Guiding Thought

When I attune my mind to the Oneness that is All of Life, I understand my place in Wholeness. I am the very Presence of Life, and this Presence of Life is me. I am blessed through this understanding. In return I bless all I encounter.

Sharing

This Guiding Thought speaks to me of stillness and friendship.

“All of Life”! All of Life! I look around and see life everywhere—my dog, my cat, my partner, the birds outside. These beings most certainly have life, are life. But then I look closer and imagine their hearts pounding, beating blood and the other cells throughout their bodies; this is life, too.

Then I look at the furniture, walls, the fireplace, and I imagine the molecules vibrating, and all the elements that comprise them; this is life.

Then I listen. All sound is life: cars, birds, branches scraping against the roof.

I extend my imagination to New York City with all its motion and commotion, sounds, movement of people, vehicles, and lights. That, too, is life…

Then I take my imagination to the other side of the world, to mountains framing a savanna, lone trees, giraffes, insects…all of this is life. All of this life is connected to all of the life in New York City…and in my home.

Every moment, every breath, every vibration, every everything…All is Life…and I am here in it…

It is Awe-some! I am here! In it!

Without me, all of this is incomplete. Without you all of this is incomplete.

The Life that is expressed “out there” is the same life within me.

How can everything and everyone not be my friend?  We are all part of the same wholeness, incomplete without each other. “Friend” here does not mean intimate talks over tea, but more like being in a state of accepting familiarity. When I see everyone as sharing the same life that is within me, it evokes a very simple appreciation. I appreciate their place in life, as I appreciate my own. Life is as incomplete without everything in it, as it would be without me.

This is the understanding that offers blessing. And whether others know it or not, they bless me!

Yet, again, I must ask myself: what has this to do with courage? Is it courageous to see past individuals into wholeness of life? Is it courageous to see strangers as friends? Does it take courage to trust the life within to support and move my experiences without?

So far on this Journey, I have more questions than I have answers.