Emotional Dust -- An Army or A Carpet

 


Little silver specks

Floating

Hovering

No pattern

No rhythm

But peacefully shimmering in the sunlight

 

What is it?

It is dust.

It is all around us, yet we don’t see it. It causes great harm to some people. Causing them to sneeze and itch and struggle to breath. It is small, harmless, invisible particles that are beautiful in a low-density group as it shimmers in the sunlight.


 Beware!

 If not dealt with right away, they are like an army out to consume you. Stealthily, little by little, they settle on shelves, pictures, and anything they can find. They are not visible at first. After time, they become like a blanket on whatever item they have chosen. However, even then, they are camouflaged. They have laid themselves out so evenly space and so slowly, that a person passing by its new home would have forgotten what the item’s original color had been.

 

There are two ways that their stealth can be revealed:


Movement:

Perhaps a random finger brushes up against the carpet of dust displacing thousands of dust particles and ends up revealing the items true color.

Sunlight:

The formerly empty air suddenly becomes filled with little specks as the thin ray of sunlight reflects off the dust particles revealing their presence.


 In some cultures, a clean house is often defined as one that inhibits dust carpets to form.




Yet to the one who never had a chance to experience the pleasures of dust

Who had lived in a sterile environment from the time he exited his mother’s womb

To him,

Dust was beautiful

It shimmered and glistened in the ray of sunshine streaming from his window.



What is dust?

Is it an invading army coming to destroy                                                                                                  your home and furniture’s identity?                                              

Or

Is it peaceful glittering specks that need be                                                                                                  left alone and allowed to become a carpet upon                                                                                        carpet because they shimmer in the sunlight?

 

                                                                            What are emotions?

                                                                            Are they an invading army coming to destroy your life?

                                                                            Or

                                                                            Are feelings that need to be left to their own devices                                                                                    and lay forgotten in a pile stacking high because you                                                                                  just want to experience the good ones and not the hard                                                                                ones?

 


For a child just coming into the world

Who has lived in a safe, sterile environment

To them,

Emotions are beautiful

They are to be seen and shared

Their eyes light up over the smallest attraction

Or fill up with tears over the slightest worry

Their emotions come and they go

The child lets them shine and shimmer in the rays of the sun

 


Yet in some cultures, a healthy house is one that only allows the happy emotions to shimmer in the sunlight. Yet even those may not be real.

 

Beware!

                        

With the happy emotions, the rest will quickly follow. They cannot be separated. Stealthily, little by little falling into the shadows. They may not be visible at first.  No one may notice that they are there. After time has passed, they become like a blanket. Covering every subject of life. Even then, they are camouflaged. They have laid themselves out so evenly spaced and so slowly, that a person reaching back into themselves would have forgotten what life was like without that soft, secure blanket hiding their original color.

 

There are two ways that their stealth can be revealed:

 

Movement:

Perhaps a friend makes a comment that brushes against the safe, secure blanket causing a few thousand emotions to get displaced and revealing a snapshot of what is underneath.

Sunlight:

Perhaps the formerly empty life suddenly became filled with a thin ray of sun revealing both good and hard feelings as well as their purpose for silently floating into your life.

 

What are they?

They are emotions.

They fill our life, yet we don’t see them with our eyes. They can cause great harm to people. Causing them to jump off bridges, withdraw into the shadows, or make decisions with no preparation or second thought. They are small, important, invisible feelings that cause life to take on more meaning and reflect more colors of the rainbow when gathered together in a low-density group as each one remains seen in the shimmering ray of the sun.

 


Little and big feelings

Floating

Hovering

No pattern

No rhythm

The good and the hard

Mixed and seen

Shimmering in the sunlight

 

 




I like to find stories in unlikely places and connect them with unlikely subjects. Here are stories and analogies that I see as I travel around the world.

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