it has been awhile…as tends to be the trend in the summer months..energy absorbed outward into the beautiful days of summer in maine. we are soaking up every last bit of it as we gear up for the start of fall…it has been a full summer…lots of sunning, swimming, working, driving, adventuring, and making bubbles.
blowing bubbles, chasing bubbles, popping bubbles, repeat.
as i was looking back over some photos from the summer i was stuck by the metaphor that may be considered in this scenario…especially in light of my current process.
…(entertain me:)…so this bubble (of hope, dream, aspiration, inspiration) is blown out from the safety of the bucket, and if it survives the launch…the direction of the wind or the consistency of the bubble concoction (self-doubt, question, money, time, ect. ect.) we get to chase it (or of course let it be…which may be the more zen option here).
but chasing the bubble is ideally fun, but it does not always feel fun, like when someone (your younger sister for example) pops it before you have brought is into full fruition or before you get to pop it, but again, ideally it is fun…(this tapping into one’s bliss, the fullness of one’s thriving and contribution to the world), and the ride can be exciting and it can feel like everything is lining up beautifully.
and the popping of the bubble, which is not automatically (for our purposes) depressing (images of shattered dreams and the like)…
i witness my children pop the bubbles with so much joy and exileration…a huge reward for all of their efforts….and see them quickly continuing on to blow yet more.
and yet this adult mind may interpret this turn of events as failure, or a lack of clarity when releasing the bubble into the atmosphere…(it must have been unrealistic, not based in reality, i must have been chasing a fantasy). but no, this popping is rather an opportunity to land us again with what is, welcoming me to play with the reality of gravity that we all live in the midst of.
there are lots of things that we all want and this beast of want is relentless and will having us chasing bubbles until we collapse in fantasy and discontent. it is in the popping of the bubbles that we are asked to recon with what is, to land, to root into the earth in which we reside, to make peace with the context we find ourselves in (though not perfect, dreamy, or always thriving). from that place we might dare blow another one, from this earth, from this hope or dream…
the bubble (not to mention that which holds it all together) does not in fact own us anything, and we continue to do the best we can with the resources and capacities we have to send it out the best we can, nurture it, (or play with it, or chase it) and each time is lands back on earth, pick it up, learn from it, refine it, gather our courage (or playfulness), and let it launch again.
