woods path

woods path
Originally uploaded by c'estbonne

If there is one thing I've learned this year (although Heaven knows, there have been more than one), it's that each of us truly must walk our own path. And when we do not, something inside us will crackle and grate and claw for our attention until we are willing, or forced, or courageous enough to listen.

It's not that we necessarily know just where we're going. For me, it's more of a feeling, an inner sense of peace and authenticity, and for now I am continuing to search for it. But each path is also its own story, and every story has characters, each one contributing somehow to its development. And on this special day of beginnings, I choose to count my blessings by counting some of the essential characters in my story this year.

First, and at the beginning of everyone's story, are parents. From my father I learned how to be honest and responsible, how to work, how to drive, and how far over the speed limit I could go without getting pulled over. My mother taught me how to be healthy (my lunch always had wheat bread and apples), how to be kind to others, and how to love nature. And my sister is someone I admire for seeming always to have known who she is and what she cares about, and building her life around that.

But in the past couple of years, others have brought meaning to my life in their own ways: Rob, who came into my life to share joy, kindness and adventure, and who also had the task of showing me where my heart still needed to open; Julie, whose bottomless and wise compassion I am forever grateful for; Nick, who believed in me and saw the best in me; Dorothy, whose willingness to help others seemingly knows no bounds; Michelle, who inadvertently got me on a roller coaster for the first time in twenty years; Eric, who reached me again out of the blue and who will always be a friend; Jane, whose love of plants made a greenhouse beautiful and a difficult summer easier; Jerry, who is a good soul from the inside out; Berta, Marina and Geoffrey, the team of healers who are helping to resculpt me through a time of transition into the person I am really here to become; Eileen, whose name means "Light" and who lives up to it; and others who are important and appreciated.

This may sound like an acceptance speech--but in fact, it is. I accept the lessons, the love and the living that all the characters of my life have brought me. And I wish each of them, and all the other adventurers on this storm-tossed Earth, happy, fulfilled lives and awakened hearts.

Namaste