Coming out of the supermarket today, awareness of warm sunshine
and birds singing vociferously in the trees. Their chatter is vibrant, loud and
attention grabbing. My spirits rise as the warmth of the sun hits me and the
change of timbre in birdsong is unconsciously registered. It is SPRING. Funny
how the words we intuitively use seem to be literally true. It was the feeling of
uplift in my chest, and the sense of expansion that caught my attention. I was
taken aback for a moment. This is so different from the feelings I usually
associate with supermarket shopping
I reflect for a moment on how much I usually dislike the whole
supermarket routine. How much focus, and resistance, there is to “finding a
carpark, as close as possible”, “the
list”, “the specials”, “the size of the checkout queues”, getting in and out as
fast as possible, the drudge of unpacking it all at the other end, and all the
negative thoughts and judgments that go with food gathering in modern style.
Yet how different it can be. Supermarket forays and market
browsing on overseas trips are adventures, when time is not an issue and the
experience is impelled by curiosity and expectation of things new and different. Often lack of local knowledge or language
forces me to seek assistance and suddenly an interesting conversation ensues;
there is laughter, new information, new opportunities arise. This is heart
opening and fun, as opposed to the closed off feeling that resistance and habit
brings to shopping at home, when I am doing everything to make the experience
as brief as possible. All that negativity is the opposite of equanimity, the
goal of yoga. To be sanguine in all situations, without ego. To take each
experience as it comes, without expectation and not loading it with desires and
previous experiences. Ironically, it takes so much effort to be in this negative, resistant mindspace!
All it takes to bring a sense of peace is a change of
attitude. It isn’t so hard. How lucky am I to have the option to drive a few
miles and buy what I need, when I need it. Gratitude, that I live in a country
where I can drive to one place and buy food to feed my family, when for so many
just finding enough food to survive from one day to the next is the only goal.
Next time I will try to shop with more grace.
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