How To Find Your Path?

Winter is knocking at my door but with it, it is bringing thick fog, not unlike the John Carpenter film with the same name. I love fog (unless I have to drive in it), especially living on the shipping channel of Lake Saint Clair. The deep rumblings of the foghorns call out to possible passersby, creating some sort of a longing for all who hear them. The resonant sounds of those horns, stir something inside me, making me think that I am supposed to be somewhere other than here. Which is silly, of course. If life has taught me anything, it has taught me that I am always right where I am supposed to be.

In the 80's up to present day there was an onslaught of self-help books, telling us how to do just about everything. How to be less co-dependent, how to manage marriages, how women are different than men, how to eat, how to diet, how to walk, how to run, how to make friends, how to attract the opposite sex and so on and so on and so on. I'm not saying that all self-help books were/are silly, but very few of them had something useful that we couldn't really figure out with some good ol' mythology or stories from our ancestors - which in most part are the same thing. But when I came across a book with the title "How to Find Your Path", that is when I thought, "Oh no, it's time for the shortest book ever written". Because when I take the time to reflect, I realize that I had very little to do with "my path" - how I got where I am. Maybe there was some co-creating going on before I ever entered this body, but really, I felt and still feel like a puppet on cosmic strings.

Of course, there may be a bit more to it than that. When it is time for life to take a turn, I begin to hear voices (some of us call it ideas) that I need to make a change. Before we moved from Seattle to Michigan, for an entire year, I began to say to my husband, "We have to move". Being a good Cancerian man -this is never a great idea in their book. He would say "Move where?" I didn't know but almost daily, I would tell him, "We have to move, we have to move, we have to move." Over and over again. Finally, Joe accepted that we did need to get the hell out of Seattle, and for both of us it changed our lives in ways we couldn't imagine. Who would think that Michigan is the preferred place to a gorgeous city like Seattle? But we found two slices of heaven where we have lived in this beautiful State, not to mention, the soulful people that live in this area. I toured all over the country and overseas - but the people in this State are the salt of the earth and can't do enough to help you if you need it. My point being, did I sit and worry about where I should live, or what I should do to be happy, or if I will ever meet my soul mate. Information came at a time it was supposed to, so worries, concerns, nervousness - only ended up making me feel bad. I am here for the experience. The experience. The experience. That is my religion, my gift from God - my experience. Is there a purpose in worrying about what might and might not happen? As a matter of fact, when I took this philosophy to heart in relation to finding a soul mate, Joe showed up almost instantly. Following that law of physics "The harder you push the more resistance you get."

I believe that my inspiration to hear the next message for my journey is always right where it should be allowing my readiness to hear the single factor that I can be concerned with-not where and when the message will be. Since I believe that "all" is right here and now, then the ultimate message is available in the present moment because all that is meaningful is "right now". Living in the now, not five minutes from now or ten minutes ago - but right now - that is where the seed of awakening seems to be planted. And once I began to entertain this idea there was no turning back. I became part of "us" and less about "me". When living in the present, the details of the moment (where all the magic is) became an inspiration. Every sound on the street, every person I met (whether I liked them or not), every seed I planted, every critter I held, every moment I spent in nature and every night I spent next to my husband all made me realize that love and life really was here and now.

So back to what I would have written in response to the book I saw in the mid-80's. "How to Find Your Path". Readers would open up the book to read a single page, "Live in the Now. Follow Your Feet." Then all could close that short little book and get on with their lives. Which, if it is meant to be, will lead them to the present moment. I know when I came upon that realization, like my garden, a seed had been planted allowing me to see that all happens lawfully and on time.

I continue to practice what I preach to some of you that are kind enough to read this newsletter. Each day needing more integrity than the one before. Cleaning up half-truths, negative thoughts and basic human foibles. With all the purification and stripping away of layers I realize that I and suspect most, have not lost one single neurosis. If we are lucky, we just make them user friendly. If I strive for satisfaction I live in ego so why not just observe and enjoy the moment no matter what it brings, respecting and paying attention to my experiences. I don't think I need to read the latest self-help book to realize that life has brought me to a place where I can live with an open loving heart as the world changes, bumps, grinds, shifts, rocks, rolls, accelerates and vibrates. When there is dark before there is light, when hatred feels like it is taking over before love conquers all, I will hold the thought in my heart that everything in the universe is subject to change and everything is on schedule.

I love you all.