This TRAVELin Heart!

 

Oh, this soul’s journey

Ever-surprising!

Teaching me to delight in the unexpected

Watching my Self with compassionate eyes

Wanting the road

To ALWAYS!

Be straight

Be clear of obstacles

Be safe

Be illuminated

Be wide OPEN

Learning to enjoy

To be unconditionally present

To what comes

 The road

Winding

Twisting

Bumping

Jarring

Turning

Dark

Narrow

No side rails

Pot holes

Flooded

JOURNEYing ON

This TRAVELin’ Heart

Choice by conscious choice

Comes to see

The TRUTH

That the road

Is ALWAYS!

Straight

Clear

Safe

Illuminated

Wide OPEN

It is ME

My human Self

That gets sideways

Twisted

Narrow

Closed

Forgetting

Wanting to arrive

At some FINAL destination

Settle in

Stop the ride

Make what is temporary “permanent”

Instead of flowing with Life

Living the adventure

Getting “there”

And realizing

Every ending is a beginning

And

Every beginning is an ending

Our TRAVELin’ Heart

Goes ON and ON and ON

Down the road

Into the More

Awaiting

Freeing the JOY

In the journey.

Follow your bliss! Joseph Campbell urged us with his personal philosophy.  There is such profound wisdom in follow your bliss! as it is the invitation to free your joy in the living of your life for no reason at all and a million reasons simultaneously.  Grounded in the truth that every moment, every breath is a gift and knowing this beyond concept or theory, letting this vibration spring from our bones, we live the passion, our life powered by soul – this TRAVELin heart.  In this way of being, our heart travels on and on and on instead of trying to contain our ever-expanding Self, our life force boxed in by some idea about a final destination.  Everything is temporary!  We arrive there and life keeps flowing, moving us forward and we realize:  Every ending is a beginning and Every beginning is an ending.  Silly us!  There is no final destination only MORE awaiting us.  Allowing our travelin’ heart to do what it does naturally, flowing with life into the next there, we free the sheer joy in the journey step by step.

When asked why I don’t drink, why I don’t run marathons or participate in triathlons anymore, why I sold my business, etc. , I have heard my Self say over and over again:  It was fun until it wasn’t!  laughing and delighting in this simple truth.  As I look back on all my life choices, the things I plugged my energy, my precious life force into and how they are ever-changing, I see with absolute clarity that the times I hung on out of fear of the unknown – not honoring my travelin’ heart that only wants good for me, that only wants to free my joy – I deadened my Self and dulled my life in the resistance. 

I am grateful for the whole of my journey and all that has led me here into this moment.  There was immeasurable joy running marathons, operating my business, living in Brownsburg and so on, but my travelin’ heart, wiser than my human Self, knows how to follow my bliss; and wouldn’t let me betray my Self.  Now, there was a transition period in giving my Self permission to free the joy which was painstaking where I caged my Self, a prisoner of my own successes.  I was good at operating my business.  I was awesome at running marathons even qualifying for Boston.  I knew how to live that life in Brownsburg.  This is a liberation walk!  The veils lift through the graces of the universe that lie in our very heart and we cannot deny the truth which takes on the next road which converges into the next road until our last breath.   

Following the joy, trusting the travelin’ heart to guide us into what’s next? is essential to coming alive, never placing our Self into a final destination coffin while breath still pulses through us: mind, body, heart and soul.  It was fun until it wasn’t! is wisdom that urges me to move on and make new choices, letting go and reaching for more.  If I hang on, I won’t be free for the more. 

The invitation this day and this lifetime is to TRUST this TRAVELin’ heart that knows it is here to enjoy the journey and will guide you into your truest life stoking the fire in your belly with a sense of aliveness unparalleled.  It only whispers truth and higher wisdom as it cannot be conditioned by cultural spells toxic with shame and guilt that strip the joy in living.  It has not bought in to the B.S. that life is a bitch and then you die! or the sacrificing martyr complex where we betray our Self over and over and over believing falsely that this makes us good – that there is nobility in this self-deprecating, self-loathing, unworthy, doormat energy.  You are here to come alive, to be excited in expressing life uniquely as YOU.  Never settle for anything less than joyful LIVING.  A joyful life is a soulful life!

JOURNEY ON road after road after road with this knowing:   

Every ending is a beginning

And

Every beginning is an ending

YOUR TRAVELin’ Heart

Goes ON and ON and ON

Down the road

Into the More

Awaiting

Freeing the JOY

In the journey.

This LOVE!

