BEAUTIFUL Wisdom from Italy.
My Hub-a-Dub, three princesses and I recently returned from Italy. 14 days of family, food and excessive amounts of gelato. It was all kinds of beautiful and delicious chaos.
I was stunned by the endless sea of small villages built into the mountains. The teeny tiny winding roads that required a honk or, at night, the flashing of headlights to avoid head-on collisions. Seriously.
Pasta. Pizza. Espresso. Kissing of cheeks.
Generous love and loving generosity.
I don’t speak Italian. I felt as if 80% of my personality was left in Canada. It took days to adjust. To break free from the addictive need to talk. To turn my thoughts inward. To be quietly present.
I WAS FORCED TO SHUT-UP. And it was wonderful.
I so desperately wanted to take home WOMENLY WISDOM to share with my beautiful community of Empowermentista’s.
So, while a handful of us women relaxed after another large dinner (AKA lunch), I requested my mother–in-law to ask our Zia (Aunt) and Nonna (Grandmother) to share their life wisdom. Their reactions were full of large hand gestures that clearly suggested they have nothing of value to share. There was some laughter between the women. Fast paced explosive chitter-chatter. Brief moments of thoughtful pause.
Then the room went quiet.
Like a deer staring in headlights I excitedly looked at my mother in law and said, “So? What did they say?”
I braced myself for a most anticipated moment of powerful life wisdom.
“Well, Zia says that when she was young she dreamed of getting married, having a beautiful home and raising her children. She is happy.”
For a fleeting moment I was disappointed. I smiled with appreciation.
Huh. SHE IS HAPPY.
This woman who works tirelessly feeding countless people daily, who washes clothes by hand, who serves without question, who makes her own soap and tends to the gardens, pigs and chickens….THIS WOMAN IS HAPPY?
I took in her simplicity. Her satisfaction. And realized.
She is happy because she lives a life experience that is in alignment with her ultimate desires. She is not lost in the endless drive for more. She embodies appreciation over attainment. I felt in awe of her completeness.
WHEN WE LIVE THROUGH COMPETITION AND THE COMPULSIVE NEED FOR MORE WE LOSE CONNECTION WITH WHAT IT MEANS TO BE COMPLETE. THE RAW ELEMENTS OF OUR LIVES THAT OFFER THE EXPERIENCE OF FULLNESS AND ULTIMATELY FULFILLMENT.
So simple it’s BEAUTIFULLY BRILLIANT.
