It may feel as if today is just another ordinary day, in an ordinary winter, on an ordinary star. We wake and we’re just not sure. Don’t I have some problems I need to attend to? I’m pretty sure there’s something wrong. Isn’t there? An invitation has appeared, but we are unsure of its origin.
It is so easy to take for granted that tomorrow will come,
that another opportunity will be given to witness a sunrise, to take a walk, to
gaze in awe at the crystals in the newly fallen snow, to share a moment of
attuned connection with the one in front of us. But another part of us knows it
is so fragile here, so tenuous, and that this opening into life will not be
here for much longer.
Recognizing this, let us surrender the dream of
postponement by doing whatever we can to help others, by taking a risk to fully
show up here, never forgetting what is most important, no longer apologizing
for our uniqueness, our sensitivity, and the gifts of our vulnerability. By
being willing to dissolve the shadow of our unlived lives, one holy moment at a
time, and step into the crucible.
At the end of this life – which is sure to come much sooner
than we’d like – it is unlikely we'll be all that concerned with whether or not
we accomplished all the tasks on our to-do lists, completed some mythical
spiritual journey, perfected ourselves, healed our past, called in one or more
magical soulmates to serve the function of the “good other,” played it safe,
got all of our needs met, made it big, or manifested all the outer objects and
internal states we dreamed would fulfill us. Inside these hearts there may be
only one burning question: how well did I love?
Did I pause each day to behold the wonder of just one
unfolding here and now moment? Was I willing to take a risk, to feel more, to
care deeply about this life, to let another matter, and to honor this very
experience, exactly as it has been given?
Was I willing to behold the sacred offering of the natural
world – the sky, the snowflakes, the mountains, the sun, the mud, the deer, and
the lunar offering of the moon above as she floods our hearts with her secrets?
Was I willing to stay close with the mysterious movement of
both sweet and fierce grace as it took form as the others in my life, and as
the wisdom flow of feeling, of emotion, and of sensation in this body? As my
dreams, as vision, and as the way I am attempting to make meaning of this
precious, excruciating, unbelievable, astonishing, and heartbreaking human
opportunity?
Was I willing to fall in love, to truly fall in love with
this life, exactly as it is? Was I willing to provide a home, a sanctuary, and
safe passage for all of me, an environment of wholeness and integration to
dance, rest, and play in?
Was I willing to set aside the unending need to make this
moment different?
What is it that remains unlived… for you? How have you been
holding back? What are you waiting for? What is your heart asking of you? What
is most important? What are you unwilling to compromise any longer? In what
ways are you not living your own life, but someone else’s? Or living out the
fantasies of a society or culture that has forgotten about love and what
matters most… for you? The bounty and the harvest of this world is upon you. It
is always already here, erupting in each moment, and is not waiting.
One day we will no longer be able to look at, touch, or
share a simple moment with those that we love. When we turn to them, they will
be gone. One moment will be our last to witness the immensity of just one more
breath, to truly see and travel inside a color, to enter into union with the
vastness of the ocean. It will be our last chance to feel the presence of a
tree, to have a moment of communion with a friend, or to weep as the light
yields to the night sky.
One last moment to have a thought, to feel an emotion, to
fall in love, to smell a flower, to taste something sweet, and to know
heartbreak, joy, and peace – to behold the awe of what it really means to be a
sensitive, alive, tender human being.
What if today is that last day? Or tomorrow? Or later this
week?
Knowing that death will come to complete the cycle of the beloved in the world of time and space, how will you respond to the breath that is moving within you right now, to the feelings washing through you, and to the opportunity to know and to be the activity of love here?
What would it be like to fully allow in the reality that
today may be your last? Will you open your heart to the gift of life before it
is too late?
Perhaps your “life's purpose” has nothing to do with what
job you will find or what new cool thing you manifest or what awesome soul mate
you attract or what mythical awakening journey you complete. But that the
purpose of your life is to fully live, finally, to touch each here and now
moment with your presence and with the gift of your one, wild heart. And to do
whatever you can to help others to remember this, and how precious and unique
they are. Perhaps this is the most radical gift that we can all give.
Please don't forget how rare and precious it is here. And
please don't forget what it is that really matters to you.
This gorgeous photo (and an eruption others) by Lizzy Gadd
The Way of Rest summer retreat – registration open now