Engraved on my earrings

Is the wisdom of Rumi:

“All I know of Spirit is this LOVE…”

This LOVE that “is”

The Heavens

And

The Earth

You and me

All of Creation

That which is visible

That which is invisible

The Soul force

The One

That is the breath we breathe

That beats our very heart

That fuels our lives

That holds us

Makes us whole

Even in our brokenness

This LOVE whispers wisdom

From the depths of us

If we dare to tune in

Silencing the noise of chaos & drama

Allowing this quiet connection

That longs to free us

Enliven us

Bring on the Joy

In living this life

This LOVE

Is the Net

Holding us

As we walk the tight rope

The high wire that terrifies us

As step by step

We learn to Trust

All that lies within us

Who we truly are

Connected to

This LOVE

That’s GOT us

ALWAYS!

Every moment

Moments of Fear

When we are in the Crazy

And Moments of Grace

When we remember:

We are not here to play it safe

We are here to come ALIVE

To give our Self AWAY

Generously

Sharing because we MUST

In this Mystical dance

Following the invisible rhythm

That vibrates

From the fire in our bellies

Never letting up

Shifting

And changing

But never-ceasing

This LOVE

The inner flow

A cadence echoing from the Soul

Leading and guiding us

To our Truest Life

The Sacred Blueprint

The Gold

The Treasure within

Awake to the Beauty we are

And have always been

The recognition of Truth:

We are The Swan

Not the Ugly Duckling

We have always been The Swan

And

We will always be The Swan

Eyes wide OPEN

We see

AWEstruck!

We truly are

This LOVE.

 

The joy in living is born of this LOVE.  Plugged in to this Truth that we are this LOVE we flow into the moments of our lives with an authentic sense of purpose beyond the roles we play, beyond the boxes we place ourselves in out of a need to define who we are in our search for meaning in our very existence.  When we consciously connect to this LOVE that abides within us and within all of creation, all that we do, all the roles that we play are infused with profound meaning shattering the boxes and definitions with limitlessness in the ecstatic dance of soulful living.  We enter the outer world resting in This LOVE, this home we take with us wherever we go which allows us to be unconditionally present to life.  This LOVE, free of our human conditions, free of our addiction to perfection, free of our judgments that perpetuate shame and guilt, ignites the passion, the well within that springs from knowing we are This LOVE; and this fills us with awe.  No longer separate from This LOVE, we are carried to new worlds within ready to sing and it is our joy to share these songs that they might remind others of the songs that lie within them.  We rise in This LOVE not for some narcissistic pursuit, to elevate our Self above others but from true generosity that comes from the soul expressing through us as us because it must share all that lies within – the pleasure in this immeasurable; we pour our Self into the whole of the world in a joyful dance, nourishing the ONEness, the connection, the melting pot of life which in its purest exchange knows what’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine. Withholding This LOVE represses what is natural, the organic flow of life through us into all life.  But once known This LOVE cannot be withheld as we come to see with the eyes of the soul that cutting it off, cuts off the breath of life.  Living in This LOVE we carry an abiding Thank you! in our hearts come what may, all our days here on earth.  And it is This LOVE that lives on long after our physical bodies have been laid to rest – the vibration of This LOVE infinite and eternal!     

LOVEing it ALL to USE it ALL!

Rejecting parts of our Self

Claiming what we deem “good”

Leaving “bad” baggage unclaimed

Left behind but still there

Stacked on storage shelves

Tucked away in secret rooms within us

Polluting us with Shame & Guilt

Containing precious energy

Our very life force

Longing to be expressed

To be acknowledged

To be known

To be loved

To come out and play

And in perfect time,

Ready or not,

Truth comes knocking

ALL that we are

Stands up to be counted

It makes its way out of hiding

Dismantling the carefully constructed Self

So we might heal the fracturing

Integrating our True Self

Welcoming us HOME

So we can become whole:

LOVEing it All so we can USE it ALL!

 

I have written about and laughingly refer to myself as a “Dangerous Woman” free of the fear of not being accepted for who I am; and free of the shame and guilt that used to motivate my life choices, carefully constructing a version of myself I deemed good and others liked and leaving the best parts of me on the cutting room floor. While I have stopped judging parts of myself as “good” or “bad” because it allows me to be present to what is instead of stuffing it into baggage and hiding it, my liberation walk continues and will continue all of my days as I am ever-growing and expanding which thrills me and enlivens me to allow the more to emerge, to stand up and be counted.   Claiming dormant energies that want to come out and play, I am excited and delighted in the surprise that comes from meeting more of My Self, loving what I used to believe was unlovable and seeing the beauty in how life uniquely expresses through me.  From this way of being, I experience great joy in meeting others, loving who they are and seeing the beauty of how life expresses through them.

