“…is to enjoy every moment.”

I just found out that Robin Williams is dead and most likely committed suicide.

And this is the quote on my Yogi Tea bag…which I looked down and read moments after reading the sad news.

And I paused.  I remember more than anything the joy that oozed from Robin…it was infectious and real.  And I recognized in him what I recognize in myself, what I recognize in so many, which is this balance.  And for every over the top performance, I saw the drama, the intensity of another flavor to balance it out.  I know that when a light burns that brightly there is danger of it burning out quicker than the others.

And sometimes it takes a large personality, and high profile death to make you think about things from a slightly different angle, but today something seems all to clear.

You can’t go up without coming down.  You just can’t.  Not yet anyway.  And the bigger you are, if you don’t have a small space to come back to, a space that is the opposite of all that grandeur.  A quiet place different from all the noise.  A sacred place different from the very public one…you can’t be ok.  And that includes a space within your self.  For as much as you are recognized by others, you have to recognize yourself as well.

And when you are great at something, and recognized for that greatness…even on a small scale…there is a pressure to always be that thing.

To always be the healer.  The mom.  The teacher.  The business person.  The comedian.  Creative.

But it’s impossible.  There in an inhale and exhale.  There is an up and a down.  There is an outside and an inside.  There is yin and yang.

And in that balance there is a peace.  Wholeness.

We are also our shadow.  We are also that thing we are running from.  We are also the exhale from that long inhale we have been holding.  And the sooner we can relax into that part of ourselves, the sooner we can agree with Yogi and his tea.

“The purpose of Life is to enjoy every moment.”

Even the ones we don’t want.  Even the ones that pull us out the perfect form we think we are supposed to be.  Even the ones that can make us feel bad about ourselves.  Even the ones we think people don’t want to see or know about us.

When we step out of the facebook version of ourselves and into the multi-dimensional beings that we are we can look at ourselves in the full sun, cellulite and all, and smile at how amazing the heat feels on our skin.  And then, well then, we are truly getting somewhere.

So today, since this is in my face and I’m putting it in yours…I’m going to see where the shadow guides me…and not try to infuse it with light, but sit with it and simply enjoy every moment.  Because we are alive, right now, on this beautiful planet…and I don’t know about you, but for me…that is enough of a reason.

Today I will think not just about the big beautiful spirit of Robin, but be supremely thankful for the gift of  joy that he spread like wildfire to us all!