Minimalism & A Divine Moment with Ducks
Re-reading the title of this post is making me chuckle, but trust me — there is something profound here.
At the beginning of the month, I created a budget, and made a promise to myself to write down everything that I was interested in purchasing and WAITING until the end of the month to buy it (More on that here). This plan came after getting rid of quite a few of my belongings, a process that has been ongoing for the last few months on my journey through this world of minimalism.
Some things I do spend money on are a few spiritual tools that add a lot of value to my life. I’ve fallen in love with Chani Nicholas’ work, and I currently subscribe monthly to her CHANI app. I had spent some time on her free mailing list before making this choice. On her app she publishes a weekly horoscope complete with a detailed astrology reading, guided meditation, and writing prompts for further reflection. Her approach to astrology is very radical self-love and self-acceptance focused, with a sweet mindfulness touch. As well, I also have a subscription to the Insight timer app. This one has tons of meditations and courses by a variety of authors.
Today I listened to my first day of the “Spirituality Through Challenging Times” course offered by Skip Jennings. During this first meditative exercise, I refined what I feel is my purpose — and that is, to heal others. I am also here to learn how to heal myself. The problem that causes me strife is when I mix up these two, usually dwelling about work issues when I should be focused on my own healing.
I am working on finding contentment with myself as I am. I don’t want to completely eliminate my desires. I want to do things because they excite me, because I’m curious about them, instead of working towards some end-achievement. I want to appreciate the beauty right in front of me and re-wire the part of me that wants to shop…searching for fancier and fancier objects that I think will fill some void.
Okay, so where do the ducks come in?
I was out for a walk today with my husband. We recently moved to the north edge of this beautiful park in the city from pretty downtown. My reality has been concrete jungle vibes for six years. Every moment I step out of our new apartment building and smell the earth…see the birds…and the trees, I can’t believe this new life. It still continues to amaze me that we live right beside the most vast green space in Toronto.
We’ve been going for walks quite frequently — my favourite part to walk through the ravine on the West side of the park. In this ravine, the city fades away. I can’t hear the cars. We’ve walked the same path several times but it has not lost its wonder.
Every day the park is a new park because the natural environment changes. Concrete does weather but for the most part it is static. A ravine ecosystem is bustling with life, even in the cold of winter. The birds are chirping away doing their thing, and the ducks…well they’re eating, cleaning themselves, huddling up for warmth, and swimming around at a leisurely pace.
Today I noticed a new duck — a wood duck — had found himself among the mallards. People were stopping to admire him, taking photos.
This was the moment I was overcome with emotion.
In my entire life, I had never lived with such immediate access to nature, that I could appreciate the small changes that happened each day. I immediately felt at one with the earth, not just an admirer, but an integral part of its ever-flowing life force. Noticing this duck made me feel part of something divine. A sense of one-ness.
The feeling was something I also realized in that moment, that you cannot buy with money.
And so, here I was, beginning to learn how to appreciate the miracle right in front of me.
