Darkened Clarity

Darkened Clarity

 

Sometimes it’s in the darkness

I see most clearly.

When the streets lined

With lamp lights

Illuminate the sky,

Each light reaches further

Showing twists and turns

More clearly than by the light of day.

Light shines brighter

When piercing through

A darkened veil.

I fear the darkness

All that it can hide

But know

That one single light

Can reach me

From very far away,

When sunlight would

Blend that light making it

Impossible to see.

It’s the contrast

That makes one light

Seem more brilliant.

As in my fear

I see my strength more clearly,

Witness my capability

With greater clarity than

In times of comfort.

 

 

Connected Steps

 

Connected Steps

 

Take a moment to look back

To see each event,

Every moment

Of my life

As a step along the way.

Pieces of a path that I couldn’t see

That have each served as

An integral part of the road.

Each event has provided exactly

What I needed even

If I didn’t know it at the time.

I realize in the looking back

That every experience even the tiniest one

Made it possible for me to

Be where I am right now.

In ways I never could have imagined,

Everything that has happened

Has allowed me to move forward in some way.

A job I thought I had

Gave me the courage to leave another,

A trip I needed to take introduced me

To worlds that filled my soul,

Friends that came and went

Taught me valuable lessons.

I can look back with such clarity

And see how every aspect of my life is

Interconnected.

How the hard times led to the simple times

And right back around.

How chance meetings, changed everything

How timing is everything and

How what happens must be “perfect”

Merely because it is happening.

And if you stop and think for a moment

About all the millions of possibilities of what

Could happen compared to what actually happens

A sense of calm and order settles

Over me, because with all those options

How could the one that happened

Be wrong?

And that can be a very reassuring thought.

Of course it’s much easier to see

All of this

From a place of love, peace and contentment.

In the midst of hardship

It is much harder to see.

But maybe that’s the point.

 

It always fascinates me when I have a moment of clarity. When I can see so clearly how everything that has happened in my life has allowed me to be where I am, including the things I really didn’t like – that made me miserable. But I look at where I am and can feel such gratitude for those tough times. It really is a great feeling. One I wish I could keep all the time, but that doesn’t always work, so I enjoy it while I have it!

What does your clarity look like?

 

So Clear

 

So Clear

Everything is so clear.

I can see it all unfolding

Before me.

A beautiful perfect flower,

Opening and reveling its truth.

It already is so there is no need

To worry anymore.

Safety is all that exists,

Permeating every action of my being.

Peace coats my soul

Like frosting on a cake

Like clouds on a mountain.

I am here to stay and be

How is not important to know.

Let go and float purposefully through

As life will pull you in all directions,

Some days will seem to never end

Some days will rush on by

Some days you will forget yourself

Some days you will remember and know yourself

But

Everyday you will be.

 

Sometimes even in the midst of craziness clarity exists. For no quantifiable, describable reason there is clarity. In those moments I am tempted to think about them and wonder where the clarity came from, why I have it now as opposed to other times. But it can be refreshing to just let the clarity be.

What helps you just be with clarity?

From the Bottom Up

My Year

A year of changes

Of internal investigation

Digging deep

Getting stuck in the mud

Tears running tracks in a

Dirt smeared face.

Getting well acquainted with

What isn’t right,

What I don’t want

To do, to feel, to be.

Spent a lot of time,

Blindly feeling about for

Something to hold on to.

Most days even in small ways

I worked, I moved towards what

I didn’t know,

Maybe still don’t completely know,

But kept at it.

Only temporarily motionless,

Only momentarily giving in to the lack of motivation,

The desire to curl up in a corner and never move.

But I moved, I walked

I thought, I felt.

Boy did I feel,

The pain, the sorrow,

The frustration, the fear,

But I kept going,

I felt it until it had run its course.

I made decisions,

I made connections,

I had realizations,

Lights went on, aha moments happened.

Joy returned.

Things I wanted showed up again,

Heart and mind started talking again.

Life became bearable,

Life became an adventure,

A delicious road leading somewhere scrumptious.

I gained clarity and insight

Into who I really am.

Spent some quality time

With me,

Walked around inside of me

To learn what I could

So that I can bring it with me out into the world.

I could probably apply what is in this poem to every year of my life. In reality every year, every, month, every day has it’s ups and downs, has moments of despondency and moments of joy. Every year, every month, every day, every moment I work on finding a  balance, I keep moving to see, to feel what’s next. How can you relate to this? When have you been able to keep moving even when it all seemed hopeless?