Last night a 5.3 shook the ground beneath us (epicenter near King City about 90 miles south of San Jose) and woke me to heart-pounding attention just before midnight.
Sometimes one needs a good shake to awaken one from unconsciousness.
As a native Californian I've been shaken before, and I expect to be shaken again. Unlike some, however, I cannot just casually shrug and return to life as usual without some time to reflect and respect the awesome forces of nature that will continue to shape Our Home.
We talk about being "grounded" or having a certain steady reliable base upon which to stand, but perhaps we would be wise to consider that nothing truly stays the same. Not you. Not me. Not the Earth.
Yet we can wake up every new day in what seems to us to be the same place. But nothing stays the same. The ground beneath us shifts. With or without our approval. A shift may be slight or it may be catastrophic and reform our world in unexpected ways.
Humans possess endless creativity in the ways in which they respond to change. Some deny it and cling to what was. Some ignore it and carry on as if nothing happened. Some welcome a new or different way of being. I've tried coping with the shifting ground of my life in all those ways and more. And what I've come to know is that I have within me whatever it may take to withstand the terror of my feet going out from under me and to scramble to the next place that is steady.
Until the next earthquake.
Interesting that there was an earthquake because as we were hiking down the mountain and some of the rocks kept sliding out from under foot I couldn't help but think about earth quakes and the ground under you feet moving and how unsettling it all is. Glad you're ok and that reflection wads the result. I love you.
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