Not much ...

... going on today. I went to physio this morning. Barbara told me I'm nearly ready to graduate. She calls it "graduating", Ms J, as though it were a school of some sort. Perhaps it is, you know. If you'll pardon the cliches, it's a school of hard knocks where every student majors in a course of miracles. My progress has been admittedly slow, but everyone's different. The point is simply that I'm much better now than when I first began physiotherapy treatment four months ago. I'm grateful to Barb and Beenzy.

I have something else to share today, Ms J. It's a short essay called "What If ...?" I think it offers an important message for us. All of us. I hope you'll take your time with it and savour each idea as it's presented. Special thanks to you, Marie.

And Frankie, my dear friend, I'm holding you in my thoughts as I re-read this.

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WHAT IF . . ? by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

WHAT IF it doesn't matter what you do but how you do whatever you do?
HOW WOULD this change what you choose to do with your life?

WHAT IF you could be more fully present and open-hearted working as a cashier in the corner store - able to really see and be with the people who come into the store- than you are when you are striving to do what you hope or think will make a more important contribution to the world and the lives of those you love?
HOW WOULD this change how you want to spend your precious time on this earth?

WHAT IF your contribution to the world and the fulfillment of your own happiness is not dependent upon discovering a better method of prayer or technique of meditation, not dependent upon reading the right book or attending the right seminar or church, but upon really seeing and deeply appreciating yourself and the world as they are right now?
HOW WOULD this affect your search for spiritual development?

WHAT IF there is no need to change, no need to try and transform yourself into someone who is more compassionate, more present, more loving or wise?
HOW WOULD this affect all the places in your life where you are endlessly trying to be better?

WHAT IF the task is simply to unfold, to become who you already are in your essential nature- gentle, compassionate and capable of living fully and passionately present?
HOW WOULD this affect how you feel when you wake up in the morning?

WHAT IF who you essentially are right now is all that you are ever going to be?
HOW WOULD this affect how you feel about your future?

WHAT IF the essence of who you are and always have been is enough?
HOW WOULD this affect how you see and feel about your past?

WHAT IF the question is not why am I so infrequently the person I really want to be, but rather why do I so infrequently want to be the person I really am?
HOW WOULD this change what you think you have to learn?

WHAT IF becoming who and what we truly are happens not through striving and trying but by recognizing and receiving the people and places and practices that offer us the warmth of encouragement we need to unfold?
HOW WOULD this shape your choices about how to spend today?

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Have a magical weekend!

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