Friday, November 15, 2013

Life is Like a Pomegranate

"Life is like a pomegranate." You might have heard this before, but do you understand what it means? I am going to give you my perception of this phrase. It came to me while preparing an afternoon snack, a pomegranate.

The pomegranate is a berry fruit, full of fibrous chambers that hold the seeds. Each seed is surrounded by a tart juice, the delightful edible part of the fruit. To get to the seeds, you have to open the outer skin. When I was a kid, while waiting for the school bus, we picked the pomegranate fruit off a tree and slammed it onto the concrete sidewalk to break it open. We tore through the pomegranates, leaving our fingers and sometimes our clothes stained purple. This method proved to be very messy but resourceful.

Today, I used a knife to slice through the outer skin, leaning over the kitchen sink while cutting the pomegranate in half. Many seeds in the path of the knife were damaged with the pinkish-rose colored juices squirting carelessly in the sink. Since I wanted to save as many of the seeds as possible I put down the knife, grabbed one of the halves with both hands and broke it into the fibrous chambers revealing beautiful rows of the reddish-purple seeds.

I mindfully picked out the seeds, peeling back the fibrous walls that divided them and dropped them into a bowl. When I hurried, a few seeds went flying; some on the floor, some on the counter and staining anything it touched a pinkish-rose colored hue. To avoid this, I took my time and filled my bowl with a luscious amount of the reddish-purple seeds.

Much like the pomegranate, life is divided up into areas or lessons. When we slice through the day, carelessly at full speed, pieces of life around us get damaged or displaced; sometimes completely obscure. If we continue to cut through life, so many details are missed. Things around us get tossed aside, people may get hurt and the reminiscence of the stress will stain the body with illness and the soul with low vibes.

Take your time and live in the moment. Grab onto life with both hands, allow it to break in the natural places and reveal the true beauty around you. Be consciously are aware of the details around you, mindfully peeling back the layers of the day and picking through the tasks. Those little details and the attitude you carry with you will make a huge difference with your physical and mental wellness.

BE alive, joyful, fruitful and if life is too tart for you, add a little sweetness to it with your own smile.