Category Archives: Three Truths and One Wish

Three Truths and One Wish

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1. Truth: A walk is magic, medicine. If you can go longer and take a few dogs along, even better. It clears my head, gets me unstuck, lifts my mood, gets me moving, reminds me to breathe. It brings my mind back to my body, gets my feet on the ground, holds both my mind and body in the present moment, in the same place at the same time. A walk softens the hard edges, relaxes tension, releases strong emotions, dissolves discursive thoughts.

2. Truth: Surrender, letting go of control is really, really hard. This morning in my meditation, I set an intention to invite surrender and let go of control. It arose naturally, those two things, the choosing of them specifically felt genuine and right–for about three minutes. Then I thought to myself “what have I done?!” I felt myself wanting to struggle with surrender, to cling to my sense of control. And yet, I know this is the edge I need to lean into, move past. Courtney Carver just put up a new post on Be More With Less, Let the Monkey off the Chain, that is helpful. And from my Inner Pilot Light today came this:

You may feel like if you let go of the reins, all hell will break loose, you won’t get what you want, and everything will fall apart. But what you may not realize is that grabbing the reins and trying to exert control is actually sabotaging all the blessings the Universe is trying to bestow upon you. So darling, please, let go. Surrender. Trust.

I’m trying, kind and gentle reader, I really am.

snowobi

3. Truth: I miss Obi. I was watching videos of him this weekend, and it made me so happy to see him again, but so sad too, the hard fact that he is gone, that while I’m alive I will never see him again. That grief only gets heavier knowing the same is coming with Dexter, that soon I will be missing them both.

When they are, I can watch videos like this one and remember when we were all here together. They had just gotten a bath, which always makes them go a little crazy. When they would play like this, we called it Dog Fu. It’s hard to believe that this was Obi three months into chemo (if you look close, you can see the bare spot on his leg where they shaved it to put the IV in), which clearly wasn’t slowing him down.

One Wish: That we find ease, that we find the courage to surrender and let go, that we are lucky enough to love deeply and be loved.

Three Truths and One Wish

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Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing. ~Arundhati Roy

1. Truth: To realize a dream, an aspiration, a wish, a longing, a calling, what I hunger for and what haunts me, I must be able to name it. Write it down, flesh it out, visualize it, seek it out, look it directly in the eye, know it, claim it. Be able to say what it is, what I want, how I want to feel, plain and clear and true, see it whole.

2. Truth: Once I know what I want, I can want it without apology. As poet Mary Oliver says, “You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” Once I’ve identified what I long for, I can start moving in that direction. I don’t need any special equipment or training. I don’t need anyone’s permission (except my own). I simply take one tiny step, and then another. I can start any time, knowing that it is never too late, all I have to do is get out of my own way.

3. Truth: It is essential to keep my heart open to whatever arises. I can expect that things might not look how I imagined or go the way I planned, that I might get confused or even a little lost, that the dream might shift its shape as I live my way closer to it. I can ask for help, for guidance, for training, for support when I need it. I can drop my agenda, give up control, let go, surrender to the magic.

One wish: That with a compassionate vision, deep knowing, and skillful means, we all find our way to a life we love living.