Dear Tom:
This week I understand your Sufi Wisdom – “When life guides you to a new pathway, take the opportunity to feel the winds of change blowing the superficiality of your life away.” We have packed up and moved to Charlotte, N.C. — lock, stock, and barrel. Knowing virtually no one and with no employment or clients drawing us to this new world, you would be right to ask, “What were you thinking?” In responding, you might expect me to say, “I got carried away.” But truthfully all my instincts say follow this path into this new wilderness with none of my usual bearings to guide me.
All too often the paths of my past contained events that seemed to overtake me, and my life became a blur of confusion. My energy was consumed by one bewildering event after another. Finally, guidance came in a form I couldn’t fathom. I got sick and needed a new organ to live. Sufis say when you think you have life figured out, usually something happens to squeeze that thought out of our heads. We think we are the hunter and we discover we are the prey, and that God is hunting us rather than we him.
A hurricane has blown through my life, and I need to take the opportunity to pick up only what I need, and leave the rest and past behind. Ruth St. Denis once wrote, “I stand willingly in the way of storms, that all my dead leaves may swirl away and be lost.” Wish me “Bon Voyage” dear friend.
Webb
Webb,
Your relationship with change is very impressive! Last night, we attended a session with one of our Sufi teachers. Much of what he talked about dealt with the subject of change.
He said that for successful change to occur, we need to develop a relationship with the unknown. Unfortunately, most of us resist the unknown and so fill our time with with the known – usually a “story” or practice that is very familiar to us – and that becomes (or continues to be) our reality.
He advised that we set an intention related to the change, one that is consistent with our deepest values, and then take action on the intention. Still, we need to know that resistance (doubt, fear, or however it manifests) will arise, but that we should use those moments to inquire about what there is to learn from what is coming up from our “lower self.” And consistent with becoming more comfortable with the unknown, it is helpful to know that however the change finally manifests, it likely won’t look like our “picture” of what it should look like.
Best wishes in your new future, dear friend.
Tom
Sounds like I am in for some images i will not recognize. Webb
this is the way a blog should be! thanks!