Trying to fit the mold, to live a cookie cutter life, we clip the edges of who we truly are, snipping away the gems that long to be acknowledged and expressed.  This doesn’t mean that who we present ourselves to be isn’t true, it is just the invitation to allow the more, to come alive in the integration of all that we are.  And the promise of more!  that makes this life one of great exploration every minute of every day.  Filled with curiosity and wonder in the living inquiry:  Who am I?  What will be revealed today? 

In the repression and denial of who we are, of all that we are, there is a tension within us:  mind, body, heart and soul that binds our precious life force.  The invitation this day and this lifetime is to release this tension, freeing your Self, allowing the flow of life that comes from LOVEing all that we are, understanding with eyes wide open there is beauty within that wants to sing; and to not allow the songs to burst through is a betrayal of our Self, of the wondrous gifts we have been given.  Each of us is the offering!  Each of us is a unique expression of the Creator.  We cannot offer our Self generously to the world if we don’t see ALL that we have to offer, if we deny the treasures and rob our Self of the joy in this discovery.  LOVEing it all in order to USE it ALL is an act of service to your Self and to the whole of this world in need of YOU!  ALL of you.  Welcome your Self home moment by moment, choice by choice, day by day and come ALIVE! in ways you didn’t even know were possible. 

What if silencing your voice, ALL that you are, ROBS this world of songs only you can sing?  BELT IT OUT!  JOYfully.  This is your life.  LOVE it!       

From the NOTHINGness

 

Just like the night sky

One moment appearing empty

The next moment stars burst through

Made visible by the changing cycles

From the NOTHINGness

The white spaces in our days

MORE life springs

Out of nowhere

Visions

Experiences

Revelations

In perfect time

Blossom us…

The Vulture

Like a kite in the sky

Allowing the winds

To carry it where it will

No flapping

No fighting against

Sweetly surrendered

Trusting its instincts

Circling majestically above me

As I swam in the lake

Then, as quickly as it appeared

It disappeared into the trees

What came to mind?

“Take me with you!”

And in an instant

I knew

My heart’s desires

Washing up from the NOTHINGness

Leaping from my soul

Connected to the Vulture

Connected to the One

Connected to all life

Inviting MORE

From the NOTHINGness

Another level of allowing

Surrendering to new expression

Going deeper into the unknown

Letting go of all that can’t go with me

On my solo flight

Trusting the flow of life

To take me

Where I alone

Wouldn’t dare to go

Where beyond my knowing

MORE springs

MORE is discovered

MORE lives

Waiting to be ushered into Life

From the NOTHINGness

Stillness

Silence

My hands breaking through the waters

My feet kicking beneath

Pushing my body

From shore to shore

The Sun bathing me

Feeding me with its Presence

MORE revealed

Joy

Peace

Excitement

Love

Wonderment

SO Glorious!

ALL from NOTHING.

Culturally, we are so afraid of doing nothing; we spend our days, our precious lives doing anything. We fill our calendars without consciously considering what we are plugging our energy, our life force into, mindlessly doing and committing until life becomes robotic, spinning away like hamsters on a wheel.  And it is difficult to give our Self permission to reflect on what we want and need or if the busyness from over-scheduling our lives is serving us because most people we know and love are riding the crazy train with us unable to jump off even though they are holding on by a thread.

There is definitely an art to doing nothing in the rhythm of do…be…do…be…that I have come to celebrate as it has awakened my sense of joy in living making my life rich beyond measure.  Now, it was a long road as I dangled from the crazy train with scrapes, gashes and scars as I banged into life hanging on by the thread as if my life depended on it.  It was familiar.  It was known.  It was a comfortable thrashing.  It was a badge of honor.  It was proof of my worth.  And I didn’t know I was crazy until I jumped off.

From the NOTHINGness more life sprang!    

What the hell is she DOing?  She should be DOing XY&Z!  Has she lost her mind?! All projections from the peanut gallery, from those well-intended people who actually cared about me but needed me back on the crazy train in order to be comfortable, in order to connect with me.  My departure into my solo flight while threatening to some was essential to the more springing from the well within. 

From the NOTHINGness more life was revealed through visions and guidance from my inner compass, my soul possessing higher wisdom that had longed to take me into my truest Self so I could live my dreams awake.  ALL from doing NOTHING:  I know JOY, PEACE, LOVE, PASSION, GRACE, FAITH, HOPE which fuel my life like the winds carrying the vulture. 

The invitation this day and this lifetime is to experience the immeasurable gifts that spring from the NOTHINGness.  Challenge the belief imprinted upon you that it is better to do anything than nothing.  Honor your life by mindfully filling your days understanding your value and the value of each day given to you.  Children are experts at doing nothing as they aren’t expected to do anything but play.  Living with childlike wonder begins with dropping into the white spaces within the day and letting them echo the Truth that lies within you:  your deepest desires for your life…what you really want and need…what makes you come alive with a sense of JOY in living?