The Thing That Could Be Anything

When my oldest daughter was about 4 she came home from school one day, proudly bearing her art project. It was a white plastic ring, like a costume jewelry bracelet, with a strip of aqua-white iridescent cellophane tied onto it. In response to my asking what it was, Lucy said, "It can be anything you want it to be." And so it remained. The thing that can be anything you want it to be has never actually become anything else for Lucy, was never used in any imaginative play, and I've wondered if it was her own expression of the limitlessness of being, the expansive possibilities present within life here.

I know that for myself I have needed reminders of abundance, especially when faced with messages of boundaries and containment. As a child, my bike was one of my keys to freedom, because I could go places, go fast, go far, go away...The library was another place I was free to explore horizon upon horizon without restriction. I could get as many books as I wanted! And on hikes with my family, I felt myself expanding, relaxing into a greater ease of being, if only for a short time.

My healing journey has to a great degree been a recovery of the space and possibility of being, of MY being, right here, right now. I have learned that I can actually call myself creative, instead of half-denying it by saying, "Oh, I just like to create." The art supplies that I have slowly gathered over the years have been moved to a convenient place, a visible reminder to myself that I have the potential to create. The art supplies have, in turn, slowly gathered dust, but they do remind me of what I could do, and I sense that they and I are waiting for the moment when potential becomes manifest.

Many accumulated limitations have been slowly melting away. I can actually acknowledge that I am a deeply feeling person, rather than try to push it away and consider it a flaw impeding me from the more desirable traits of rational and logical. I can remove conclusions about what I may or may not try, achieve, do, become. I've done a lot of cross-country skiing this winter, and I was surprised to discover that the reason I was having so much trouble with hills was that I was saying to myself, "I can't," and then I couldn't feel my feet or legs and the information they were giving me. On one hill in particular, I noticed the exact moment when "I can't" slid across my brain, and a split second later I was on the ground. I immediately got up, climbed back up the hill and told myself, "If I fall, I will fall, but in the meantime I will pay attention and respond to exactly what is going on in each moment." I made it down the hill with a tremendous feeling of empowerment. I thought, there's no reason I couldn't get out there and explore any of my "I'll never do's," like snowboarding or downhill skiing. ..I could even parachute from a plane! Well, that last one's a little up in the air, so to speak, but you never know...I just might! Why limit myself with unnecessary conclusions?

I recently asked Mother Mary at a channeling if we couldn't just shortcut through all this "unfolding in due time" and jump right into massive manifestation because I’m bursting with impatience. She didn't give me the shortcut. But in the past several days, I've been feeling as if I blinked and opened my eyes into a new reality. Suddenly the spark and sparkle of my soul have bubbled to the surface of my life. The container is fading, drudgery and effort are passing, and the truth that I had almost forgotten about myself has become clear.

I am here to play endlessly in life’s vast playground, and of all the things I could choose to do, I would choose to simply play. I would laugh and sing and dance, bounce, and twirl, sparkle and spin. I would throw open my arms and gather all that is into my heart. I would look into the eyes of a child and share a moment of wonderment. I would creep into the quiet places and listen to the music there. I would run with exuberance and collapse in the grass and find castles and kingdoms in the clouds. I would explore and experiment, learn and love, move move move with lightness and life. I would flit here and float there, sprinkling bits of joy, gathering sparks of love, weaving all that I encounter into glorious tapestries, and all the while I would smile with delight as the Earth Mother’s laughter bubbles through me.

As I let go of all the old limitations, I have the feeling that I could do anything, that I am the thing that can be anything. I am pure possibility.