Before I round the final bend, here is one last percolation:
If you believe in the illusion of safety long enough, it will take you to the Truth of You.
Deep in Your Heart of hearts, witnessing the Truth of Who You Really Are, Who Mystery will really have you be as a Gift to World, you want nothing more than to be, and live, this Truth.
And in the paradoxically magical way of the Great Mystery, you will live this Truth of Yourself; You will be the Truth of You, at All costs, at all risks to your safety.
The illusion of safety vanishes, becoming only the mirage that it is as your Truth emanates into Form and Realness, a Realness beyond real. Shimmering as the One True You, You journey forth in the safest way possible -- Embodied, Initiated Truth. Boldly broken open to Mystery and the mystery of You.
Riding the Wind with my Heart today, Galloping into my Truth with Reverence and Abandon.
And so it is.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Thursday, October 08, 2015
I am but a water droplet in the river of life . . .
I will share what has returned to me, what has been in front of me all these years, words that came to me to share as my high school graduation speech. I was our class valedictorian, which I sometimes feel doesn't mean as much being my high school class was a class of seven. Yes, 7, as in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Not a typo, missing a zero or zeroes, or a -ty or a hundred, just seven. The salutatorian, Andrew, and I were separated by some minuscule amount like a tenth of a percentage point on a final grade in one quarter of the sixteen over four years of high school. At least, that is my memory of it. And in classic HSP-style (Highly Sensitive Person, read more on Elaine Aron's website: www.hsperson.com), I felt guilty that we were separated by so little and that Andrew didn't get to be valedictorian. I know I wasn't expecting top of the class, and I probably was more than a little nervous about giving a speech as such, too. (That would be the introvert part there combined with the HSP trait.)
A week or two before graduation, this is what came to me while sitting in the back of English class one morning. Yes, Mr. Goss, I was not paying attention that day for a good portion of class. Highly unusual for me to be so tuned out from class, and thanks for not calling me out on it. Hopefully I was well cloaked in the back of the room, filled with maybe fifteen students, lol.
This speech, this poem, this offering, this Vision was born that day:
I am but a water droplet in the River of life.
May I become part of a Beautiful rainbow.
The River
Flowed in the same bend,
Same course,
For Twelve years.
Also twelve years
The river took to work on a
New course.
Suddenly —
A new bend,
A shorter course,
And Another start
To working on a
Shorter course in
Years to come.
Working for
Another relief in its
Ever-flowing existence.
The river works every day.
The river flows every day.
The river forever goes on.
This is the lesson learned from the River.
May I have the stamina of the River.
I Learn from
Water,
Earth,
Clouds,
Sky,
Wind, and
Rain.
Animals.
Learning does not come in the structure of a school.
When riding a horse,
Going up hill
Takes more
Than
Going down hill.
Down hill,
The rider can lean back,
And relax.
Up hill,
The rider leans forward with the hill
Urges the horse on,
Works harder.
Whether running, jogging,
Or walking;
Going up hill takes more effort.
Walking may seem slower yet
It takes more strength,
And allows for more
Planning in the footsteps.
The up hill path may be more
Difficult but
This Path will also
Get me to more
Places.
This is the lesson learned from the Horse.
The harder I work
The sooner I will get to the
Places I Plan to Reach.
The River carves
Its way into
The earth.
This is beautiful —
A Canyon into the Soul.
The River flows
Into the Earth.
May I follow the River to
Know the depths of
My Soul and potential.
My ability to carve
New paths within
My home.
To Know my home.
The Rain cleanses
The Earth
Washes the fresh
Layer of dust away.
Encourages growth.
Brings the green,
The Health of our Home.
The Rain joins the River.
The Sky
Look straight up
At the sky and
Wonder and wander
Through the
Connection of the
Blue.
The Ever-flowing
Road of the World’s
Waterways.
The Sky brings Rain.
The Earth carries the Rain to
The River.
The Earth knows
How to take care of herself.
Drought or Flood
Sun or Rain
Wind or Stillness
May I learn more
From my home
On how to Survive.
On how to live in the
Balance of this Circle.
The Clouds
The Clouds carry the Rain
Through the Sky to the Earth.
Clouds are also the dreams of Mountains.
The Wind is the messenger which
Carries these dreams.
May I have the
Skill of the
Wind to carry
My clouds
From the mountains of my life
To the Mountains of truth
Where I will find the
Heartbeat of Nature clearly
Pulsing in my Life.
May I continue
To learn from
The best teacher —
My Earth Home
The Clouds
The Sky
The River
The Rain
And those Creatures
Which Live in the
Abundance of
This Circle.
