The Fool's Day Parade

Yesterday I took a break from my daily tasks and duties and ventured over to the Occidental Fool's Day Parade. I had been hearing about this event for years, but finally was able to attend. For this yogi who has been quietly living the yoga lifestyle ~ lots of practice, meditation, and quiet ~ which especially has deepened over the past three years, through pandemic and more recently the winter storms ~ coming out of my quiet yoga space and arriving into Occidental and into the crowds assembled there was an interesting experience.
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At first I was a bit nervous about being in such a crowd, but that soon shifted into my being in the witness state, which seemed to arise quite spontaneously. Watching the various characters passing in front of me and then moving into the crowd and finding myself surrounded ~ front, sides, and behind, I discovered was not much different from watching all the different characters that show up with their feelings, agendas, and demands that parade through the mind. And not just when I sit down to meditate, but throughout the day with the non-stop thoughts, feelings and senses. Although the characters in the Fool’s parade were having so much more fun than the ones that show up in my mind who tend to be rather serious, demanding, and often warning of some non-existent danger. I continued to move through the parade coming to the front that was being led by the Hubbub Band. Although there was so much “hubbub” happening around me, I continued to experience the witness state and felt a quiet presence within. And then in the midst of the inner quiet, and the lively music, love, joy, and dancing with abandon that was being expressed around me, I found my own body starting to move and groove in the energy that was flowing. A fleeting thought came in or maybe it was an image in which I was watching from way, way out in space, looking down on planet earth, zooming in to this little town, where the people who have landed here for only a very short time are in this very moment experiencing joy and expressing love without limits. I breath in deeply and give profound thanks to be a part of all of this. May we all experience the Fool, the magical child within; the pure impulse that allows the flow of infinite possibilities in each and every moment.