#MicroPoetry|September ’20 Reflections

In a culture of celebrity, it is a challenge to gauge what self-attainment means. It is difficult to reflect upon what success means, not as something externally validated and measured against others, but as an affirmation of commitment to something other than ‘me.’ This is, perhaps, an easy out or justification to live in the apathy and cynicism that too often pervades. I find, in such moments, taking a step back and imagining what it is we are called to leave behind for others to thrive, while slowly being forgotten, is a humble exercise to identify our life’s purpose.

What gift are you called to pass on to those who will follow?

What motivates you?
When the day begins less than ideally, yet you made it through, how did you did you make?

The cynic might have a response that dismisses these questions. I invite us, however, to dig deeper into them.

Look inward, what is that spark, hope, inspiration? If we can tap that, nurture it, draw it out, what might that mean not for today, but what we might do tomorrow?

Gratitude gets lots of attention in social media, in the gift cards we buy, self-help books and podcasts. I certainly appreciate any opportunity that reminds us to be present to the fact that what we have is not ours, it is simply a trust we inherit for a short time and how we treat it echoes well beyond our lifetime. Gratitude is also, sometimes, framed in a manner that belies what I have come to realise: namely, it is a fierce way to be in the world. It is not simply a way to look at life, it is, in fact, a way to Be in life.

The concept that something that did not exist previously can become a thing we can feel, touch and name I find inspiring. This becoming, I have found, takes not just one idea or one person, but a community. Yet even a community that dreams together, does not mean that such possibilities come to be. One key, which I have experienced, is the ability to focus communally. Sharing the dream beyond words, requires choices. In the act of choosing, what a moment ago was nothing, promises to become something in the act of creating with one another

What is destiny?
What does the future hold?
Are things predetermined?

These are often central question to an inward and outward journey. The answers we find can determine how we not only see ourselves, but one another. As a discipline or practice, such questions when explored in community, what we discover can not only be inspiring, but transformative.

Magic: words are indeed building blocks of shaping the way we experience, interact and live into realities of our collective making. Recognising this fundamental aspect of our being becomes an opportunity to awaken to the responsibility we bear not to just ourselves, nor one another, but to all of Creation. What we say helps or harms, affirms or belittles. Once we fully appreciate this, we are then left with one simple challenge:

What shall we choose to say the next time cast words into the world?

What does the soul mean to you?
Where in you, around you, beyond does it lie?
What does it mean to be shaped in Creator’s image?

I am not sure there will ever be a definitive answer to what is a mystical and metaphysical question. But imagining that at the centre of this spiritual question is one I do find helpful and hopeful.

However you answer these questions, what does it mean that you are blessing made?

I have found that Gratitude, in our living now, in the past and into the future, is one significant component to a life well-lived. This preference or orientation does not mean that life is not hard, nor that that there are challenges and frustrations. In fact, these very real lived experiences only amplify the depth of gratitude in our lives when we practice this discipline in order to recognise joy and wonder as we continue upon the journey of life.