Ruminating On Rumi

As you start to walk out on the way, the way appears.

~ M. Rumi

Monday, December 15, 2014

A Pondering

How many times does it take bumping up against that same old thing?  Skinning a knee on a past trip up or bruising a shin on an old memory.  How often do we settle into habit patterns that wound self and other?  What does it take to shake off this same-old-same and wake up with a different response, a different perspective of the world and each other?  

Perhaps, it begins with first admitting that, "I have been disillusioned." Through conditioning and learnings familial, social and cultural I have been treading the path of familiarity even if this path is one of suffering and struggle. Maybe I need to move away from the mores of tribe and see what's before my very eyes. 

Shining of the light of awareness on what has been so long accepted as the way it is without questioning, without a closer look can herald a fresh beginning. Neither wrong nor right, it is simply noticing that what may once have worked no longer serves. 

Then willingness may step in. I am willing to see I may have not been seeing clearly. I am willing to, at the very least, look through beginner's eyes. Willingly, I can offer patience, kindness and compassion to self and others. This journey is the learning. Each step, each breath the opportunity for a fresh beginning.  

"Forgiveness says you are given another chance to make a new beginning," so said Desmond Tutu. With forgiveness we give ourselves and others the permission to let grievances melt and the heart to soften. There is none among us who has not made a mistake. The salve of forgiveness heals while bitterness only hardens the heart.  

Can we look at all this through the eyes of gratitude?  All this, everything has brought me to this point in time. Every bit, the tough and the tender, is fertilizer to grow and nurture a life well lived and well loved. 

These thoughts/steps are not a prescription for curing all that ails. I don't even ask that you believe what I've offered here.  I put them out as a possible new view approach for when unhappiness, discontent, sadness, anxiety, depression are more prevalent in life then the simple joy of being alive and meeting all of life's ups and downs with an open heart and a fresh eye. 



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