“Leela and the Lotus”.

I love it! It sounds like the title of the most beautiful story of a little girl who grows up near a pond of lotuses. Whenever she is sad or needs solace she goes to the pond and interacts with the lotus flowers. She speaks to them and they speak to her. Sometimes they are visible, sometimes not, but she can always feel their presence even under the surface. The girl grows up and embarks on her own physical and spiritual journey, leaving the lotus pond as a distant memory securely embedded in her deepest layers of consciousness.

Many years later, as an older woman, the river of life brings her back to her childhood home for old business that needs to be tended to. Painful visions of the past surface and she remembers the pond where she used to go when she needed her own space. She makes her way to the pond and as she sits by it, once again comforted by its beauty, a powerful memory emerges...

She had been particularly upset that day, when she ran to the pond, scraping her tiny legs against all the weed and thorns she couldn’t bother to avoid on her way. Desperately, she tried to find her own reflection in the water. Something to remind her that she was real. That she mattered. But the pond was particularly muddy that day, and despite all her efforts, not a single ripple of her face was found. She started crying, and as her tears dropped and melted into the water, one lotus flower in particular caught her attention. She looked at it while pouring all her heart’s intention into the face of the flower. She wept for a long time, until she finally reached the moment when there was no emotion left to be felt, no storm left to ride, no resistance left to break free from. Her heart became still. As she sat with herself, cradled by this stillness, the lotus opened its eyes and looked right at her.

“Why are you crying, child?”, the flower asked.

“Because I can’t see my reflection.”, the girl replied.

The lotus looked at her with gentle eyes and said

“I am your reflection!”

At the time, the little girl did not understand the meaning of this message, but she found comfort in the gentleness of the flower’s voice.

As this memory softly embraced her mind, Leela closed her eyes and found herself bathing in the same stillness she had so many years ago. The flow of her journey made a full circle as it finally, with full force abandoned itself into the vast waters of recognition. The pond dissolved into the ocean and the mud melted away into the waves that were coming to take her home. Like an angel, the face of the lotus reappeared before her, smiled, and said with the same gentle voice,

“Now, do you understand?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Haha! I didn’t intend for this to be this long, but I got carried away and had to embellish a little.

Thank you Leela and Aspasia for the images that took me on this beautiful trip. I love the surprises that synergy can bring!

Love to you beautiful souls,

Anastasia