May I learn from All.
Before I start or finish a poem,
A chapter,
A book, a day, a year, a paragraph,
A line, a word;
May I learn the Lessons I am to learn
So as to make
The Basis,
The Foundation,
Of My Life
Stronger Each Day.
May Nature
Continue to
Teach me.
As long as I
Keep my eyes
Open.
As long as
My Ears listen.
My Heart beats.
My Lungs Breathe.
As long as
The Ancient Fire of Life
Burns Within Me.
There will be a
New lesson in
Each New Day.
May I reach the top
Of the Mountain and the
Depths of the Canyon
in Full Strength.
And May I remember this:
I am but a water droplet in the River of life.
May I become part of a Beautiful rainbow.
With that dear community -- family, friends, colleagues, clients, all of you who touch my heart and my life -- I venture out into the Wilderness, knowing, remembering, being but a water droplet in the river of life.
copyright 2015 L Y Inman Mitchell
A week or two before graduation, this is what came to me while sitting in the back of English class one morning. Yes, Mr. Goss, I was not paying attention that day for a good portion of class. Highly unusual for me to be so tuned out from class, and thanks for not calling me out on it. Hopefully I was well cloaked in the back of the room, filled with maybe fifteen students, lol.
This speech, this poem, this offering, this Vision was born that day:
I am but a water droplet in the River of life.
May I become part of a Beautiful rainbow.
The River
Flowed in the same bend,
Same course,
For Twelve years.
Also twelve years
The river took to work on a
New course.
Suddenly —
A new bend,
A shorter course,
And Another start
To working on a
Shorter course in
Years to come.
Working for
Another relief in its
Ever-flowing existence.
The river works every day.
The river flows every day.
The river forever goes on.
This is the lesson learned from the River.
May I have the stamina of the River.
I Learn from
Water,
Earth,
Clouds,
Sky,
Wind, and
Rain.
Animals.
Learning does not come in the structure of a school.
When riding a horse,
Going up hill
Takes more
Than
Going down hill.
Down hill,
The rider can lean back,
And relax.
Up hill,
The rider leans forward with the hill
Urges the horse on,
Works harder.
Whether running, jogging,
Or walking;
Going up hill takes more effort.
Walking may seem slower yet
It takes more strength,
And allows for more
Planning in the footsteps.
The up hill path may be more
Difficult but
This Path will also
Get me to more
Places.
This is the lesson learned from the Horse.
The harder I work
The sooner I will get to the
Places I Plan to Reach.
The River carves
Its way into
The earth.
This is beautiful —
A Canyon into the Soul.
The River flows
Into the Earth.
May I follow the River to
Know the depths of
My Soul and potential.
My ability to carve
New paths within
My home.
To Know my home.
The Rain cleanses
The Earth
Washes the fresh
Layer of dust away.
Encourages growth.
Brings the green,
The Health of our Home.
The Rain joins the River.
The Sky
Look straight up
At the sky and
Wonder and wander
Through the
Connection of the
Blue.
The Ever-flowing
Road of the World’s
Waterways.
The Sky brings Rain.
The Earth carries the Rain to
The River.
The Earth knows
How to take care of herself.
Drought or Flood
Sun or Rain
Wind or Stillness
May I learn more
From my home
On how to Survive.
On how to live in the
Balance of this Circle.
The Clouds
The Clouds carry the Rain
Through the Sky to the Earth.
Clouds are also the dreams of Mountains.
The Wind is the messenger which
Carries these dreams.
May I have the
Skill of the
Wind to carry
My clouds
From the mountains of my life
To the Mountains of truth
Where I will find the
Heartbeat of Nature clearly
Pulsing in my Life.
May I continue
To learn from
The best teacher —
My Earth Home
The Clouds
The Sky
The River
The Rain
And those Creatures
Which Live in the
Abundance of
This Circle.
May I learn from All.
Before I start or finish a poem,
A chapter,
A book, a day, a year, a paragraph,
A line, a word;
May I learn the Lessons I am to learn
So as to make
The Basis,
The Foundation,
Of My Life
Stronger Each Day.
May Nature
Continue to
Teach me.
As long as I
Keep my eyes
Open.
As long as
My Ears listen.
My Heart beats.
My Lungs Breathe.
As long as
The Ancient Fire of Life
Burns Within Me.
There will be a
New lesson in
Each New Day.
May I reach the top
Of the Mountain and the
Depths of the Canyon
in Full Strength.
And May I remember this:
I am but a water droplet in the River of life.
May I become part of a Beautiful rainbow.
