Monday, January 9, 2012

Pushing Buttons

We have an automatic garage door that works halfway. It still goes all the way up and all the way down...that's not the problem. And we still can push the remote control, attached to the visor in our car, and open the door.

This, of course, is what makes automatic garage doors convenient: no more stopping the car, getting out, trudging to the garage door, bending over and hoisting it up. Nope. You simply push a button.

And, after the car is in the garage, no more reversing the laborious process to close the door. You just push a button, unless...

Unless it's our door and the door's optics are out of alignment. Then you push the button and the door moves down...until you let go of the button. Then the door goes back up. So you have to stand there holding the button until the door reaches the ground. Every time.

My husband has a way of dealing with this. He leaves the door open.

That doesn't work for me. I want it closed to keep in the heat during winter. I want it closed to keep the raccoons out. I want it closed because aesthetically it looks better from curbside. I don't go around with my mouth gaping, and I'm not one to leave my garage gaping either.

Still, it has been a two-year-long pain to have to stand there, each time, holding the button until the garage door closed. At least two years. Once upon a time, it did work. Not now. And I don't want to spend the money to hire someone to fix it.

But yesterday all that changed. No, I was not the recipient of a monetary windfall with which to hire a repair person. No, I did not say "What the hey!" and decide to leave it open. No, here is what happened.

Over New Year's weekend I participated in a retreat during which it was suggested I feel energy flowing through my chakras--from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. For me, this meant seeing myself as a tree, with my leafy arms connected to Father Sky and my feet rooted firmly in Mother Earth. So that is my new mental image, and I imagine the energy flowing up and down and up and down. It feels good to periodically do this for a minute or two.

And then, yesterday, when I was standing in the garage, holding my finger on the button for a minute or two, the two activities merged. I put my finger on the button and, as the door lowered, I began feeling energy flowing into my crown and out my feet as the door lowered. When the door hit the concrete, I hesitated a minute before letting go. I wasn't sure I was ready for the moment to end.

And, that quickly, my attitude about having to manually close the garage door several times a day changed from pain to pleasure. I wish that all of life was this simple. I suspect that it is.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

kinda liked what you have written . it just is not that easy to discover great stuff to read (you know really READ and not simply going through it like a zombie before going to yet another post to just ignore), so cheers man for really not wasting my time on the god forsaken internet. :)