On Being With Life

The photo above is earlier this summer near Lac Clermoustier, Quebec. It’s a road that I walked several times during the week that I was there. I was contemplating. I was appreciating friends and colleagues. And on this particular day, I was enjoying a rainbow.

From my contemplations, a most prominent theme that has arisen for me over the last couple of years is the way that humans both live life, and, are lived by life. We make plans, and, serendipity claims us. We give our attention to structure, and, emergence sweeps it all. I’ve seen it many times in many realms — personal, team, community.

In poetic form, it sounds something like this below, a reminder to myself to be with life and to be with life being with me. It names a code for living, which is so often what my poetic heart seeks.

For clarity.

Be With Life

Be with Life.
Be with Life being with us.

Let go the rest.
Let come the vibrant unfolding.

Celebrate all of it.
Keep the story big.
Keep the values clear enough.
Contribute steps small and big.
Love it all.

2 Replies to “On Being With Life”

  1. “Let come the vibrant unfolding.”

    love this. there is a vibrant unfolding in me after a 2-week retreat to the Grunewald Guild. art + faith + community.

    also, I’ve become intrigued by the concept of emergence. Particularly as it applies to holding space in a circle for the emergence of what comes.

    1. Yes, then let it come. I continue to learn this Saoirse. Life seems to want to keep coming. It helps when I give myself to the simple — loving and learning, loving learning, learning loving. 🙂

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