With that dear community -- family, friends, colleagues, clients, all of you who touch my heart and my life -- I venture out into the Wilderness, knowing, remembering, being but a water droplet in the river of life.
copyright 2015 L Y Inman Mitchell
Authenticity, Death, and Dismemberment -- Authenticity
Authenticity.
Is what I seek; what I intend to find; the space, the place, the dynamic internal dance party I plan to live from daily.
That's about the extent of what I can clearly say regarding Authenticity at this juncture of the journey.
Death, I've conversed with nearly my whole life.
Dismemberment, I welcome as the most likely route through the high passes in the craggy peaks I've rambled along for three plus decades now.
Authenticity, I pray awaits. If nothing else, my time and focus has been worth the ramble, and all the scramble.
The full tale of Authenticity is still in the cocoon.
These aren't the maps that are guaranteed to get me where I am going. These roads are the most likely to get me in the vicinity of a way in, a way to the in-roads.
Is what I seek; what I intend to find; the space, the place, the dynamic internal dance party I plan to live from daily.
That's about the extent of what I can clearly say regarding Authenticity at this juncture of the journey.
Death, I've conversed with nearly my whole life.
Dismemberment, I welcome as the most likely route through the high passes in the craggy peaks I've rambled along for three plus decades now.
Authenticity, I pray awaits. If nothing else, my time and focus has been worth the ramble, and all the scramble.
The full tale of Authenticity is still in the cocoon.
These aren't the maps that are guaranteed to get me where I am going. These roads are the most likely to get me in the vicinity of a way in, a way to the in-roads.
 |
| Goodyear Assurance TripleTred poses with Southeastern and Southwestern US Maps |
Monday, October 05, 2015
After the Five day Storm Passes
The beach at sunrise much earlier this year
I stand on our beach this morning looking at the hollow shadow from thirty feet of sand, at least three feet deep, that has been moved elsewhere. The railroad tie that has been shifted at least twenty-feet along the shore. I face again the awe I feel for the power of water. Water fueled by wind especially. And I feel the water in my body.
I recognize that part of our task, my task, is to learn how to harness the power of the water within us and to do so in concert with the Waters of the World.
And now the geese are flying over, high and honking. Singing their songs of migration, they, too, sound glad to be able to fly again on gentle winds today.
Saturday, October 03, 2015
General Update to Pilgrimmage to the Desert Post
In less than a week now, I embark on a month long, wilderness-based exploration of the feminine hero's journey, which includes diving into the concepts of authenticity, death, and dismemberment. Part of this journey is owning my place as a healer and a writer. I have worked with Animas Valley Institute (AVI) for six years now, and AVI’s wilderness-based courses are a key part of this process.
Throughout history in many societies, communities have supported their healers in a multitude of ways. While I am fiercely independent, self-sufficient, and have supported my journey largely on my own for the last six years, the time has come to follow the lead of the healer archetype further and ask my community for financial sponsorship. By asking for and receiving financial support from my community — you, my friends, and from my larger human community — I am in turn asked to own my role as a healer in this community in a way I never have before.
This financial support will help to cover the costs of tuition and travel expenses. The tuition and estimated expenses total $4,500. My fund raising goal for this campaign is $1,500.
As of October 2nd, I have met and exceeded my initial goal. This happened on the same day that we shared about my journey with an even larger community. At that point I was somewhere around 70% funded and was not anticipating that by the end of the day, this campaign would be 106% funded and counting.
Based on the timing of these events, I am leaving the campaign open until I leave, and all monies over the initial goal will go toward the new tires that got thrown in the budgeting mix after this campaign was well under way! I am feeling such gratitude for each of your contributions and support -- monetary and otherwise. I also continue to feel so honored.
From the time I was a kid, I was gifted with my hands — as a writer and as a massage therapist. I’ve always been interested in healing professions from veterinary technician to massage therapist, and now CranioSacral therapist. This has been coupled with my fascination with discovering who I am and what I am here to do in this lifetime. The descent into the world of Soul — the land of deepest Truths of the Genuine Self — is a journey rich in dreams, visions, metaphors, and an intense longing for Wholeness. Soulcraft and AVI provide the framework and guidance to follow this longing as a return to Wholeness.
Through this, I am more whole and authentic in my walk as a human being, and as a CranioSacral therapist. A basic tenet of CranioSacral Therapy is that the body heals itself. So while I am really more of a facilitator in the healing process, I suspect this is what the role of healer has always been, facilitating people’s return to optimal wellness, return to wholeness.
As a member of my community, your blessings and prayers for this journey are deeply appreciated. Your financial support is a gift to both me and the larger healing world. Whether you are able to donate or not, please remember to show appreciation for all the healers in your life. This is the best support any of us can receive. Thank you. I am honored by your presence in my community.
