This return from Belize was rockier than the last one, and I've been trying to figure out why. It wasn't that I wasn't happy to be back, or to see the family--I missed them terribly. And it wasn't just that I was reluctant to step back into the usual early morning/bus stop/errands/workday/dinner/homework routine/bed too late routine, although that was undeniably a part of it.
I've been back a week now, and here's what I think: that there's something to all the talk about how modern society is incompatible with living a spiritual life. After 10 days in Belize, where the pace is relaxed, the living is simple, the spirit world is an accepted part of daily life, and signs are everywhere and easily recognizable, Los Angeles was a startling transition. On the one hand, I stepped outside the airport with my bags and heard the familiar sounds and felt the inimitable Los Angeles night air and knew I was back home, a comforting feeling. On the other hand, re-entering the noise, the anxiety, the confusion, the chaos, made the window slam shut on all the spiritual openness I'd managed to achieve over the past ten days. Maybe not entirely, but mostly, it felt.
The real challenge for those of us who live ordinary lives in the U.S., I think, is not to find a spiritual connection, but to figure out how to maintain it in the face of all the distractions and responsibilities that clutter our days here. I'm not advocating abandoning those responsibilities, only musing on how to maintain a connection to the Higher Self when so many small moments of the day keep pulling us down to the mundane, lower vibrations that keep the city spinning.
In the meantime, while I'm trying to figure this out, here's a photo of some of the girls in Rosita's workshop in Belize. I'm the third one from the right.
