Solitude

This word sometimes has a bit of a lonely connotation to it.  I have spent much of my life in the experience of solitude, sometimes liking it, sometimes not.  Lately, however, my experience of solitude has been a gift; a blessing.  I am in the process of learning that being in solitude is not being alone.  My times of solitude have been an amazing time of forging a strong relationship with All That Is.  There is a new experience I'm having of feeling my connection with Source.  It is a feeling of being fully surrounded and supported by the Love and Care that is unseen, but is very real and present.  That feeling is all-sustaining and fulfilling.  I am growing stronger on this path daily.  In our culture we think we need to have other people in our lives to complete us.  This stringent path I'm following has shown me that this belief keeps us from bonding with our Source as the foundational relationship of our lives.  When we have a primary relationship with Divine Presence, all of our other relationships can be healthier, and more satisfying.

"You are all we have.

You give us what we need. 

Our lives are in your hands, O [Source],

Our lives are in your hands."

         --words from a song, You are All We Have, by Francis Patrick O'Brien

   

Wholeness

Wholeness is who we are.  It is our birthright.  We are born in wholeness.  We live in wholeness.  We come from wholeness.  Anytime we don't feel like we are whole beings it is a mistaken perception caused by some overlay of earthly life--cultural expectation, injury, sadness, guilt, addiction, disconnectedness.  When we are here on earth, many layers of false instruction and opinion are heaped on us throughout life.  They are false to us individually if they fail to move us freely into the energy of our true selves.  What is false for me may be true for you, and vice versa.  It is the responsibility of each of us to find our own truth.  To learn what connects us with our wholeness, and keeps us moving toward that energy.  This is a lifelong task, but its rewards are great.  Living in wholeness allows us to relax into ourselves.  It brings us joy, freedom, comfort, and the ability to have our work feel like play.  Life becomes an exhilarating adventure.  Wholeness.  Bring it.

"The psyche has within it a natural gradient toward wholeness, and while one may attempt to ignore nature, the body attempts to remain in harmony with it in order to incubate the totality.  Prolonged abuse may result in an illness which brings the totality to consciousness.  Here is the paradox.  While the pieces of the puzzle gradually build toward the whole, at some point we must have a vision of wholeness in order to put the pieces into perspective.  Once the voice crying at the heart of the addiction is heard, then the [addiction] can be seen for what it is:  an attempt to obliterate the crying.  Then the [addiction] need no longer tantalize the two sides of the complex; spiritual food can feed the soul.  Neurotic frenzy can be replaced by real energy."   
                                                                   --Marion Woodman

"Whole-- An amount or quantity from which nothing is left out or held back."

                                                                   --Roget's Thesaurus

 

Comfort

I don't exactly know what I want to say about this idea.  I have lately found myself sequentially rolling through a series of feelings that hasn't included the thought of comfort.  And yet today, this is the word that comes, and this is the experience I've had in the present.  In the midst of uncertainty, large change, and the Unknown, I am feeling comforted by getting to be peaceful and calm.  Also, I've felt a very authentic connection with my day's activities and with the people I've encountered through some of those activities.  This connection has translated into a feeling of comfort--comfort with myself, my life, my true life's unfolding.  I am surprised by this awareness.  It feels like it may be fleeting, but I am enjoying it while it's here.  Deep gratitude is a natural result of this experience of comfort.

"Whenever we experience happiness and peace, we are at the gate where the medicines of laughter, joy, and fun can flourish.  At [this gate] we begin to experience the wisdom gifts of peace, balance, and equanimity.  From the beauty of the time that we spend in nature and the mystery that we find in the sweet territory of silence, we draw a primal comfort, solace, and grace that deepens our connection to our inherent spirituality."                   
                                                                 --Angeles Arrien 

Wild

I feel like I am living a wild life.  Not wild in a way that is unmanageable.  But wild in the same way that animals and plants live in the wild.  I have been having the experience of living in a very changeable world.  My own life is full of changes.  Some are imperceptible to me, others are right there, drawing me forward.  I am right now living in the wild environment of the Pacific Northwest.  There is an energy here that inspires me to live more authentically from my wild self.  I like it, but it's unpredictable.  In a good way.  It feels somewhat like controlled chaos.  All is well. 

"...I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, 
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I've been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?  Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
                                                                                --Mary Oliver 

Fullness

I have been thinking a lot about this word--fullness.  What does it really mean, when it comes to living my life with fullness, in fullness, within fullness?  My life feels full, and I am opening to receive even more of that fullness, in an even greater variety of ways that are well-suited to who I am.  This moves my experience of fullness into something that is overflowing and abundant.  
Another thought I've been having about fullness is the thought of emptying to receive fullness. It seems the less I know about the ways fullness can come to me, the more readily that fullness is able to arrive in my life.  Accepting the empty, Unknown, quality of my life's unfolding seems to facilitate the unfolding process.  It's as if I have stepped out of the way of its coming to me, and so it flows freely to me.  This is not to say that I have no participation in this process.  I am the person actually living my life, and having the experiences of my own true life.  In addition, I ask for guidance and assistance along the way, and in so doing, I am able to co-create this process with All That Is.  I cannot imagine a way of living life that provides any more fullness than this.

"Above all else, then,

be prepared at all times for the gifts of God, and be ready always for new ones.

For God is a thousand times more ready to give than we are to receive.

As God is omnipotent in deeds so the soul is equally profound in the capacity to receive.

If a cask is to contain wine, you must first pour out the water; the cask must be bare and empty.

Therefore, if you wish to receive divine joy and God, first pour out your clinging to things.

Everything that is to receive must and ought to be empty."    
                                                          --Meister Eckhart

The Path

Being on the path.  It's a daily, hourly, moment by moment process.  Staying attentive and connected is the task.  With loving attention the path unfolds.  We are well-guided if we listen and if we ask for assistance.  Love is what the path is composed of.  We love ourselves, we see the love that lives in others.  Loving life is the way steps are created on the path.  Joy and gratitude become the by-products of steps we take on the path.  Life is full and rich.

..."after I had experienced much, I learned to trust my own heart.  When you have this deep understanding, whatever occurs, you can let it occur, and all things will pass on and be quelled.  You will reach a point where the heart tells itself what to do...."                                                                                               --Achaan Chah     

Love and Grace

Love opens our hearts.  It brings us opportunities for grace to enter our lives.  We never know how an opportunity for change will come along.  Love flowing to us keeps us open to those opportunities, and they may come from very unexpected places.  Love invites us to be touched by grace, and we are then able to respond to opportunities in welcoming, rather than resisting, ways.  We are able to be guided by Divine Love that is greater than ourselves.  Doors open.  We are free to move through them.  Love shows us the way.

"Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude.  Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things...  Make love your aim..."           --St. Paul