I continue to ponder the questions I asked in my post, “What’s Next?” I was asking how I wanted to live, to show up, for this next phase of my life. The questions led me to one of my favorite authors, the late John O’Donohue. He wrote the poem below entitled For a New Beginning.
FOR A NEW BEGINNING by John O’Donohue
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander
This beginning has been quietly forming
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the grey promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
Reading this poem, so many lines popped out at me. I have spent time reflecting on the following lines.
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
There is much for me to learn from these lines. I invite you to read through the poem slowly a couple of times and see what words or phrases pop out for you. In these lines you will find new ground to explore.
May we learn to live in the unknown, which is continually unfolding the mystery of who we are.
Ardine Martinelli 