Blue Heron Visions: Chapter 26: What's it (Life) all about, Elizabeth?

This manuscript is both a memoir of sorts and a work of fiction. The stories and events included are based on my life experiences and memories but I have changed names, details, event sequences, and outcomes throughout the work.

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"What's It All About Alfie?" lyrics

Chapter 26: What's it (Life) all about, Elizabeth?

When Elizabeth awoke, she lay quietly in bed for a few moments. Slowly, a realization dawned upon her. Today was the spring equinox! It had finally arrived. The frigid temperatures and austere landscapes of winter would soon be just a memory, giving way to the warmth and colors of spring. Elizabeth felt her whole being rejoice as she quickly arose. She took her first peek outside and noticed that spring had come dressed in a clear, although cold, sunny day with a vibrant blue sky. Elizabeth could hardly wait to go outside and embrace the new season.

As she finished eating her breakfast and her regular morning duties, she noticed a song playing in her mind. (The song was “Alfie,” written in 1965—lyrics by Hal David, music by Burt Bacharach.) She recalled that the song had started surfacing in snippets several days before. She had been curious about why this particular song—one that she remembered first hearing when she was about twelve years old—was going through her mind. But she was busy and didn't take much time to figure out the answer to that question. Today, though, the song was insisting that she pay attention. So Elizabeth took a few moments to look up the lyrics and consider their meaning and relevance to her life right now.

Elizabeth sat in front of her computer, did a quick Internet search and found the lyrics quite easily. She found several versions of the song online and listened to the different artists who had performed the song. She even spent some time reading about how the song came into being, who had written the lyrics, who had created the music, for which movie it had been specifically written, and the synopsis of the movie, since she had never seen the film. She decided to print the lyrics and bring them with her as she took her walk on this, the first day of spring.

Bundled up, Elizabeth took her first steps into the new season. She had the printed lyrics in her pocket but she really didn't need to check them because the words were already in her memory from all those years ago. She decided to use the lyrics as a walking meditation. “After all,” she thought, “if the song was in my mind, and I haven't actually heard it for years, there must be a message for me.” She had often received messages from song lyrics in the past and knew that the Universe/Source/All That Is communicated with her in that way.

The first line of the song was a question. Elizabeth phrased the question as if she were asking it to herself, “What's it all about, Elizabeth?” She decided that the word it referred to life in general and she decided to apply the word to Life and the flow of magic for which she had been searching. For her, that question summed up her focus: “What is the flow of magic all about?” Was it, like the song lyrics asked in the second line, something that only happened while she was alive, and then, only as pieces of magic, never as consistent and persistent flow? Or did it continue before and after her earthly existence? In other words, was magic eternal and actually the underlying canvas of All That Is that created, maintained, and filled her life? She again thought of the scripture that had come to mind so many times over the past several months—“For in him, we live and move and have our being.”

Elizabeth considered these questions. She had realized in reviewing different events in her life that the magic she longed for was always flowing; it had existed always and would continue forever. Magic, as well as Life/Source/All That Is, was eternal. That's why the scripture would continue to come up as she was thinking about magic or Source or Life or All That Is. For her, those words were all synonymous for the same substance or essence from which all life sprung.

The next few lines of the song talked about how a person's viewpoint affected how they acted in life. Was being kind a foolish idea? Did the world really belong to those who were strong, the people who exercised their control over others without care or concern? Did the golden rule hold any importance in this day and age?

As these questions came up in her thoughts, Elizabeth saw a parallel with the idea of relationships being a mirror reflection of herself. She could ask herself those questions in regard to how she thought about and acted toward herself. A new idea also surfaced. “Have I ever applied the golden rule to myself?” Elizabeth wondered. “No,” Elizabeth thought. She had only used the golden rule to govern how she treated others with the full expectation that she would receive like treatment back. For a long time, though, she hadn't understood that the return treatment would not necessarily come from the person to whom she had applied the principle. Now, she was seeing the golden rule in a new light. The treatment she received from others was the golden rule reflecting how she thought and acted toward herself. Elizabeth was amazed at this discovery.

Elizabeth returned to the song lyrics. The next few lines proposed the idea that whether someone believed in a greater power (God/Source/All That Is) or not, there must be some guiding force existing in our world that could help people live their lives. The next line reveals what that force is: Love. And Elizabeth's own sentiments echoed that line: “I believe in love.” For her, Love was simply another name for God/Source/Life/All That Is and even magic. The song also pointed out that there was a “true love,” a kind of love that takes us from simple existence to real, vibrant life; from emptiness to an understanding of the value of every life including one's own. Elizabeth understood already that what the world called love was often a counterfeit emotion, equated with sex or used to exclude other people. The true love the song talked about was nonjudgmental and all encompassing. That Love excluded no one and allowed people to live their lives and still be embraced as worthy. At some level, Elizabeth knew that was the Love that everyone was at their core, whether it appeared that way or not.

The last two lines of the song advised the way to find that true love each day: “When you walk, let your heart lead the way, / and you'll find love any day.” What Elizabeth found amazing was that same advice had been echoed in teachings she had read and heard for years. Stacy, for one, had always mentioned about living and thinking from one's heart, about taking the High road and letting Love lead the way. Elizabeth had aspired to live that way, although she wasn't always successful. These last two lines seemed to be offering Elizabeth a goal for this new season and perhaps offered the answer to her quest for the flow of magic. “If I let my heart lead the way,” Elizabeth thought, “then I will be aligned with Love and more open to flowing effortlessly with the magic that is synonymous with Love.” She drew a deep breath of the cold, new spring air and let it go.

The song had helped her to discover that it was Love that fine tuned her awareness, revealing the flow of magic in each moment. She realized that the pieces of magic she had experienced in the past had been showing her moments that she had been aligned with Love, which was always within her grasp and always her choice.

Elizabeth turned toward her apartment. Her meditation walk was completed and she now knew that the song had indeed been sent as a message, helping her to understand the journey she had begun last October.

As she walked home, she enjoyed hearing the birds singing joyously, seeing the deep blue of the sky, and experiencing the feeling of anticipation for what this new season would bring her way. She felt gratitude for the long winter, where new thoughts and discoveries had lain dormant, gathering strength and energy in preparation for their emergence in her heart and mind. She also felt the bubbling spring of Love arising inside her heart, and she resolved to remain open and let love lead the way as she looked forward to the new path that stretched ahead.