There are times in the journey in life where all seems lost and as much as you seek you cannot find the path. The search can become more frantic and desperate, but what you were searching for eludes you. And you get tired, and wonder what it was all about.
At times the search is like the lost object that sits right in front of your face – the set of keys on the counter that somehow you cannot see, so you embark on a frantic search. The keys are right there, where you left them, behind the bag of groceries you just set down. The bag would be so easy to move, but no you do not look there.
Instead, you search your pockets, your purse, under the pillows on the couch, your dresser, the chair, anywhere, but you cannot find them. Panic sets in, a freeze to your brain, and your hyperventilate, tension increasing, mind a blur, in desperation you open the fridge and check the door, into the freezer and under the peas, the medicine cabinet, behind and in the garbage, anywhere they just might be. You cannot sit still. you cannot go out. Where are they? You pace around, cushions scattered on the floor, drawers unturned, as they sit waiting for you on the counter.
You take a deep breath after a stream of tears – the groceries you say. You pick up the bag and empty its contents, not looking behind – over towards the counter where they are now in plain view. You check the produce, the carton of eggs, almost dropping them on the floor.
The telephone rings. You take the call. Your life is over. You break the date. Flop in front of the TV and mope about your night – the chance for fulfillment you just gave up. You stare blankly at the screen, seeing nothing, all a blur, the voices merge into one another becoming background static, but finally you sleep.
The restlessness, the tossing and turning cease as the channel goes off the air, racing dreams become still, and you become silent within, entering that other zone. That zone where all is clear and you are at peace.
Dawn breaks through the windowpanes and you awake. You stretch the body, take a deep breath and saunter into the kitchen. You glance over to the counter, and see the keys. On the counter in plain sight for all to see. They were there all along. You take them in your hands, a tear drops from your eyes as you wonder just what was it all about, and you smile. And walk outside. And you smile.
What we are searching for is often already there, in front of our faces or within ourselves if we would take a look, if only we could see. Breathe and smile.
