swissmiss

“There is a faith in loving fiercely
the one who is rightfully yours,
especially if you have
waited years and especially
if part of you never believed
you could deserve this
loved and beckoning hand
held out to you this way.

I am thinking of faith now
and the testaments of loneliness
and what we feel we are
worthy of in this world.

Years ago in the Hebrides,
I remember an old man
who walked every morning
on the grey stones
to the shore of baying seals,
who would press his hat
to his chest in the blustering
salt wind and say his prayer
to the turbulent Jesus
hidden in the water,

and I think of the story
of the storm and everyone
waking and seeing
the distant
yet familiar figure
far across the water
calling to them

and how we are all
preparing for that
abrupt waking,
and that calling,
and that moment
we have to say yes,
except it will
not come so grandly
so Biblically
but more subtly
and intimately in the face
of the one you know
you have to love

so that when
we finally step out of the boat
toward them, we find
everything holds
us, and everything confirms
our courage, and if you wanted
to drown you could,
but you don’t
because finally
after all this struggle
and all these years
you simply don’t want to
any more
you’ve simply had enough
of drowning
and you want to live and you
want to love and you will
walk across any territory
and any darkness
however fluid and however
dangerous to take the
one hand you know
belongs in yours.”

– David Whyte

I know what I am doing this week: Architecting a life in 100 post-its and 1 Afternoon. Life audit is an exercise in self-reflection that helps you clear the cobwebs of noisy, external goals and current distractions, and revisit or uncover the real themes & core values that drive and inspire you. Also known as: spring-cleaning for the soul.

Claudia Dawson says the process allows for your priorities to come to light and helps you to see the patterns of your life. Also, she apparently could only fill 50 post-its in one sitting and as she discovered new dreams and she will go back to his remaining post-it pack to add more. She found that once she had written down all the desires inside of her and, in a sense, got them out of his system, it freed up space for completely new and weirdly fun wishes to show up. Love this!

(via Kevin Kelly)