come and listen

"indeed, in every life there is some wound that continues to weep secretly, even after years of attempted healing..."

[ john o'donahue ]


how do I explain my sadness?

I don't know, but it needs to be shared. we need to talk about sadness, sit with each other in sadness, so that we can continue to move on to hope. but sometimes, hope is far away, or not in our sights at all. and sometimes, it's going to be awkwardly long, because I can't just arrive at hope without having swam through the sorrow. and swimming without a shore in sight is just plain exhausting.

it was here, in the swimming (or drowning) and the tears, where I heard a new voice.
a voice that seemed to flow from a place where pain was understood, not cured
and where questions meet questions,
not simplified answers.

She said,

remember when you read about being beauty-full
how you can absorb all of these miracles into your being
and let them fill you?
why not try it, my dear?
why not take in all that surrounds you?


as I took a breath, I saw the stars above
and the trees right in front of me
and I heard the crickets singing around me
and I imagined all of the precious little creations that fill my yard
and my garden.
... all of the many gifts of my life.

It was no magical cure to my sadness, but it was what I needed -- to be reminded of how connected I am to everything. that I'm not alone.



Go find some place beautiful
or just simply sit where you've sat a hundred times,
and listen
and look for all the beauty that is already surrounding you.


"& may all that is unforgiven in you be released."



xo