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Great Blue Heron

Since the enchantment of the film "ET," I have envisioned my inner spirit as a warm, comforting heart light, guiding me through the day, illuminating my path at night. Sometimes, in the bleakest of personal challenges, my little light flickers and goes out, leaving me feeling lost and alone, wondering where to turn for guidance and direction.

We can feel confused when a cloud of uncertainty hovers overhead. We may even feel betrayed, our once-familiar happiness temporarily beyond reach, our confidence on a downward slide, our forward momentum stuck. That's when I find a quiet place where I reenergize, refuel, re-light my little light --where nothing can pull the rug out from under me because I am already lifted up, unfazed by the world.

Have you ever been on a quiet walk, or resting in a peaceful setting contemplating a problem or considering a serious decision in your life, when a whisper of a breeze or the faintest stirring deep inside briefly catches your attention? Where in that moment, with no obvious effort on your part, there is resolve?

We can add a new dimension to our lives simply by creating space within our noisy, busy day for thought and reflection -- to listen to our hearts, focus on any situation or problem, or to hear "the still small voice" inside us. As a child, if my sisters and I were being rambunctious or had the stereo up too loud, my dad would say, "Keep it down. I can't hear myself think." Silence is the prime environment for hearing our deepest thoughts, our inner voice. In the solitude we can listen for direction. For some of us this inner dialogue is communion with God. For others it is meditation, listening to one's conscience or communing with nature or the universe.

Our inner spirit, like a friendship, needs nurturing. In the past it was a difficult relationship for me to foster. On any given day, I downshifted only occasionally into a lower gear; the majority of the time my mind and body operated wholeheartedly and seamlessly at full-bore. I was a textbook type-A personality, on the go and feeling satisfied and accomplished only when I was physically in the process of accomplishing something. Even when my illness grabbed hold of me with its tingly fingers and I knew I should calm and cool my body with activities such as yoga, swimming and meditation, I was pulling myself up the stairs of my local YMCA and heading straight toward the Stairmaster and weight room.

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