Though we’re most comfortable thinking of ourselves as making progress from here to there – most comfortable working with our contextual dream – our personal context can box us in. When I lost track of my context I had to slow down considerably, but that allowed me to hear the snow falling on the covered branches. My way became immediate, and, if I hadn’t relocated myself, my path would have unfolded: one step at a time, one turn at a time, one fresh experience at a time. Of course, I was relieved to remember my context and re-find my way. But this little moment exposed an underlying truth: that we often make up our context for the illusion of comfort that the days are orderly and progressing somewhere. They usually are, but not always toward the order we have imagined or ordained. And yet, losing our context, losing our self-created map of where we’re supposed to go can allow us the grace of remembering that all we need is in the moment we find ourselves in. And that moment will lead us to the next, if we listen to it. In fact, when feeling that your context has lost its meaning, when feeling trapped within the ambitious parameters you have spun, it helps to lose your map and return to the direct experience of feeling where your foot lands and what your eye sees. Following the immediate can break our patterns and restore wonder as our guide. Taken from the book Seven Thousand Ways to Listen By Mark Nepo
Posted on: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 12:23:52 +0000
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