Pope’s Sydney Visit
July 21, 2008World Youth Day has Sydney buzzing. The atmosphere literally puts a smile on your face. Our first encounter was in Central Station at 9pm on Friday night, where young people walked through the hallways (with less luggage than Lyndon & I!) chanting and singing. I could hear them before I could see them, although the only words I could make out was “Go Jesus Go!” I was entranced, and disappointed that I had no-one to share the moment with. Lyndon was away getting train tickets and my camera was packed somewhere in the depths of someone’s suitcase.
World youth day pilgrimage viewed from the train.
Arriving in Sydney after a 6 hour train trip I’d felt too tired to talk to anyone, but I came to life, energised by their passion and wanting to run after them to engage them in conversation – however I was loaded down with too much baggage to capture the moment.
Hmmm… Ever found yourself missing opportunities because of the baggage you drag around? Since I think about thinking quite a bit, it leads me to consider the way we can miss ideas and creativity that is sitting there in the brain, because the brain is cluttered with baggage that could be described as the everyday busyness, the detail of doing and just thinking of everything that needs doing.
Just like we can organise our suitcases to travel lighter, we can go into the day lighter, organised and knowing our plan. We can live freely and lightly by noticing what we’re carrying and dumping whatever’s not useful. Are you carrying around grudges – that’s a massive suitcase on it’s own! Take a moment to think about your thinking and see if you can clear anything to access your creativity and intuition more readily. It’s a choice, moment by moment.
Cheering you on,
Kerrie
Young people know their limitations and contradictions, but when they come to listen during their holidays to an old man of 81 years that probably has not a special charisma, but they are persuaded by his insight, rigor and clarity. And young people want answers. So they are delighted that someone intends to improve them, someone who makes them want to be better people.
Regards
Santiago Chiva (Granada, Spain)
http://opinionciudadano.blogspot.com/
Wow!!! Now there is an analogy if ever i heard one… you are so right Kez. It’s amazing how hard it is to let go and how trained we are to not do so… life, beliefs, events and emotions fill up our hearts and minds so that there’s no space for the new stuff and we walk around with a heaviness… until eventually we have so much packed that moving, growing and travelling in any sense is just too much of a mission:)
So, what can we all do to get lighter????
Ever notice how children fall over, then look around to see if anyone noticed? If there’s someone watching, they’ll fall apart, tears everywhere, but if it looks like no-one saw it, they just get up and play again. Children can easily let things go.
We still have that ability, but we’ve developed habits of hanging on, wanting to blame or seek justification or revenge. What if we take that same moment of choice that was there as a child, and use it to choose to let go – and keep playing freely and lightly?