What Do I Desire?

This morning I watched this...

It's a heavy and deep question.  But after 3 days of working when the rest of the world was off, I knew that today I desired to be outside in the sunshine and do some artwork.  Simple joys.

I'm halfway through Eckert Tolle's The Power of Now and it has really made me aware of how much our minds dictate our emotions and create problems because we are constantly evaluating the past or focusing on the future.

The key is to be merely present in the "now." 

He refers to gap in consciousness as similar to the one that you achieve in meditation, or during a drug high, where you are merely experiencing 'being,' or for an athlete, when you are completely immersed in that present moment.  You are focused only on the 10 feet of road in front of you while riding your bike, on your foot-strike, or the motion of your arms in the pool.  We in fact learn to crave that time of being unattached, or fully conscious; where there are no problems or fear about the future because you are solely aware of the present moment.  And in the present moment, there are no problems.  There is only 'being.'

Today I did a solo ride up and back down Palomares.  Riding alone is so therapeutic, and I could relate to what Tolle was describing.  Descending at 45 mph, I had razor-sharp focus on the road, but was only aware of the feeling of euphoria, the wind blowing past my body, and the lightness I felt on my bike.

Throwing caution to the wind and descending with absolute joy.

I know that one of my deepest desires is to express myself creatively, so I tapped into that today and pulled out oil pastels and chalk.  I used to love doing oil pastels as a kid; creating a rainbow of colors with pastels and using the black pastel to color over all the colors.  You then take a sharp object and draw or write on the black background, uncovering an array of rainbow colors underneath.

Homemade bday card for my dad; replicating the sunrise over
Lake Amador when we went flyfishing.

It's like an oil pastel analogy of us as individuals.  Sometimes you need to scratch the surface a little bit to reveal a rich array of colors and brilliance underneath.

What do you desire?  It's a good question to ask yourself.