Glitch in the Matrix!?!?

(c)2009 Joan M. Newcomb

My visit with my mother has been an Adventure in Density and Effort! More accurately, it's been an experience of limitation and expansion.

My mother's 83 years old, has macular degeneration in her left eye and a bum right knee. Because of her knee, she doesn't get around very well. Because of her eyes, she only drives within a 5 mile radius of her house. Her short term memory has shortened - about 15 minutes into any conversation she'll repeat a question I'd answered already.

I came intending to keep up with my businesses on my laptop and "borrowing" the neighbor's wireless. I planned to meet local clients at my "mobile office" (aka Starbucks) near the Bethesda Metro station, 5.1 miles from my mother's house. I decided car rentals and cab fare were too expensive, so I intended to bus and Metro it.

I looked up the local transit and found there's limited bus service to the Bethesda Metro from her place. My mother refused to let me borrow her car (an '87 Chevy Nova held together with duct tape )and said the Bethesda Metro was too far to drive. So I rescheduled my appointments to a closer but smaller, dingier Starbucks.

I mentioned in my previous ezine article that I hoped she would make some decisions before decisions were made for her. I thought I could do this energetically, by meditating and using the energy of present time to help gently bring about change.

My mother’s excuse for not moving from the rental she’s been in since 1987 is that she’s “possessed by her possessions”. I thought if I could help her declutter and organize, it would clear her mental blocks as well.

Last Saturday a power outage knocked out the neighbor's wireless. I switched to Netzero dialup. Then Sunday my laptop's power cord stopped working, so the laptop did, too. For all the meditating and “present timing” I’d done, suddenly *I* was technologically knocked back to the 1980’s!!

I called Dell and ordered a new power cord but it wasn’t due to arrive until the day before I leave. The local libraries are all closed on Sundays and there was no way to look up if there were any local cybercafe’s, either. My world became as limited as my mother’s!

She offered to take me to get a new laptop but not until Monday as she doesn’t like to drive when it’s too hot (her Nova’s a/c is broken).

So I surrendered. And started sorting out the clutter in her kitchen/dining area. Together we went through 4 boxes, filled with a mix of catalogs, junk mail (she donates to every cancer , wildlife and veterans fund), photos, letters, bank statements, newspaper clippings and paid invoices going back to 2003. We cleared about 1/8th of the space.

Monday we went to Sears (which is 4.9 miles from her house), but they didn’t have computers in stock. “You have to order on-line.” (How can you order a computer on line if you don’t have a computer?!?). I turned to her and said, “We have to go to Best Buy”. Best Buy is 6 miles away.

I watched something shift inside my mother as we left Sears. She got lost twice and worried about her Nova running rough. Then we passed by a section of the road being worked on and I swear the big, electric sign said “Glitch In The Matrix” instead of something like “Detour” or “Caution”!

When we got to Best Buy, she suddenly remembered it’s two blocks from her dentist, whom she visits on a daily basis. On the way home, it occurred to me that, in not letting me drive, it’s expanding her radius of where she’s capable of going.

Yesterday we took her car to her mechanic for a tuneup and discovered it’s a block from the Starbucks by the Bethesda Metro. I met with clients there today, enjoyed wireless for an hour or two, and caught the 32 bus back to Cabin John.

I believe the “Glitch In The Matrix” sign was a reminder that this is all an illusion. We are Infinite Beings playing in the physical, a realm of Density and Effort. We create our own limits and our bodies and lives reflect them. My mother can and does drive more than 5 miles beyond her house.

Five more days before I return to Seattle. I’m curious to see what contractions and expansions will come up between now and then!

I’ve continued to experience limits and expansion of my own. For most of the time I’ve been using Netzero dialup (10 hours free per month)! Today I realized that I’ve been paying for MSN dialup for years and never using it! So I’ve spent most of the afternoon trying to download it on this new laptop without success. It’s all a marvellous reminder that this is an adventure in Density and Effortland!

Where in your life have you been operating with self-imposed limitations? What is the five mile parameter in your life? How would things transform if you expanded beyond your imaginary boundaries?

I invite you to notice what they are, and allow yourself to outgrow them!