My usual step into Aladdin’s closet turned into a springing leap and I land all six of my spider-like legs clinging to the corner of the back and side wall. I started to crawl all around the closet searching while taking in all of the information and detail of every nook and cranny like a spider crawling through the web pages of the internet. The next thing I knew I was back in my room at 250th street in Bellerose playing a game of clinging to the walls and furniture as I slithered all around my room that my dad had built. When I got to the closet I marveled at all of the work my dad did and the detail of the carpentry. My dad worked 8 hours a day in Manhattan. That plus a bus and train ride in and out five days a week. When did he have the time and energy to have done all of this planning and carpentry. Just thinking about it is exhausting. But he did it matching grains of wood and a two square border of green tile around a center of gray linoleum for my room. And in my sister’s room a blue border around a pink linoleum. Wall paper, hand-made knotty pine reinforced doors with a transom above each plus all of the electrical work and a huge ceiling fan in the central hallway. Just imagining all of this is overwhelming. I got lost in all of the effort I imagined it took to do this is his spare time.
As I contemplated this I became thankful and grateful for all of the love he put into this for his family. Then it struck me. Spiritual Gravity. My dad must have loved every piece of wood, every nail and screw. He must have loved every swing of his hammer and turn of his screw driver. Perhaps for my dad every swing of the hammer was like every swing I have playing golf. Or every step as I climb along the mountain trail at High Hampton Inn.
There is blending of the goal along with the attention to the detail of each swing or each step. If you get lost focusing solely on the goal you become rushed in whatever you are doing and it becomes drudgery. How do you stay in the moment? Attention to detail. How do you stay with the goal? Set your intention then focus on he detail. If you need to stop and rest then reset your intention and go back to the detail. Do not work with only the goal in mind. Stop and rest. Then go back again to the detail. Just like when in meditation and your mind wanders your return gently to the attention of each breath.
You can divide whatever you are doing into goal and attention to the detail of whatever that is. You can do this with anything washing dishes, driving to the mountains, a workout at the gym or reading this blog. Don’t rush to get finished. Enjoy the doing, the ride the path. Happiness is a road you travel on not a destination. Happiness is a verb not a noun. Would you rush eating a delicious meal to get to dessert? Simon and Garfunkel sang it loud and clear in the 59th Street Bridge Song Feelin Groovy “Slow down you move too fast you’ve got to make the morning last. Just kickin’ down the cobble stones . Looking for fun and feeling groovy.”
Spiritual Gravity 
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