Wilderness-based Feminine Hero's Journey
Throughout history in many societies, communities have supported their healers in a multitude of ways. While I am fiercely independent, self-sufficient, and have supported my journey largely on my own for the last six years, the time has come to follow the lead of the healer archetype further and ask my community for financial sponsorship. By asking for and receiving financial support from my community — you, my friends, and from my larger human community — I am in turn asked to own my role as a healer in this community in a way I never have before.
This financial support will help to cover the costs of tuition and travel expenses. The tuition and estimated expenses total $4,500. My fund raising goal for this campaign is $1,500.
As of October 2nd, I have met and exceeded my initial goal. This happened on the same day that we shared about my journey with an even larger community. At that point I was somewhere around 70% funded and was not anticipating that by the end of the day, this campaign would be 106% funded and counting.
Based on the timing of these events, I am leaving the campaign open until I leave, and all monies over the initial goal will go toward the new tires that got thrown in the budgeting mix after this campaign was well under way! I am feeling such gratitude for each of your contributions and support -- monetary and otherwise. I also continue to feel so honored.
From the time I was a kid, I was gifted with my hands — as a writer and as a massage therapist. I’ve always been interested in healing professions from veterinary technician to massage therapist, and now CranioSacral therapist. This has been coupled with my fascination with discovering who I am and what I am here to do in this lifetime. The descent into the world of Soul — the land of deepest Truths of the Genuine Self — is a journey rich in dreams, visions, metaphors, and an intense longing for Wholeness. Soulcraft and AVI provide the framework and guidance to follow this longing as a return to Wholeness.
Through this, I am more whole and authentic in my walk as a human being, and as a CranioSacral therapist. A basic tenet of CranioSacral Therapy is that the body heals itself. So while I am really more of a facilitator in the healing process, I suspect this is what the role of healer has always been, facilitating people’s return to optimal wellness, return to wholeness.
As a member of my community, your blessings and prayers for this journey are deeply appreciated. Your financial support is a gift to both me and the larger healing world. Whether you are able to donate or not, please remember to show appreciation for all the healers in your life. This is the best support any of us can receive. Thank you. I am honored by your presence in my community.
Wilderness-based Feminine Hero's Journey
50 mph Hair trimming
The Divine has trimmed the trees running the fingers of its wind through its hair.
Some larger tangles were removed, too, just not pictured here.
Some larger tangles were removed, too, just not pictured here.
Friday, October 02, 2015
Kombucha, Cash, and Conversations
Between Kombucha, Cash, and Conversations, today has been abundantly filled with a flow of all three. This outpouring of support is greater, today, than even the rain. (And for those of you currently in the Annapolis, MD area, you have an idea how much this abundant flow must be given our current non-hurricane, nearly tropical storm-like conditions for the past few days!)
A week out from departure, I am. This was energetically clear today as so many friends began touching base on any number of topics. There were four active text conversations happening on my phone (ok, I was involved; my phone isn't that smart!), and all by 8:30 in the morning. I average one to two casual ones once a day or every other day, and rarely before 9:00. I had the opportunity to catch up with people near and dear to me that live practically next door, on the other side of the country, and across the pond; a dear friend entering elderhood, a family with baby newly arrived, my wife :), another dear friend who has been an absolute rock, and friendships that are just taking root and beginning to blossom.
I am exceedingly blessed and honored to be receiving connection with all these amazing people in my life. Blessed, blessed, very blessed.
It is also sobering as it underscores the importance of this journey into the wilds. It highlights the importance of saying "goodbyes" and exchanging well wishes. The importance of clearing the slate, finishing pieces previously left undone, often for years, and of honoring the relationships and connections with our fellow human beings. From this place of connection, support, community, kombucha, cash, and conversations, I will head out into the wilds of our country's desert southwest, the wilds of communities waiting for me in those destinations, and the wilds of my inner landscape -- the deep, enveloping, welcoming places of my heart, my soul, my innermost truth.
Next week I begin, layer by layer, state by state, to drive and dive into the depths of my being. Days like today are what buoy me when fear, doubt, uncertainty, or just the "are you freaking crazy?!?" parts come calling. Days like today stand loud and tall with the part of me that knows it is time; it is time to venture out and ask to meet my deepest calling. It is time to follow the longing I've known on some level all my life, felt clearly since I was twelve, and cannot ignore a moment longer now. It is time to go meet my destiny.
Some part warns me that this sounds too tidy and neat. Another cautions that it may not happen, especially if I say it will. Others chime in.
