Happy Summer Everyone, With my move to Texas, I wanted to regain my footing on writing and as a result of being away, I discovered that more and more thoughts and ideas have been resonating with me that I hope to share here on the Knowing Road. With that said, I will be resuming with those self exploration and worldly thoughts with you all. I hope you are having a wonderful summer, and enjoy the upcoming July 4th Weekend! Be well! Stephen
The Invitation by Oriah has become one of my favorite poems of aspirational inner awareness. I hope you enjoy it. The last line is the take away for me. For the past several years, I have focused on self love since I have learned that everything in how I experience this life flows from that source. Can I can enjoy being alone and enjoy the company I keep? It is a question that I consistently ask of myself and the answer can signal where I am at that very moment reminding me to move back into the present.
“It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon.
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true
I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, ‘Yes.’
It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.
It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here.I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied.I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.”
Other inward questions that I have found helpful in this regard:
Am I engaged in a story from my past?
Am I focused on the uncertainty of a task?
Am I judging myself right now?
Am I judging someone else?
Am I taking something personally instead from a place of neutrality?
Am I worried or preoccupied about a future outcome?
Will this moment pass?
That is one story, but is there another story as an alternative?
When did I recall the last time I acknowledged and appreciated my breath?
When is the last time I was grateful?
When is the last time I appreciated, experienced or grounded myself to my natural surroundings? The colors, the sounds, the smells, the textures?
Those are some of the questions that are helpful for me, how do you get back to being present? Would love to hear from you.
QUICK TAKES:
“Across a number of studies, mindfulness has been found to reduce rumination and, in turn, decrease depression and anxiety.”
“For all we know, the Universe may even be infinite.”
“there are not only emotional benefits from spending time in a forest but also measurable physiological benefits.”
RECOMMENDATION:
In his new book, “From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life,” Arthur Brooks explores why those who have been successful in the first half of their professional lives, often encounter emptiness and a lack of satisfaction in the second half of their lives as some of the skills and abilities that brought them such success begins their inevitable decline. Questions as to purpose and meaning become painfully re-opened as it did for its author in which he recounts. In the end, Mr. Brooks recommends that a new mindset needs to be adopted with a focus on serving others as a wise elder, detaching away from loving “things” toward loving “people” and finding a spiritual grounding no matter your view of the workings of the universe. We are no longer (and have never been) the center of the world acknowledging that we are only a small and minuscule part in the divine. I found it thought provoking as I continue into the “back 9” of my life and I hope you will enjoy it as well.
If you have any suggestions or comments, please let me know. Thank you for reading!