“What you resist, persists.” - Carl Jung
“What you think about, you bring about.” - Rhonda Byrne
I’ve heard these sayings for years and after a recent trip to the emergency room, (I’M FINE!) I experienced their truth with more clarity.
I have been sitting on this blog and the words Seen And Unseen for a whole month. For whatever reason, I dragged my feet on completing my thoughts. It was meant to be an offering for my March 1st Birthday and a preparation for the new season. Well the month is on its way out, and Spring has sprung! What you resist, persists.
On my birthday I emailed my gratitude group (We send ten things we’re grateful for and ten things we’re excited about whenever we are inspired to write a list.) This twelve-year practice and this group serve as a collective diary of hopes, wishes, and prayers. My birthday share became the seed for a blog.
“I am excited for the seen and the unseen - which is super religious sounding - but I’ve seen things for 49 years. I’m excited for what has hidden itself until now. Places. People. Things. Let them show themselves!”
I went on to say…
“In India (or any temple or place that houses a guru or deity you love) we take darshan. (Darshan is described as an "auspicious sight" of a holy person, which bestows merit on the person who is seen. ... It is most commonly used in Hindu worship, e.g. of a deity, especially in image form, or a very holy person or artifact.)
We get to SEE them. A curtain opens up and there they are. Perfect and divine. This in-person visit lets you feel their presence, absorb their mercy. But it is really a visual thing — the looking with your eyeballs at the thing you adore. But it’s REALLY about going before them and being SEEN. Which just makes me teary. The privilege of being seen. Of their eyes absorbing and adoring YOU. It’s incredibly humbling.
I often feel that way when I look at the moon, humbled. It is an auspicious sight. I’m taking darshan, seeing it. Literally swooning at its glow. And really the moon is seeing me. I’m excited for more of that. Darshan of people and places and things I love. Seeing and being seen.”
I saved these words for nearly a month, continuing to turn Seen and Unseen over in my mind. Well, in the spirit of what you think about you bring about, wouldn’t you know my trip to the ER was for a severely scratched cornea and damaged conjunctiva. (This is the mucous membrane that covers the front of the eye and lines the inside of the eyelids.) My thoughts of all things seen and unseen manifested in the literal form of my vulnerable eyes! My eyes were letting me know it was time to organize my thoughts and release these words I guess. Talk about Seen and Unseen!
So here we are.
What’s really amazing is that we are loved and adored by the universe and God whether we take darshan in a church/temple or not. The mercy and blessings show up in so many forms. Nature. Children. Animals. There is something holy in those, right?
There are many people, places and things that went UNSEEN this past year. The love we have for them was not diminished, but it will definitely be magnified as they are finally SEEN again.
As I open my healing and miraculous eyes to this new season, you better believe I will be taking darshan of spring blooms, sunny days, and the glorious moon with a new found gratitude for my sight.
Next year’s Birthday I’ll be welcoming my 50th year (!!!!) and I’ll be in India again. My dear friend Bryn, owner of Yogamaya New York, is planning a stunning retreat for us in temples, palaces, and nature. If you’d like to join in the celebration, get on the information list and send an email to bryn@yogamayanewyork.com
To welcome spring and to keep us in an Indian mood, I’m sharing a recipe for Lemon Rice adapted from Maneet Chauhan’s new book Chaat. I’ve been a fan of Maneet from her appearances on the Food Network show Chopped. ( I am STILL waiting for my name to be called after making it through two rounds of interviews. Before the pandemic I was actually waiting on my shoot dates to be a contestant. Let’s all close our eyes right now and say a little prayer that they pick up where they left off with casting.)
Maneet is a judge that comes with a lot of love for the contestants and has such smart and creative things to say about flavor and ingredients. She’s friends with my bestie Paige Davis. So when Maneet’s book came out, Paige was gifted a copy with an incredible set of spices to make some of the recipes. Paige knew I loved Indian food so we cooked up a feast from the gorgeous book. Here is our version of Maneet’s Lemon Rice.
Lemon Rice
Forgive me, I didn’t copy down the recipe, but here are screen shots of the ingredient list from the book and instructions. You can expand the photos, but even better, treat yourself to the book!
