Vacation means to vacate...
1 comment Posted by Sara Wiseman on 04/4/2010 at 3:30pm
I just got back from a spring break. It was a big vacation—a 10-day trip to a Kauai, my partner and two youngest kids in tow, where we would stay in an old-style house just steps from the beach. I've been to Hawaii many times in my life, spending most summers there as a kid while my dad worked for the Hawaiian government (I don't think he was a spy, but you never know about these things). But I hadn't been back for years—and I was surprised how much it affected me.
The idea of vacation—we'll, I'm no Latin scholar, but that word VACATE is in there pretty prominently, I'd say...
So, what did I vacate? Well, after a busy schedule of promoting my book, going to expos, doing readings and so forth, I actually vacated working for almost the whole vacation. (Okay, I did check my iphone). But otherwise, I actually Didn't Work. For those of you who know me well, this is a Big Kahuna of A Deal.
Mostly, what I found during vacation was that my mind... well, it vacated its previous reality..my analytical, intellectual, scheduled, Twittering mind, that is. It's hard to tell if it was the jet lag, the steady pounding of the surf, the tradewinds howling every night, or that combination of heat and humidty that is pure Hawaii magic. Maybe it was the pace (non existent) of the sleepy little town we were in. Maybe it was simply that at the first opportunity for release, my monkey mind vacated—and left a person who spent much of time in pure bliss: tranced out, ocean'd out, sun'd out, shave-ice'd out... All the mystical and sacred spots I'd planned to visit while on this trip slipped away; it was enough, really, to sit on the beach, or walk to town with the raindrops glistening on the tropical ferns, our flipflops squelching in the mud as we made our way.
In this state of Vacat-ion, everything was meditation, bliss, happiness, fun. Monkey mind left the premises. And a full, complete serenity descended upon me; a lifting of consciousness as I allowed myself to be emptied out and refilled, slowly and deliciously, by nature, my family, relaxation, a time for doing No Thing, and the mysticism that is inherent to these islands.
Vacations are great ways to shift priority; to discover what is really important. In vacating schedule, task and to-do, and in basking in the warmth of doing No Thing, priority was clear: What is Divine is Everywhere. There is nothing more important than remembering this in the Every Day, doing the Every Thing.
I took this Lesson back with me.
So, my question to you? When do you get to Vacate your current illusion? When do you get to do No Thing, so you can see clearly what is real and true?
