Sticks and Stones…

 

You remember that old nursery rhyme, don’t you? No, this isn’t going to be a post about how words have power and we need to be careful how we speak, especially to ourselves (though it’s true and we must).

 

It is about taking time for allowing the sacred to emerge, even though it’s around us all the time. It’s in everything, even the random sticks and stones we find on our path.

 

Yesterday I took a Medicine Walk, a time-out-of-time to be in nature, ask for guidance and receive answers in wonderfully wordless ways. It wasn’t a walk for exercise, though I’m sure I got some. It wasn’t a walk to simply enjoy the beauty of the natural world, although I certainly did that (especially after being inside over many hot, rainy days).

 

It was a walk with intention — the intention to get clarity about how I can serve you more deeply, how I can fulfill my own spiritual path more honestly, and how to bring even more of the sacred to light in my daily life.

 

It was not a time for lots of thinking and figuring things out, but for letting things come to me and allow myself to be fully with them. Over the course of the next week or so, as I reflect on what I felt, saw and noted in my little journal, the meanings will begin sorting themselves out in my cognitive mind.

 

One of the first things I came across was this Y-shaped twig; the Y was for me a big YES, though I’m still not certain to what. To my quest being worthwhile, perhaps…

 

And towards the end I felt compelled to pick up some stones to bring home, and chose the two above out of the thousands I walked by. They now all sit on my altar, to remind me of that sacred walk and where their larger meaning might eventually become clear.

 

Or maybe not. That’s the thing about the sacred — it exists in liminal space, beyond conscious thought. Theorizing might be fun and offer some sense of meaning in an often seemingly random world, but ultimately our spiritual journey is about becoming comfortable with the Mystery. 

 

That is where the true power lies…sticks and stones and all.

 

The Myth of Finding Time

 

My friend, does it feel as though you never have the time to do certain things? You know, those things you should be doing, like meditating and exercising and taking time to prepare healthy meals?

Well, here’s a dirty little secret — if you keep looking for the time, you will never find it.

You have to claim it.

For example, do you need to find time to brush your teeth? I’ll bet you do that twice a day without really thinking about it. Do you show up for your doctor appointments, your kids’ Parent/Teacher night, your best friend’s birthday? Those things are probably pretty non-negotiable in your mind and heart once they are in your calendar.

In much the same way, if you wait to find the time to feed your soul, it will keep slipping away. You have to claim the time to fulfill your deeper needs, or like an untended garden your soul gets choked with weeds and dries out from lack of water.

I figured this out once again yesterday, when I took a retreat day for myself at my beloved Omega Institute. I spent much of the time outdoors and had magical encounters with a garden snake, lilies, trees and even a few humans. I walked the labyrinth and meditated beside a small pool of water at the Sanctuary.

I let the energy of each moment show me where to put my feet next; what book to pick up in the shop, when it was time for a cup of tea, how long to stay in the center of the labyrinth. And came home with an expansive sense of contentment and acceptance that continues into this moment…

Without clearing a huge swath of time, it’s hard to access your natural rhythms. It isn’t easy to know what you need versus what you think you want, what it is that you truly yearn for. There was a plaque near the Sanctuary that mentioned yearning and offered this definition:

Yearning — a tender or urgent longing motivated by love.

What do you yearn for, that you know deeply nourishes your being and brings you to a natural state of love? When was the last time you gifted yourself with it? I invite you, no, I implore you, to claim the time and do just that.

Plant your flag — own your ability to declare what you want for yourself and take it. Everyone who depends on you (or you think you owe your time to more) needs you to do this too. Taking a stand for you encourages others to take a stand for themselves.

What will you discover when you do? I’d be honored to hear about it in your comment here.