Going Within

My Dad once said to me in wonder, “You do more work on yourself than anyone I’ve ever known!” I was probably telling him about the latest transformational book I was reading, meditation class I was taking, therapy I was trying out, or journaling practice I was doing.

At the time, I felt self-conscious about his comment. My inner critic sprang into action: “Are you spending too much time in your inner world? What about the world outdoors? Are you ignoring that one – and all the people in it?” On and on it went. Relationships are mirrors, and my Dad’s observation only got to me because those questions were already alive in me.

Years later, I realized how golden that growth work truly was. The world around me started changing bit by bit. I found friends on my spiritual path, and the depth of our conversations helped elevate my soul. I discovered that my true passions are writing and energy healing, and I am now blissfully pursuing my life purpose.

Best of all, I now find myself in the most loving and amazing romantic partnership of my life. Since he also values personal evolution, we get to grow together now.

All those years, I wasn’t doing my inner work in a vacuum. This is the man I was growing toward, and this is the life I was leaning into. Going within was my saving grace.      

That’s why I had to share Scott Bader’s beautiful poem “Sewing Lessons” with you this week. When the topic at hand is self-reflection, who can say it better than a poet?

Sewing Lessons

-On Crafting a Human Life

It’s worth it,

Going inside.

It mends a torn life.

Sews the pieces together

More beautifully

Than if they'd never been apart.

Impossible to know this,

Being in pieces.

Lacking instruction

And stitching practice

For new beginnings

Delusions tear, inexhaustibly.

Humbly consider:

In a room full of darkness

Practice lights the candle,

Intention threads the needle,

Courage guides the thread,

Through the cloth that is this life.

And the tailor begins …… again.

Scott Bader 2015

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