October 5, 2008 - Choices, Poor Wretch, Choices!

So I can officially recommend berry picking in the mountains as a cure to gut wrenching angst. Mostly because it leads to berry pie later in the day!!!!

Steve and I had a good conversation Saturday morning on our way to the berry farm. Just for the record, I am not a fan of my own words coming back out of my spouse's mouth but in this case it was for the best. Anyway, he made the point that Alex would not want us to be hating the season of his birth, or the colors of his joy and spirit. So it is our duty to him to overcome our sadness and grief and live this life as we would with him, since he really is still "with us".

So I felt Alex's beauty while surrounded by the berry bushes under the clear blue skies with the wondrous mountains in the background and Zoe running around in pure joy of the simple life.

I can't say that all is well yet. But I am trying very hard to make better choices. One choice I have made is to re-read Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love". Last night I rediscovered this passage and want to share it with you. I believe it is a direct response to my prior post.

"The Yogis, however, say that human discontentment is a simple case of mistaken identity. We're miserable because we think that we are mere individuals, alone with our fears and flaws and resentments and mortality. We wrongly believe that our limited little egos constitute our whole entire nature. We have failed to recognize our deeper divine character. We don't realize that, somewhere within us all, there does exist a supreme Self who is eternally at peace. That supreme Self is our true identity, universal and divine. Before you realize this truth, say the Yogis, you will always be in despair a notion nicely expressed in this exasperated line from the Greek stoic philosopher Epictetus: "You bear God within you, poor wretch, and know it not."

I think I will end on that note.

Have a wonderful day!

G