I have found that it is not the things that come most easily to me that hold the biggest rewards, but those things that challenge my perceived limits. It is in rising to a high call, surpassing what I ever thought I could possibly accomplish, that outstanding victory is known. If I want to achieve the ordinary, I do what is easy. But if I want to be illumined by the remarkable, I quest toward the light of my greatest possibility.
That great possibility is not usually clearly defined. Often, it emerges from a series of trials and errors, ventures and gains. Patience is a necessary component to its discovery. If I have a fervent desire in my heart, I nourish it by focusing on achieving it and by taking all steps I know toward it. If, over time, it is not readily coming to pass, that does not mean it is not supposed to be. It does not mean that it is not a right path for me. If my desire still burns, it means I am in a holding pattern. There is something more I need to learn before stepping into the new role. I will be led into situations that will present lessons necessary for me to master before I can take the next step toward the dream. I need to remain patient. Remain focused. Be aware. Watch for signs and heed them. Dream realization is an incremental process, like the blooming of a rose.
If I attempt to open a rose bud by force, the petals fall to the ground. I am left with a bare stem. If, however, I allow nature’s course to gradually unfold, I will eventually see the bloom. This teaches me: Don’t rush the rose. Allow divine timing to play out. While in its bud phase, the rose cannot see the splendor of its future blossom. It cannot know the role it will someday play in the beauty of a bouquet. It only knows to follow light.
I, like the bud, seem to be in a period of gestation. I patiently remain focused on the dream as I quest toward the light. I welcome the necessary lessons that are preparing me. Where am I headed, some are wondering. I tell them, I am bloom-bound.
Be enlightened! ~ M
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no one could have dreamed would come their way." ~ Wolfgang von Goethe ~
ReplyDeleteIt's that commitment thing again. It has happened, for me, without my knowledge, on occasion, or grown quietly in me, like that small bud............I have always felt as tho a commitment would limit me, would close doors.....it does not: it defines some part of me, or all of me, and it unveils doors I didn't know existed.......
i am a writer, an editor.......i have been broke and pretty much home-bound, needing work, not finding work.....and still, i am a writer, editor......a job helping someone write his life story was sent my way, officially by the careers office at school but i know who sent it!........this has remained ongoing and well-paying and, via this person, I just met a magazine writer and editor, who really loves what I write and........and what? what next? who knows.........but now I am (a) quite gainfully employed, and (b) my name is out there...my work is out there........doors...........blossoms....
it is wednesday, and it is six o'clock in the morning and black outside........it is all lit up and gold, here at my desk, with one cat asleep on my computer and one trying to help me type and rachmaninoff (sp but lovely anyhow) playing first piano concerto--how happy i am that i have the odd ability to love rachmaninoff and the doors with equal, if different, fervor!--anyway, i am sitting here putting off diving into "the inferno" to lean back and find a moment of connection to--to what?--what connection, what Light, am i looking for?--i don't know. this is one of those days when maybe a bowl of cereal is the only answer. now, there is a connection--yes, wait, listen......as i raise a spoonful of cheerios (or whatever) to my mouth, i am, by that little and very personal act, connected to some unknown but very real person who was connected to a kernel of grain......
ReplyDeletea kernel destined to become a bit of cereal, and reside in a box, and come to my home, and become my breakfast on a morning when i am not feeling much sense of the universe. the cereal here in front of me has many lives involved in its path from field to me, and thinking of that opens my world, this morning.
cereal. its not just for breakfast any more.
its for life.
cheers.
Enlightenment every day. The small things.......what do I see, right now, right here at my desk, that I miss seeing because I am so used to it?..........You see, I am having to make a conscious effort to find just one small piece of "enlightenment" --emphasis on the "light"--because it hurts, this morning, it hurts.......so: ok, I'll focus on the pretty cranberry chair, knowing it is not a chair made of cranberries, nor a place for cranberries to sit, but a sort-of sleigh-type rocker (that's all right, I know what I mean) of a lovely, deep red.......I keep looking at it, which is not hard, as it has a sweet circle of sleeping cat upon it, and I see the peace of the cat and get my answer, because, for some reason, I am reminded of what is, for me, one of the most gentle and lovely and soothing pieces of music I know, and I want to listen to it, and will, and feel the warmth of its sun and then, then I will be answered.......that song is the final cut on the Moody Blues first album, "A Question of Balance" .......can't think of its name, but it saved my life, one long-ago summer..........so I just listened, and yes, it is wonderful, but it isn't my answer, this morning. You are my answer........I realize I just stopped in to be with you all for a few
ReplyDeleteminutes. Its that simple. It feels good here. I feel good here. Now I am soothed, the cat woke up, looked at me, stretched, and went back to sleep. A suggestion? Cats are so smart. Thanks for letting me stop by. I feel better. Yawn.
been sitting here staring at computer........cat........wall........hands.........phantoms in the far distance.......keyboard..........guess i just dropped in to see what condition my condition is in.........knee-replacement in one and one-half weeks; i need to take all the enlightenment and courage from every minute of time.......the sun will soon be up, i will see my black-pot neighbor, with whom i am friends, and my friend barb may drop by and i know i am surrounded by love........so now i remember, love is all about me, everywhere......as long as i am open to it, and as long as i let my love flow, also.......so
ReplyDeletegood morning.
hi, honey, i'm home!
ReplyDeleteit is latish sunday night........i just finished a 3000 word paper....it is almost wednesday and i have never in my life been afraid of surgery before, but i am scared of this knee-replacement deal. perhaps it is because i have a greater sense of my own mortality?
dunno, but i will be glad to be here with y'all on the other side of the surgery, o yes i will!
i have 2 black and white cats playing indy 500 right now.........i wrote a good paper.......it is cool and breezy and maybe spottily rainy outside the window,,,,it will be all right.