Buddhaful Blog

By: Tori

Aug 23 2009

Tags: buddhism, collage, philosophy, questions, peace, childhood, memories, wisdom, transformation

Category: Gratitude, Spirituality and Philosophy

1 Comment

Well, hello again.  July and August certainly were a whirlwind-like blur for me.  I don’t want to bore you with details but suffice it to say that these summer months included: a job ending, a successful photo show opening, my yoga teacher graduation, traveling all over SoCal visiting loved ones, and a lot of…well lets just call it de-com-pression.  But I am rejuvenated and feel ready to write, write write! In fact I want to put it in writing that I vow to update this blog at least twice a week from here on out.  So keep checking for lots of new stuff.

But all this free time spent in the company of old places and old friends brings me now to the intended topic for this entry: childlike wonder.

Do you ever revisit a place that was simply awe-inspiring as a child and upon return, you are able to feel those wavelengths of wonder and excitement travel through you once again?  Well , I made it a point while I was in LA to go in search of some of those wavelengths again.  LA is where I grew up and while she and I have certainly had a complicated relationship over the years, I am learning to love her just as she is, in this moment.  And one of my strategies for repairing my relationship with this city is to visit the places I loved the most: the beach, the Getty, and Exposition Park.  When I visit these places I am flooded with memories of a little me, lunch money in hand and an overwhelming curiosity.  In my mind, the beach made me a marine biologist, the Getty made me an artist, and the Natural History museum made me a time-traveler.

Yesterday, I spent most of the afternoon at the Natural History museum.  One thing I love about that place is how little it has changed.  So in a way I was able to time-travel to two different time periods simultaneously: the era of my childhood and the era of each exhibit. The same old African mammals are still there, with their acrylic painted backdrop and stoic expressions, but remember waiting to see if you could catch a wink or a sneeze from one of them as a kid? The same gemstones and minerals are there glittering behind their glass displays.  There was always something magical to me about seeing all those illuminated gems and minerals in that dark room.  The revelation that the earth held such inspiring beauty within a humble rock sent me searching for gems in every rock bed I encountered.  (Was I the only one who did this?)

Walking through that dark gem exhibit hall as the “adult” version of myself, I found myself instantly transformed back to that curious kid.  I began to wonder how alike the elements and atoms in each of these beautiful stones were to the elements and atoms in me.  I thought about how many millions of years it takes the earth to produce each one of these treasures.  (sigh) I’m feeling a metaphor coming on…

In a lot of ways I think what draws me again and again to this exhibit, and what makes it so magical for me is the implications it holds for us as humans.  In Buddhism, we often talk about polishing our Buddha nature. Inside we all possess the most rare and shining gem of compassion and loving kindness, but it takes constant polishing (and sometimes over many lifetimes) to be able to extract that 100% pure sweetness for the world to encounter on a daily basis.  The magic these gems held for me as a child is essentially unchanged.  They continue to remind me that mystery is held inside all things, even the most mundane.  It inspires in me the notion of possibility.  And when I felt that wavelength pass through me again at the Natural History museum, I was renewed.

Earlier in the week I was perusing the Getty Center gift shop with Jenn, my new friend and fellow photographer/yogi extraordinaire when she referred to her practice as “following her bliss”.  I had of course heard this phrase before, but it always rings truer from the mouth of someone living it.  Jenn is a living example of how to live a life “following your bliss”.  She’s humble and creative and passionate about life, or in other words– a pretty well-polished gem.  But whether you call the practice “following your bliss” or “chasing wavelengths” the message is still the same.  I hope you have a life that enables you to have regular, mini-epiphanies (instead of those pesky, life-altering major epiphanies).  Each time I experience one, it only makes me more grateful for my past, and excited about the future.  In constant pursuit of those wavelengths of wonder, the things that break us out of our auto-pilot minds and into the unknown– Where do you find yours?