to reveal its splendor you need to burn in the fire of love." --Rumi
In becoming a map maker, I simultaneously learned that the treasure I was seeking,
the pirate's booty that was hidden long ago,
the hunter's bounty that was lost,
the adventurer's path that was veered off,
the philosopher's stone that was stolen,
and the sage's tablet that was turned to dust,
has always been inside of me.
For I am the jewel in the lotus.
(And, so are you.)
How liberating to find what I have always been seeking.
And, how ironic that, all along, what I had been searching for was simply within ~
it is within.
Thus, the maps are no longer about a destination, per se,
for we are always and ever there, here, now.
Nothing more, nothing less.
This is it.
(Can you learn to smile and enjoy it?)
This
is
it.
Rather, the maps are about integrating the daily steps that feed our souls and lift our spirits
into our lives, in these moments now.
Not tomorrow. Not when we die. Not for another time, off in some near, distant future.
N-o-w.
In order to create our individual as well as collective maps, we must have an ability to listen to our hearts. What does yours say? What do you desire? To want, need, crave and desire is human ~ it is part of what makes us who we are. There is no shame and no guilt in this. Only the instinctual call to listen, deeply. And then, to respond.
Our responses are what make up part of our maps.
However, the first step, listening, is the hardest.
It takes time
and it takes hard work.
Listening does not come easy.
We listen with our whole bodies and senses, not just with our ears and an ability to hear.
We listen without our monkey minds running on auto-pilot.
We listen with a depth of presence that sees out of the back of our heads, hears from the bottom of our soles, feels with every single hair on our bodies and knows with an expansiveness that is ancient and non-sensical.
We listen
and we listen
and we listen
and when we've learned to listen
long enough
deep enough
and patiently enough
the universe responds
markers and signposts begin to guide our way
and the answers make themselves apparent and evident.
Force is unneccesary
and the Power is clear.
I like to believe that I've learned to listen
and I feel that, in my listening,
my Gifts
(Yes, my ego is so big that I believe I have two!)
the God and Goddess-given gifts that I was born with
that I was brought into this world
to share
with you and you and you and you
made themselves evidently clear.
Now, armed with this knowledge,
with a language that is unique to my Be-ing,
I feel less confused
less lost and searching
and more grounded, centered and confident.
Knowing my gift
is a gift,
in and of itself.
What is your gift?!
And, if you don't know (which is perfectly okay!),
what are you doing to learn to listen for it?!
"The Lover is ever drunk with Love.
He is mad,
she is free.
He sings with delight,
she dances with ecstasy.
Caught by our own thoughts,
we worry about everything.
But once we get drunk on that Love
whatever will be, will be." --Rumi
He is mad,
she is free.
He sings with delight,
she dances with ecstasy.
Caught by our own thoughts,
we worry about everything.
But once we get drunk on that Love
whatever will be, will be." --Rumi
