Peacock Dreams

Listen for the call. Listen every day. Listen deeply.

Without the space for listening, the answers will not come. Our world will not open. The path will not rise to meet us, at least not clearly or with ease.

Anyone who has ever been in any type of relationship knows that listening is not easy. Listening takes attention, patience, commitment and time.

Here's a story:
An acquaintance of mine, a successful, highly paid businessman, recently gave up his job and moved across country to follow two things: love and love. He had struggled with decisions for awhile. He had done the "prudent" thing. He had tried variations on a theme. And one day, he had listened long enough, packed his bags and drove. He was following a sweetheart, it is true, but he was following a deeper love than that. He was also going to be near a teacher, a master in a craft he'd been diligently studying, whom he had been making great sacrifices to fly out periodically to see. The combination of sweetheart and love of craft came together - see, he'd been listening and practicing and the world had conspired enough to put them in close proximity to each other - and he leapt. This teacher is old and doesn't really travel. This teacher is top in their field. This teacher, more importantly, is his teacher.

He listened. For a long time. Then he moved toward what his heart and soul were telling him. Will the risk pay off? I think so, yes. Will he be able to make a living at this craft he is studying? I don't know. Maybe yes, perhaps no. Will the relationship with this sweetheart last? I don't know that either. But I do know that something will open for this friend. I do know he will learn immeasurable things about the workings of heart and soul. I do know that skill will increase, and therefore possibility. Everything has risk. The soul-following risks are always worth it, even if they crash in flames. We move. We learn. We know something we did not know before. We have experience.

I'm fortunate, in that I've always known there was a call. Sometimes I've listened more diligently than others, but I've always tried to follow what I could discern. Over the years, my practice of listening and discerning has grown deeper, so the voice inside is easier to hear. As a consequence, though I still work hard, life itself is easier, because the path seems to open in front of me by leaps and bounds. And still, I need to practice listening. Every day I sit in silence, and every day, I open.

Months ago, I was getting a reading from a trusted student who is very well trained, dedicated, and a teacher in his own right. Something was coming up that caused me to talk about a teacher with whom I wanted to spend some time, but who my schedule precluded me seeing. I said something along the lines of "I guess this is just more confirmation that I am my teacher now, and I just need to look to my practice." That got a "not good enough" look from my student. Yeah. I am my own teacher. My practice does teach and carry me. I do trust my inner voice. But I also know that seeking out teaching, when I find the right stuff, is important to me. So I did my best to shift my schedule enough to be able to be with this wise man at least twice a month, if not more. My practice is helped by having this outside input. I listened, made changes, and things opened again.

How do you listen, every day? What is your practice? And those of you for whom life's purpose seems obscured, are you making space inside to hear? If we never slow down, if we never sit down, if we never clear out space, we'll never know what is possible.

Sssshhhhh... Be still and know that you are God.

And then the Gods will speak.



[and new podcasts are up: I talked with Anne Hill on dreams and Ellen Dugan about magickal gardens.]