fiercely gentle

Facilitating the Pathways to Soul Wisdom Retreat this past weekend, we were challenged.

You have gathered enough! How many books have you read already!? You are guilty, yes, guilty of this Gathering. Why guilty? Because you are not present enough with the Innocence. Sure, you will keep learning and seeking, that is natural, but begin turning within first, within more. Give yourself more space to experience and less time to grasp or do it right.

Like a mom with her baby, today: feed when hungry, change diaper when soiled, comfort when crying, celebrate the little things like a coo, cry or crawl. Tomorrow would you say, "I already fed you! I changed your diaper yesterday so why should I change it again today!" No. Do not wait for 'it' to be done...to be 'there.' Be authentically present to your life, like a mom to her baby, every day.

This invitation, and the experiences we were guided to (by the council of grandmothers), was "fiercely gentle" as one participant described it. Accepting everything as it is, accepting ourselves as we are now, paradoxically, is the way to change. Embracing everything. Looking forward to challenges. Over and over during the weekend there was spaciousness. Not explanations. Not fixing. Not solving. And in the spaciousness, in just being, so much was done. Oh, so much.

I am immensely, noticeably different. And I experience the change without excitement. Just is.