You can check out Part 1 of this issue.
#26 You have already arrived.
Let’s practice the experience of what I’d call foundational welcome. Here’s how I do it with people I coach.
Imagine that, for a moment, you have already arrived. Wherever you have been going, personally, professionally, or spiritually, you have arrived, and it is here, and it is now, there’s no more. This is it. There’s nothing to prove, nothing to achieve. Life hugs you and, while holding your hands, looks you into your eyes and tells you, “You are welcome here.” All unfinished and shit. Breathe. This is your foundational, essential, elemental arrival.
Everything, everything in you will start saying, “But, but, but, wait …” Ignore it.
Just do it. Rest. Accept the unconditional welcome to where you are.
The kicker: This foundational arrival makes all our future leavings and arrivals possible.
#27 The river knows your name.
Kierkegaard, a philosopher who once convinced me that God might be real, talked about the buoyancy of life. He described it as faith that feels like “being carried by 10,000 fathoms of water.” I have no idea what a measure of fathom is. And I am not going to Google it. I like to not know what a fathom is. Instead, I let myself experience 10,000 of those holding me.
That seems like true rest to me. I want to stop trying to have all the answers, purveying my maps, and treat myself, others, or life as a project. Wanna join me? I know you do.
And let’s not worry. You are not going to disappear. Eventually, the river will take you to the ocean, and your body will fertilize other life. Your love will go on and be an inheritance to those who come next. You will never die.
The current of the river’s story, much larger than your own, is carrying both you and your story. The river is doing its work, but it’s also resting. And so can you.
That’s right, learn to rest, and you’ll never die.
Here’s a treat for you…
#28 Question: What kind of rewards would come out of a life where you are not looking to add to what you have?
This is one of those beautiful questions. And it’s powerful. I heard it from David Whyte when he was leading a group of us walking Tuscany for a week. Tuscany is where I spent my middle-school Summers, and during this walk, I could feel my childhood inviting me to choose my adult freedom.
Try it. Ask yourself this question. What kind of rewards would come out of a life where you are not looking to add to what you have?
Dare to write down your answer. (I still haven’t dared.)
#29 Quote: “There is a moment in each day.”
This undoing aspect of rest is a door to our vulnerability, and vulnerability is how we can be found by life. And paradoxically, this vulnerability of rest is the only place where we are truly safe. Poet William Blake says this place is available each day. Like today.
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