It has been quite a year! In my life, that hasn’t taken the shape of a lot of exterior changes, but an onslaught of internal shifts ushered in by health challenges – lessons like patience, perseverance and humility have been my focus of ‘ wisdom study’. The kind of shifts that tend to presage exterior changes. Now that my energy is steadily returning, I am asking the end/beginning question of ‘what’s next?’. It feels like in some strange way, I am starting over – resetting and getting back to basics and rebuilding from the ground-up. But it isn’t just a question of hitting ‘refresh’… I’ve changed. On the other side of the raw vulnerability that I have been steeping in, I’m noticing a fresh curiosity, an openness that could easily be overshadowed by a the enthusiastic desire to ‘get back to it’. But there is no going back…
What limits openness? Things like attachment to a particular mind-set, a believe, fear, and clinging to a particular self-image all do the trick. What I notice is that they also limit my willingness to see the beauty in what is actually unfolding – if I am in a hurry to get through a challenging passage, it may be that I miss the wisdom gifts that it has for me. Not easy, but the alternative isn’t too great either. The faith required to be truly open feels like a fool’s game of waiting sometimes, but when I get through that judgment, I get in touch with a heart is ripe for inspiration.
Inspiration! Heart and mind open to the next in-breath of the new! Yes! Which means now I am ready and willing to ask myself what is not inspiring me – in my work, in my relationships, in my life? Is it possible to breathe new life into the things that feel flat, or is a letting go in order? Am I inspired by the person that I am? Are the things that I am ‘spending’ my attention on inspiring me or draining me or dulling me? These are the questions I’m cooking on here at the end of 2022, preparing for the new, ready to plant the seeds of fresh inspiration in the dark ground of the upcoming winter season. I’ll keep you posted 🙂
Wishing you a nourishing and inspiring Holiday Season!
The following is based on a Lakota Prayer that inspires me –
Great Mystery,
teach me to trust
in my heart,
in my mind,
in my intuition,
in my inner wisdom,
in the senses of my body,
in the blessings of my spirit.
Teach me to trust these things,
so that I can enter my sacred space
and love beyond my fear,
and so Walking in Beauty
with the passage of each glorious Sun.