- Journal Entry #17 — Seeing It Otherwise
Just being alive is seriously significant.
Still, we are always complicating things it seems.
As autumn weather delivers change to our doorsteps, I plan to focus on the wisdom of simple observation and connection with the unseen forces of the universe.
- Without the courage and patience to listen below the surface of things–without the ability to wait trustingly–we are never baptized into the full depth of life.
~ Mark Nepo, Seven Thousand Ways to Listen
The willingness to listen below the surface of things is also seriously significant.
Yet, we tend to complicate “good listening.”
We rush to react. We rush to interject an opinion, to offer (unsolicited) advice. Or we rush to say something clever, compelling, or immediately think about agreeing or disagreeing.
Why not just relax, and grow in mindfulness instead? Then we at least have a chance of becoming consistently aware of the habitual (damaging, dangerous, delusional, argumentative) thoughts the conditioned mind tends to produce.
This week, as I close out the 2013 journal called Seeing It Otherwise here in SunnyRoomStudio, I look forward to stepping back in order to live more deeply. Stepping back from thoughts that don’t truly serve the universe. The mind is a wonderful servant (usually), but it should never dictate our perceptions, assumptions, or reactions. Only by living from our spiritual dimension can we experience the “full depth of life,” as Mark Nepo suggests. And only from an enlightened perspective will we grow in appreciation for the ultimately invisible nature of the world. Don’t be fooled, or taken in, by what is only apparent on the surface. Don’t miss your own life. ~dh
Thanks for stopping by — see you next week!
- My Studio Guest October 4th is author and friend, Shirley Showalter. She has just published her memoir Blush: A Mennonite Girl Meets a Glittering World
and her guest post is about the spiritual journey her writing inspired.
- I hope you will stop by to meet this gifted author and kindred spirit.
- I also hope you’ve enjoyed Seeing It Otherwise … the 17 journal entries posted this year. A spiritual journey is never complete, and forever unfolding. How do you plan to continue your spiritual journey? How will you fuel and sustain your spiritual practice? How will you become consistently aware?
- In October (on the 11th), I hope to launch a 3-month series focused on several authors and poets I’ve come to admire over the years. I think you’ll enjoy this! And in early 2014, a new spiritual journey will begin: theme forthcoming.
