safety pins and a rubber band

The contents of my pocket today, along with a couple of receipts and 7 dollars, however the later seem inconsequential.
I've come to the realization that it is only the fears that I create and imagine that keep me 'safe' and prevent my true nature from being available for the world to see and for me to enjoy. If I imagine myself to be a safety pin there is a possibility that my world could expand. I could close myself, and prevent anything from penetrating that seal or I could open myself and still have the protection of the sharp penetrating point on the end :-) Why do we feel the need to 'protect' ourselves? Fear. Fear of imagined pain or remembered pain. In either case,I realize I am simply wrong in projecting that onto the world, or imposing that on myself. You see, for as much pain as there is in this world, there must be an equal amount of pleasure ~ knowing one certainly means knowing the other. From this moment on, I will open all the safety pins I find before I put them in my pocket. With each painful jab of the open end I will remember that at any minute I can close myself off or I can be open to new experiences which undoubtedly will not be as painful as the jab of a sharp pin! So, here's to finding more safety pins...
Ah, the rubber band. I began a rubber band ball a couple of years ago. In part this began as something to do with all the rubber bands I accrued as part of a job I had, but most probably the reason was because it gave me something concrete to note just how much I had accomplished on a weekly basis-not to mention the entertainment factor when things got slow or boring. Early on in that endeavor I had fancied I'd be a Guinness World Book entry. It grew to about 6 inches in diameter. I've discontinued making it, my dream of being in The Guinness Book squelched, yet I still put rubber bands in my pocket. Habit. The thing about rubber bands that make them so appealing is that they streeeeeeeeeetch. They stretch, they give, they open, and when you've finished manipulating and playing they return to their natural state. There is room, and a hell of a lot of it, for things to change, for things to open, for things to be stretched beyond what you could have thought. I am certain we all have had this experience of feeling a certain 'change', I am certain we've all felt as if we were 'stretched to our limit', felt 'open' to an experience, and undoubtedly have 'bounced back'. Pick up a rubber band and play with it. See just how much you are able to do with it, and notice that when you lay it down, it is still a rubber band. There is much to be learned from this simple practice.
I thoroughly enjoy the fact that with the simplicity of everyday pocket contents we can find a parallel meaning within our lives. If you look at an object, pick it up, play with it, put it in your pocket if it appeals to you, and notice that everything has meaning. Everything can somehow be related to where you are in your life and where you are going. Never stop exploring, never stop looking for meaning, never stop being amazed~at the positive and the negative. Without both, there would be nothing.