Now that Jonathan and myself have been officially classified by the Canadian government as ‘transients, people with no fixed address,’ I have been flung into a world where my dependence on the kindness of others is an integral part of my day, starting early in the morning. The kindness of my fellow human beings is no longer a luxury; it is now a necessity.
There have been countless situations in the last week when I have had to ask someone for help, for directions, for information, for guidance, for encouragement, for advice. Everyone has been kind, strangers and friends alike. A woman who was short with me on the phone a few days ago startled me profoundly. I realized that I had come to expect a level of kindness and respect in the world I move in. She called back eight minutes later to apologize, and moved effortlessly into a space of sweet friendliness.
What I have been realizing, now that I no longer have a beautiful home to live in, is that independence is a big illusion. It’s something I cook up in my mind, when I am hiding inside the cocoon of my safe and separate little existence. It has nothing to do with reality. In each moment I am depending on a myriad of beings for my life, for my very existence. And so are you. We live in a vast web of life; we are that web.
It is grace that has given me this opportunity to ask for help again and again, and to do so without a heavy burden of expectation. I want to be surprised by the kindness that comes to me, so that the essential goodness of who we are as human beings can penetrate my heart. Deeply, and without end.
The friends I have left behind in Nelson–their kindness lives in my heart, in my bones, in everything I see. The friends that are yet to come, I feel that love coming towards me, and I prepare myself to enter with grace and humility into another round of this great dance of giving and receiving.
An apple
belongs to itself, to stem and tree, to air
that claims it, then ground. Connections
balance, each motion changes another. Precarious,
hanging together, we don’t know what our lives
support, and we touch in the least shift of breathing.
Each holy thing is borrowed. Everything depends.
Jeanne Lohmann, Shaking the Tree
with love,
Shayla
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Beautiful, Shayla. Miss you!
Good Morning Sheila. I have faith in our universe that your goodness to everyone you meet, will be returned to you ten-fold. I wish you well on your new path! Thank you so very much for your wise thoughts and comments. You have helped more people than you are probably aware of! Wishing you good health, happiness and contentment on your new adventure. Hugs! xoxo
Hi Shayla
I can so relate to what you are experiencing. I have been homeless for the last 3 years.
It is not all that I had imagined it to be. Sometimes it is so very hard. Like I am in another world.
It has been quite an experience….Something that hardly anyone can really understand unless you are homeless or have been at some time in your life…….
I have been living in India for 6 months out of the year and 6 months back here in Canada.
It’s interesting that in India most of the time it is quite enjoyable. It’s when I come back to Canada during the Summer that it is the most difficult……
Where are you at right now?
Would love to connect up sometime and have a good chat.
Lots of Love & Blessings
Your friend Josephine
Hi Shayla
I can so relate to what you are experiencing. I have been homeless for the last 3 years.
It is not all that I had imagined it to be. Sometimes it is so very hard. Like I am in another world.
It has been quite an experience….Something that hardly anyone can really understand unless you are homeless or have been at some time in your life…….
I have been living in India for 6 months out of the year and 6 months back here in Canada.
It’s interesting that in India most of the time it is quite enjoyable. It’s when I come back to Canada during the Summer that it is the most difficult……
Where are you at right now?
Would love to connect up sometime and have a good chat.
Lots of Love & Blessings
Your friend Josephine
Shaylala…blessings on your house hunting and so nice to hear your heart song again..
I’m with you Shayla…happy to hear news from you in your current adventure. I trust your new home is out there waiting for you in the web…when the time is perfect.