Chop wood, wash clothes, eat cherries – Zen
I was up a tree in Toronto, looking down at my Mothers back yard. “Watch you don’t fall off the ladder.” You are an ass anyway, Chris, Ernie, whatever your name is.” Oh, that the voice of my inner critic. He likes to come around when things look like they might tip. He has a voice like my friend Pedro in Belize. He cusses and spits his words at you. But he loves at the same time. You just have to ignore his bad side, like the rotten part of an overripe fruit.
I didn’t feel like picking cherries today. But the cherries are red ripe. The squirrels and birds are having a hay day, and my mom is nervous we won’t get any. Ha! Ha! Ha! I can almost hear the tree laughing, knowing it has so many cherries to feed the whole neighborhood.
OK. The morning air smells tangy fresh and I am feeling good touching the leaves. I am glad I decided to do it now. It’s like Zen. When you get started anything after a while you just can’t help but start to see and feel something different.
Like my girlfriend’s brother Dane says, “I just gotta get out on the trails Chris, then everything feels OK.”
Books by Christopher Emmanuel can be purchased online at: www.cemmanuel.com or at his Art Gallery at the Sunbreeze Hotel in San Pedro Town.
