Saturday 9th February 2008 - My Life as a Fruit Salad Plate

DISCLAIMER - This blog is a bit of a personal sharing experience so thought that I would let you know that up front. You can either turn away, change the channel or read on. I hope that it resonates with you as a way to show that evolution of your personal self is possible through insight experienced by someone else.

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Strap yourself in, here we go :-

I have found that when I do PowerYoga that this form of exercise or activity tends to force me to try to "stop thinking" while I am sweating, and in doing that I try to actually do what the teacher advises and focus on my breathing. Breathe in / Breathe out.

This is easier said than done for me as those that know me will tell you, that I work at full speed and full on most of the time - it's my nature (or it's my habit). I am trying to learn a more efficient way to be a "fuller person" and this will involve me adopting other patterns to live by and how this Blog came about.

I believe that we could all benefit to evolve and grow and this means different things for different people. For me it will involve changing some aspects of my life that when they have been present have limited who I could be, so in order to do this I must first "recognize the past" and then proceed to change it.

This morning I left my PowerYoga session feeling recharged physically, a little drained mentally (there was some self reflection that I pondered) and definitely hungry. I walked by a fruit shop and decided I felt like some fresh fruit to enrich my soul. I purchased some peaches, apples and oranges and headed to home.

After the cleansing shower (you need one after 1.5 hours in the heated sweatbox that is the PowerYoga room), I then chopped up the fruit and sat on my balcony to just go over the last week and review my next one. The last week had been productive but slower than I would have liked and I smiled to myself knowing how impatient I am to get things done and realized that others don't always work by the "Tony Clock".

I looked down at the plate of fruit and realized subconsciously that the fruit had been chopped as follows :
Peach - in two segments
Apples - in four segments
Orange - in eight segments

For some strange "a.d.d." reason this sent my synapses firing (brain electrical storm with thoughts). I then recalled some points that I had been reflecting while doing Yoga - yes I should have been breathing in but we were in "frog pose" and my mind was letting go of "issues" :-)

I mused that the fruit was a direct reflection of parts of my life that I was now trying to evolve through and be the person that I want to be. Now this process isn't always pleasant and isn't always what we want to think we were. It does however reinforce that no one is perfect and that in being more accepting of ourselves and our flaws could allow us to be more accepting of others.

Back to the fruit platter.
The Peach cut in two kind of reflected my 20's in that I may have been firm to touch on the outside but also a little hard on the inside. Trying to find out who I was and not really knowing. I am sure that I was less of the person I am now and to anyone that I upset I apologize.

The Apple cut into four was more a reflection of my 30's in that I was not as hard on the inside but I was pulled in different directions. You can be sweet in parts, not so sweet in others and your core can be "sometimes good" and "sometimes bad". There is a saying I have heard "that one bad apple doesn't spoil the bunch" which could mean that we get to choose our own destiny through out actions. Hope that mine were less damaging to others and more an example to follow.

The Orange broke into eight segments (honestly) and I hope it is more a reflection of my 40's (yes I am over 40), in that I am trying to be more open and working on increasing that aspect of my life. There are more "emotional and spiritual segments" to who I am now and I would like to think I am also trying to be abundent and rich with a sweet aspect to my being. My core is now much softer and in fact is only hardened by the "pips or seeds" that life throws at me.

How I deal with these is up to me and I should remember that when we plant these "pips", they have the opportunity to grow into another organic tree. Much like the life lessons I need to share and learn to benefit who I am.

Life for me now is definitely like that Orange. The outside skin is both a reflection of how we present ourselves and also a form of protection but when you take off that skin to bare yourself it can be delicate and vulnerable. When treated well it will yield sweetness and joy but when bruised it is bitter and nasty. Be brave and shed your skin occassionally.

As a rule maybe we should all try to plant good things in our soul that allow us to grow and spread nourishment and always try to enrich our lives and the lives of those that we love.

Please feel free to respond with your comments !