Meeting ourselves

So many of us are afraid of meeting ourselves, alone, without distraction.  We have been taught to fashion an image of who we think we are supposed to be and show that to the world.  Through fear of knowing who we really are we sidestep our own destiny, which leaves us hungry in a famine of our own making.  Each of us is here to give something that only we can offer, and when we avoid knowing ourselves, we end up living numb, passionless lives, disconnected from our soul's true purpose. 

But when you have the courage to shape your life from the essence of who you are, you ignite, becoming truly alive.  This requires letting go of everything that is inauthentic.  But how can you even know your truth unless you slow down, in your own quiet company?  When the inner walls to your soul are graffitied with advertisements, commercials, and the opinions of everyone who has ever known and labeled you, turning inward requires nothing less than a major clean-up.

Traveling from the known to the unknown requires crossing an abyss of emptiness.  We first experience disorientation and confusion.  Then, if we are willing to cross the abyss in curious and playful wonder, we enter an expansive and untamed country that has its own rhythm.  Time melts and thoughts become stories, music, poems, images, ideas.  This is the intelligence of the heart, but by that I don't mean just the seat of our emotions.  I mean a vast range of receptive and connective abilities, intuition, innovation, wisdom, creativity, sensitivity, the aesthetic, qualitative and meaning making.  It is here that we uncover our purpose and passion.

The future exists only in our imaginations.  It is a collective story waiting for our voices to express.  That can only happen when you and I are willing to enter the emptiness, listening in the silence until we can understand how to create a future we can befriend.

I am wondering now, dear reader, about you.  What are the courageous conversations you need to have with yourself, and how do you need to have them?

May we allow ourselves stillness so we can open our minds to ourselves, and spaciousness so we can allow a moment of rest when all thoughts fly above us like kites in a strong wind.

By Dawna Markova