For the Traveller
As an expression of gratitude and recognition, I offered leaders in one of my programs this month a poem and now extend the words of John O'Donohue to you as appreciation for traveling with me this lifetime. It is together that we discover, reflect, pause, smile, tear, aspire, wonder, celebrate, and create.
Our journey is a sacred and astounding one. No matter how often we meet, even if only once, if only a glance, if only a dream, I trust that our exchange brings purpose, opportunity and generations of wisdom.
Thank you for being the one I seek. Thank you for being the one for whom I leave my home. Surely, some days tougher than others; and yet, somehow the wonder of you, makes it safe.
Thank you for inviting me to experience conversations, drives, meals, walks, bike rides, boating excursions, airplane flights and manatees swims I wouldn't otherwise have.
Thank you for opening your soul, for exposing the true you, for being hilariously silly and fun, thank you for understanding, for being compassionate and kind. Thank you for experimenting with new ways, new thoughts, new words. I love that you offer an alternative, another way, another perspective, a more empowering interpretation. I especially love that you listen with your heart, with openness, curiosity, patience and a hug.
It is with you that we heal, mend broken promises, accept a hand, writhe in discomfort, question why, clamor over words of hope, and embrace differences that our minds struggle to accommodate.
The possibility of you is powerful, awe-inspiring and boundless. How will I ever find and bundle the words that express your infinite and universal source of beauty, richness and brilliant energy for which I am so grateful?
Together we travel...
For the Traveler
by John O'Donohue
Every time you leave home,
another road takes you
into a world you were never in.
New strangers on other paths await.
New places that have never seen you
will startle a little at your entry.
Old places that you know well
will pretend nothing
changed since your last visit.
When you travel, you find yourself
alone in a different way,
more attentive now
to the self you bring along,
your more subtle eye watching
you abroad; and how what meets you
touches that part of the heart
that lies low at home:
How you unexpectedly attune
to the timbre in some voice,
opening a conversation
you want to take in
to where your longing
has pressed hard enough
inward, on some unsaid dark,
to create a crystal of insight
you could not have known
you needed
to illuminate
your way.
When you travel,
a new silence
goes with you,
and if you listen,
you will hear
what your heart would
love to say.
A journey can become a sacred thing:
make sure, before you go,
to take the time
to bless your going forth,
to free your heart of ballast
so that the compass of your soul
might direct you toward
the territories of spirit
where you will discover
more of our hidden life,
and the urgencies
that deserve to claim you.
May you travel in an awakened way,
gathered wisely
into your inner ground;
that you may not waste
the invitations which
wait along the way
to transform you.
May you travel safely,
arrive refreshed,
and live your time away
to it fullest;
return home more enriched,
and free to balance
the gift of days
which call you.
From: To Bless the Space Between Us
In Practice,
Eunice