Yesterday I read this passage from Christine Paintner's THE SOUL'S SLOW RIPENING, which mines the meaning of my word-for-2024: WALK.
"'Wanderer, there is no road. The way is made by walking,' The Christian scriptures speak of a "way," but it is not the path of our expectations. It is not the ten-step plan for inner peace. Instead, this way calls us to deeper and more radical trust to realize that the way is made by walking." -- Paintner
Like many of us, I can get knotted up in the past, or convinced that just a little more effort will lead to the proverbial greener grass of some imagined future. But life is a pilgrimage of small discernments and everyday graces. I used to love writing novels (who knows, maybe I will again one day :) ), and there's always that moment about 2/3 of the way through a draft when you think "Holy crap, what have I been doing? What was I thinking?" And any experienced writer knows..... you just keep writing. So it is with our dreams when life seems to press in from all sides.
There is always some small shift to bring us closer to our dreams, no matter how fixed the everydayness can feel. I love Julia Cameron's THE ARTIST'S WAY, because she invites readers to brighten up one corner of a room, or install that birdfeeder, or whatever it is that enchants your living space just a bit. If you want to hang a string of fairy lights in your meditation corner -- do it!
So today, just for the heck of it, change one little thing -- just because it makes you happy. Take a step in the direction of something new. Enchant your own life. Trust in process, not product. Trust that one day you will be amazed at how far you've travelled. And in the meantime, you might also embrace this stretch of road. — Alison Umminger Mattison