Have You Paved Over Paradise?

Don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone.                                                                   They paved over paradise and put up a parking lot.

As I bopped along to the Counting Crows 2002 version of Big Yellow Taxi (Joni Mitchell- 1970) this morning in rush hour traffic (much to the horror of my teenagers), I thought this song is about much more than about a lost love or urban sprawl.  Is paradise somewhere outside in the world, a place that we just haven’t traveled to yet or something else? On the physical level could it be about regretting lost health? Most definitely and that’s another story for another post. But on a deeper level, is paradise somewhere inside of us and it’s just been paved over and over and over again so that we just don’t see, hear or feel it anymore.

The definitions for paradise are varied from biblical to sensual. The origins are Greek meaning an enclosed park. I personally like a place that is positive, harmonious, timeless, a state of delight and peace. This is a place I’d definitely like to go, to be in, to stay in.

You don’t have to have had some awful stuff happen to you to pave over your paradise, just the everyday normal stresses/worries and hassles will do it. It is so easy to lose/forget who you really are and what’s important. This is why I think a daily meditation practice of sitting, walking or writing is so important. If you can’t find 30 minutes , what about 15?. The purpose of meditation is to bring you to the present moment without the chatter and distractions from outside or inside the mind. This stillness is when you find clarity or peace or contentment or yes, your paradise.