Standing at the edge of the known

Maybe we all come to a point, perhaps many times, where we feel that we are at the edge of our known world.

It can be scary to stand right at the edge and feel the power of the void beyond what we know, what we have words for, what we can imagine.

I’m at that point right now, and I feel I have to make a choice to boldly step into my new life.  It feels like a leap of faith.

I’m called to remember The Fool in the tarot deck, with legs bare and eyes set high on the horizon just as he steps off the cliff of the known world into the mystery that lies beyond.

Another image for this state is crossing the rubicon, the flowing river at the limits of our inner map, beyond which are wilds filled with endless possibilities which have yet to be called into being.

There are no answers within me at this point, only questions. I’m scared and a little exhilarated at the same time. After almost 15 years without overseas travel, I started my passport application today.  It’s a potent symbol of opening myself up again to possibility.

Have you ever been in a similar place? How did you move beyond fearing the unknown?

Working with intention

To be honest, I called this blog Dancing with the Beloved mainly because the domain name for my old blog had been snapped up when I stopped paying attention, literally and metaphorically. It felt like a huge loss to realise that I had let it slip through my fingers.  And yet, it occurred to me that this new blog is part of a new phase for me and so deserved a new name.

I often remind myself that to bring love into daily life, to find joy and magic and wonder in all things, is to dance with the beloved.  The beloved is not some separate entity, some deity ‘out there’.  The beloved permeates you and I and is inseparable from us all.  I believe it is our essential nature.  I understand love has many forms, but at its heart there is a simple openness. From that openness comes a wish for happiness to prevail.  And a deep knowing that love is a choice each of us has the power to make.

When I remember to work with the intention of love each day, something in me shifts and allows for more loving experiences with others.  I’ve noticed this particularly over the last few days. Quite simply, when I am more loving and attuned to love, people respond to me with more love.  Even people I see everyday respond to me differently.  It’s a powerful thing to come to understand.  And yet, so often – through not paying attention – this sense of love eludes me and life becomes less filled with wonder and connection and possibility.

So for today, I commit to working with the intention of love. I will pay attention to all which arises in my day. I will greet it with curiosity and respect.  I will love what is, without any demand for something different.  I greet this day with wonder and awe.

Blessed be.