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The Journey

 

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice --

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voice behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do --

determined to save

the only life that you could save.

 

  - Mary Oliver 

 

The Soul is Shy

 

The soul is like a wild animal: tough, resilient, resourceful, savvy, and self-sufficient; it knows how to survive in hard places.....Yet despite its toughness, the soul is also shy. Just like a wild animal, it seeks safety in the dense underbrush, especially when other people are around.  If we want to see a wild animal, we know the last thing to do is to go crashing around through the woods yelling for it to come out.  But if we will walk quietly into the woods, sit patiently at the base of a tree, breathe with the earth, and fade into our surroundings, the wild creature we seek might make an appearance".

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           ~ Parker Palmer 

              A Hidden Wholeness

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The Invitation

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It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive!
It doesn’t interest me what “planets are squaring your moon”.
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals -- or, have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to “hide it” or “fade it” or “fix it”.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes! -- without cautioning us to “be careful”, “be realistic”, or to “remember the limitations of being human”.
It doesn’t interest me if the story you’re telling me is true.
I want to know if you can disappoint another -- to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.
I want to know if you can be faithful, and therefore be trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day, and if you can source your life from God’s presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”
It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone -- and do what needs to be done -- for the children.
It doesn’t interest me who you are or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me -- and not shrink back.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or “with whom you have studied”.
I want to know what sustains you -- from the inside when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep - - in the empty moments.

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           by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

The Well of Grief

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Those who will not slip beneath
the still surface on the well of grief,

turning down through its black water
to the place we cannot breathe,

will never know the source from which we drink,
the secret water, cold and clear,

nor find in the darkness

glimmering,

the small round coins,
thrown by those who wished for something else.

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             ~ David Whyte

Books, Authors, and Audibles

  • Let Your Life Speak - Parker Palmer                     

  • Soulcraft - Bill Plotkin

  • Think Like a Monk - Jay Shetty

  • Journey Within Yourself - Eckhart Tolle 

  • Untethered Soul - Michael Singer

  • The Places that Scare You - Pema Chodron

  • Fierce Intimacy - Terry Real

  • The Audacity to Be You - Brad Reedy

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Films and Videos ​

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