveled on alone to Rishikesh and eventually into Nepal.

Jessica Dofflemyer ~ all rights reserved

These days, I face fears that don’t require a passport.  No foreign languages or exotic scents.  But it’s unknown territory all the same.

Looking back at these photographs I’m reminded of the courage (with a bit of blissful ignorance) that carried me along an epic adventure.  Through cobra snakes and midnight car rides with strangers, illnesses and pit toilets, there was always some sort of safety net.  Some miracle of circumstance that guided me and provided exactly what was needed in each moment.

Jessica Dofflemyer ~ all rights reserved
Jessica Dofflemyer ~ all rights reserved

We’re all travelers of sorts, and sometimes we book trips to new lands.  When we look outside the window of our plane and see the ground getting closer, we know we’ve reached a destination.  The only way out is through that exit door.  We don’t know what will be discovered in foreign territory.  But it is invigorating to step outside our City of Familiar and take a walk amidst the new.

Here’s to the adventure…

Jessica Dofflemyer ~ all rights reserved
Jessica Dofflemyer ~ all rights reserved
Jessica Dofflemyer ~ all rights reserved
Jessica Dofflemyer ~ all rights reserved