Receiving

I’ve been thinking a lot about receiving on this book tour.  Kabbalah literally translates as receive.  It’s interesting to note what that actually means.  As R. Gershon Winkler explains it, if I hold out my hand to someone with an apple in it and say “Here’s an apple” and they reach over to take it from my hand then they’ve TAKEN.   If instead, however, they sit with an open palm and wait then they’ve created a POSTURE for receiving such that I can place the apple in that hand and say “Here’s an apple for you”, and then they’ve RECEIVED.

One way of choking down the possibility of receiving is to enter experience with expectations.   In that instance we walk into a situation with an idea of how it will look and what we should get from it, which means we take.  I made a conscious decision in embarking on this book tour that I would excise expectation and carve out a receptive posture.  I especially aimed my focus on doing so when thinking of returning to my Texas roots, an endeavor that could easily lend itself to expectation and assumptions.  By carving out these narrowing tendencies I have opened myself to receive blessings and be present to experiences in ways that would have far exceeded any expectations I could have conjured for myself.

And so … here are photos from my Amarillo stop.  Amarillo being the closest big town to where I grew up, where so many of my friends from childhood live today with their families.  Not only did I get to see them, but many others drove as far as 90 miles to come and see me for what became a mini-reunion.  My heart has expanded a thousand-fold, and I am so grateful for their efforts because it is so wonderful to see them.  And by returning as an adult, expunged of expectations, I have seen my own place of upbringing with new eyes.  The place where the last four of my visits were for the deaths of family members is no longer the monster in the closet, but a hearth of warmth surrounded by friends.

Enjoy!

[nggallery id=8]