Quietly Waiting

It is another clear day, with blue skies and only a bit of coolness in the air this early morning.  The temperature at 58 degrees fahrenheit, will go up almost 20 degrees today.  A good day to rest and plan for the many things that want doing.  Today is Saturday.

There are days when the rhythm invites one to be still (or perhaps, for some - more still than usual).  This is one of those days.  The light is bright; the energy is quiet. Like we often realize: something is happening and one needs to pay attention.

The most obvious is what can be seen in the trees and plants that are in full bloom on the ground, and the green of new foliage show in the trees.  It brings on a feeling that there is possibility, renewal, and a new start.  The world needs a new start, with a collective push of the "reset" button so that the frantic energy of the times stops, takes a pause, and begins anew, again.

Resets have happened before.  Sadly, it seems these happen after a major loss or set of losses - a war, a major environmental crisis, or something like these events that capture the kind of attention that makes everyone stop in their tracks.  

Stopping is not necessarily  the same as being inactive.  It can be a state that invites expanding one's awareness, without having to be in motion, or part of the commotion.  Just being, so that all the stories, tasks, and striving can come under a watchful moment, like sitting and quietly waiting without interrupting with another thought or action...just bearing witness to what is already happening.

The wisdom of going into the quiet is a gift from teachers over the millennia. Whether one receives the gift depends on whether one opens the package.  And the package arrives in many different forms - a flower, a mountain, the sea, a human, a rock - any one can be a portal.  Then, whether one chooses to walk through to a different space, depends on each individual.  And if one experiences the new space, immediately there is a chance of coming to understand.

There are so many questions and conditions that seem to need an answer, a response.  And most spend their lives focusing on a particular condition or question, dedicating their life energy to finding an answer.  There are, of course, invaluable discoveries that are made to move closer to clarity.  And thanks to those efforts, some of the suffering in our world can be eased.

But just as important to each problem that needs unwinding, is the need to move with compassion, clarity, and courage.  These qualities come with an ability to engage in action, accompanied by an ability to wait quietly for what is really calling.  The problem one sees and decides to tackle is the manifestation of something else that is happening.  The ability to see the true source of the problem is how everything else, including the true self, should move.