When I was child, one of my favorite holiday movies was Miracle on 34th Street. I haven't seen it since I was kid, but I remember clearly the moment at the end of the film when the daughter insists her mother (radically divorced and independent for the 1940's) pull over because the house she asked Santa for was right there before her eyes for sale. With hesitation, the mother does what her daughter asks and they soon discover that the house is in fact theirs -- a gift from Kris Kringle who they had just defended as being the real Santa Clause, and not mentally insane, in a court of law.
Last week we moved into our new home. It feels to me like I am living that movie and having that miracle. The only small difference is that Kris Kringle didn't give it to us -- we signed a mortgage. Just a wee small difference. But, still, it feels like a gift. It is everything I want it to be and as I sit here on my front porch, still somewhat in shock that we live here, I am also aware that like Kris Kringle in the film, I am not insane after-all.
I kept thinking my wish for quiet, for nature, for a place to sit outside, for a home I felt proud of, was too much to have, too materialistic of a desire. Do I, someone who made humble choices in careers, really get to have something this beautiful? (Yes, I know, there is a lot of juicy psychological material behind this belief system, but I'll spare you that.) Yet, here we are, and I am grappling with receiving this -- it's a good grappling though. I feel affirmed. My longings weren't shallow. Being here feels like it changes everything inside me. Some huge part of me feels like I can rest now. What I thought was maybe a superficial need, was actually something that mattered to my spirit. It was okay to want that. More than okay, it was important. I wasn't ungrateful for what I had before. I didn't feel resentful, as if I deserved better. I wanted a home to be at peace in.
Thich Nhat Hanh's phrase, "I have arrived, I am home" is one that helps me to remember that I can come home to myself and to the present moment anywhere I am. When I return to my breath, to my body and feel myself here, I have arrived. I am home. It is deeply true to me. And, it is also true that my physical home matters. This home is impermanent. I know that. In a blink it could be gone. All my happiness is not in this home. I can enjoy it it, feel grateful for it and let it bring me more happiness as long as it is here. And this is what we are to do with all things -- humans, animals, nature, material things. Savor and delight in, but not attach.
I am also seeing that it wasn't just a miracle that we got here, but a whole bunch of small "miracles" made by seeds planted and watered over the 50 years of my life, the 61 years of Mike's and the infinite years of so many other lives that allowed this to come to be. Our parents and their hard work, all of our ancestors, the seller of this home and the ones before her, our realtor, our lender, our clients, my family, the earth itself -- the list goes on and on. It wasn't by chance that we landed here. What made this possible was no one thing. It took hard work and the countless dreams of many and it took the time it needed to unfold. This is the part that we often struggle with. We can't see how something will come to be and we may even shrug it off as impossible (not for others, but for us). Or, maybe it doesn't land in the time frame that we want it and think it's just not happening in this lifetime. Or, maybe we get caught in some idea, like I did, that true happiness can't be found externally - that I "should" be happy regardless of my house. Well, I am happy regardless of my house. I'm just more at peace, at ease in this setting I now call home.
My mentor, of many years, who seems intrinsically wired for seeing possibility, would almost ignore my negativity around what I wanted. I have a feeling she looks at me now and thinks "of course she's in this house." There was nothing that felt certain about it to me, but what I understand now is that for years, I just kept the dream alive. I would talk about it. I would long for it. I would despair over it. She would encourage me to look at houses anyway...long before the conditions were right. She would encourage me to think outside the box of how we could do it financially to which I would shake my head full of "no's". In this final stretch where the dream actually came to fruition, I did what she had been saying all along. I made the call, sent the email, that changed everything in a week. I don't think it could have happened before now. The conditions weren't ripe, but I do believe that the essential condition of not ignoring my needs and saying what my dream was, even when I said it with hopelessness, was nurturing the seed that grew into this home.
Every December, I offer an intentions workshop. Why? Because we have to know what we want to move toward for it to evolve. It might not play out in the exact form that we had envisioned and it might take years of putting the same thing down until one day, we realize that something has manifested. It's not often a sudden arrival, but an evolving.
What do you want? Is there something that you keep longing for? A relationship, a calmer way of being, less work, more lightness? Whatever it is, I invite you to name it again. Who are you sharing it with? What beliefs are you caught in about it? Name all the assumptions. Ask yourself, "if I got this, what would I feel? How would life feel different?" If it feels different from within, in a beneficial way for you and the beings around you, then it is true. If it is coming from a place of goodness, it is possible. And if you can sense it, it is possible because it is already alive in you which means it's not really an external thing, but an internal lighting that needs a spark. And even when we feel cranky in negativity about how to get it, even then, it is possible.
Listening to our hearts, clear in our intentions, following the path of the Middle Way, the path of mindfulness, remembering our interconnection, we will arrive where we are meant to be. Be kind to yourself and dream. No matter what age you are, what conditions you face, know that you are part of something much larger that is manifesting and you have a say in it.
🌻
Jean
P.S. If you are having trouble with your dreams, it helps to have support. I welcome you to have a private session with me and we can unpack what's there that needs light.