The deepest place on Earth is not a physical place, but the stillness we enter at the bottom of our pain, at the bottom of our fear and worry. The stillness we enter there opens us to a spacious state of being that some call joy. When we put down our dreams and maps of memory, precious as they are, we can feel the pulse of life. Then all we could ask for is softly between us, when too tired to deny that there’s nowhere else to go.

These moments of unfiltered depth are brief. We may only experience a handful of such openings in a lifetime. But like the strong chorus of stars that watch over us, we can navigate our way through the dark by following them.

I’m thinking of the time we met in our grief after losing my father and your mother. We found ourselves sitting on the edge of our sorrow like a cliff we couldn’t leave or jump from. I’m thinking of the time we felt complete for no reason after falling in the grass with our dog and the light softened all we were carrying.

It is these visitations to the deepest place on Earth that make life bearable, that draw who we are more fully into the world, that help us grow softer and stronger at the same time. No one can will these moments to open. No one can find them in the same place twice. And no one can live without them.

~Mark Nepo

how can we help each other? is it that simple?

inquiry for today~ subtleties of the moment are the openings…..

human openings

Be strong. Be courageous. 

Believe in yourself. 

Becoming is difficult. 

Metamorphosis is blood, 

Tearing and pain. 

Birth. New life. 

The metamorphosis of caterpillar 

To butterfly 

Is risky. Risky risk. 

Given a choice most of us 

Baby and caterpillar alike 

Would stay warm, safe 

In the womb. 

But staying put is not an option 

At birth 

Staying is death and putre. 

Fortunately. Fortunately, 

Refusing, refuting life 

Is not an option offered. 

Risk for a deep experience of life 

Or turn away? 

Risk to manifest beauty 

Or stay safe and secure? 

The choice is never easy. 

Somehow, for some reason, 

That’s how it needs to be. 

Owls hoot at each other 

Through the woods 

A hundred yards off 

Both sides of my cabin. 

Proclaiming territory, defending life. 

Life. Life’s worth defending. 

~Roderick MacIver