I am reminded of Mary Oliver's words:
". . . though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice-
. . . You knew what you had to do,
. . . and there was a new voice,
which you slowly recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do-
determined to save
the only life you could save."
I am grateful that I hear this new voice, that I am coming to recognize it, and that I am well supplied for the journey ahead as I follow it.
I am well supplied for the coming month. More importantly, I am well supplied for the long road of integration, discernment, deciphering, and embodiment that awaits those who step onto the path of Authenticity, Death, and Dismemberment.
Thank you for your gifts of Kombucha, Cash, and Conversations. Thank you, to each of you who touch my life and whose lives I have the opportunity to touch. All of this will carry me far. These resources and connections will carry me to the edge. From the edge, I must go it alone. And from the edge, I become. I don't return. I don't come back. I become.
Become whomever I am most called to be, whomever is the fullest and truest expression of my unique facet of the Divine, whomever best expresses the unique face of Mystery that is my soul-embodied, soul-initiated self. This emergence will also happen at its own pace and in its own time. It is magical yet not the kind of magic where I will return in a month all shiny and made over! ;-) It is a mysterious magic that transforms from the inside out, just like a caterpillar's body dissolves from the inside out while curled up safely in its chrysalis.
And whatever you do, don't cut the chrysalis open, don't rush the birthing. Allow the emergence to unfold in the pace and time that only the soul's imaginal cells Know.
In a week, it begins. The rest is up to Mystery.
A week out from departure, I am. This was energetically clear today as so many friends began touching base on any number of topics. There were four active text conversations happening on my phone (ok, I was involved; my phone isn't that smart!), and all by 8:30 in the morning. I average one to two casual ones once a day or every other day, and rarely before 9:00. I had the opportunity to catch up with people near and dear to me that live practically next door, on the other side of the country, and across the pond; a dear friend entering elderhood, a family with baby newly arrived, my wife :), another dear friend who has been an absolute rock, and friendships that are just taking root and beginning to blossom.
I am exceedingly blessed and honored to be receiving connection with all these amazing people in my life. Blessed, blessed, very blessed.
It is also sobering as it underscores the importance of this journey into the wilds. It highlights the importance of saying "goodbyes" and exchanging well wishes. The importance of clearing the slate, finishing pieces previously left undone, often for years, and of honoring the relationships and connections with our fellow human beings. From this place of connection, support, community, kombucha, cash, and conversations, I will head out into the wilds of our country's desert southwest, the wilds of communities waiting for me in those destinations, and the wilds of my inner landscape -- the deep, enveloping, welcoming places of my heart, my soul, my innermost truth.
Next week I begin, layer by layer, state by state, to drive and dive into the depths of my being. Days like today are what buoy me when fear, doubt, uncertainty, or just the "are you freaking crazy?!?" parts come calling. Days like today stand loud and tall with the part of me that knows it is time; it is time to venture out and ask to meet my deepest calling. It is time to follow the longing I've known on some level all my life, felt clearly since I was twelve, and cannot ignore a moment longer now. It is time to go meet my destiny.
Some part warns me that this sounds too tidy and neat. Another cautions that it may not happen, especially if I say it will. Others chime in.
I am reminded of Mary Oliver's words:
". . . though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice-
. . . You knew what you had to do,
. . . and there was a new voice,
which you slowly recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do-
determined to save
the only life you could save."
I am grateful that I hear this new voice, that I am coming to recognize it, and that I am well supplied for the journey ahead as I follow it.
I am well supplied for the coming month. More importantly, I am well supplied for the long road of integration, discernment, deciphering, and embodiment that awaits those who step onto the path of Authenticity, Death, and Dismemberment.
Thank you for your gifts of Kombucha, Cash, and Conversations. Thank you, to each of you who touch my life and whose lives I have the opportunity to touch. All of this will carry me far. These resources and connections will carry me to the edge. From the edge, I must go it alone. And from the edge, I become. I don't return. I don't come back. I become.
Become whomever I am most called to be, whomever is the fullest and truest expression of my unique facet of the Divine, whomever best expresses the unique face of Mystery that is my soul-embodied, soul-initiated self. This emergence will also happen at its own pace and in its own time. It is magical yet not the kind of magic where I will return in a month all shiny and made over! ;-) It is a mysterious magic that transforms from the inside out, just like a caterpillar's body dissolves from the inside out while curled up safely in its chrysalis.
And whatever you do, don't cut the chrysalis open, don't rush the birthing. Allow the emergence to unfold in the pace and time that only the soul's imaginal cells Know.
In a week, it begins. The rest is up to Mystery.
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