Word of your Life

-Calla Lily in Stanley Park near Malcolm Bowl, June 23, 2008

A few days ago, knowing that it was nearing the time when David from Tennessee would be going to Ghost Ranch in New Mexico and I wouldn't be going to the ranch at all this year, I thought of some books that he had brought with him last year and left in the Ghost House where our class met every day.

I went back to my journal and read what I had written down. Jan Phillips. Malidoma Patrice Some. Oriah Mountain Dreamer. I had heard of Oriah Moutain Dreamer but I had no idea that she was a Canadian. So, I got two of her books - The Call and The Dance - out of the library.

Her first book is called The Invitation and it's based on a long poem that she wrote. I didn't know that she was the person who had written that poem which had elicited a strong response the first time I'd read it quite a while ago. I'd never forgotten its intent long after all the words were gone.

I find it interesting that I would have those thoughts at this point in time and now that I have read her books they are so in line with the kind of thoughts/feelings I have been having and that I am needing to hear. I found them very comforting.

In her book The Call she speaks about how if we were to get really quiet, to stop, to breathe and be still we would each know, instinctively, that there is a word that is ours. It's a word that captures what we have always struggled with, what we fear, what challenges us and what needs awareness and change.

Her word is rest. She is, by her own admission, a Type A overachiever who is always doing too much. It's hard for her to be still.

Your word, she says, might come to you quickly. Or, it might come when you get yourself into a still, quiet, meditative space. Don't force it. But, it will come and when it does you will know it. When you find your word, you will feel a rather humbling sense of recognition.

Living your word, embodying it in your life is never about doing. Your word is your key to stopping a repetition of that which is consistently a challenge for you.

What's your word?