Navigating
Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 8:31 AM 
There are almost too many thoughts whirling through my head to land on any one topic today. I started back to work yesterday after almost two months away. I love it and I want to stay home and create. Today, it seems like I am most struck by the contrasts of life. How there can be such fullness and emptiness wrapped up together. How being in a room full of people one can feel totally alone and then sitting alone in silence, one can be met with the fullness of life. One minute we can be on top of the world and the next moment we can only feel its heaviness.
It seems to be this place of navigating where I will choose to live (in the fullness or emptiness or the in between) is what is most on my mind today. It is important for me to experience the richness of one or the other rather than staying stuck “in between.” Mark Nepo shares, “Being half anywhere is the true beginning of loneliness.” And I have come to know that I am really not a 'half anywhere' kind of girl ☺!
Hmmm… So, that is what I have to offer today. As always, I would love to know your thoughts. What are the contrasts of your life? Where do you see yourself living in the ‘in between’? How do you navigate through the contrasts of life?
(Check out lucy creates!!! for a different view of a similar topic.)
Reader Comments (11)
Lucy!!!! I'm back!
PARIS - go, go, GO! Also one of the places on my short list!
I am a bit of a naughty child, what can I say?!
If I were able, I would do so in a heartbeat, but my travel expenses are being stretched this year, royally, for planes, trains, automobiles, and hotels - college visits galore.
Very well said - there is that tension between the have tos, should dos, want tos, will do, and am doing. The dos, and shoulds and, etc. - balance is tough to achieve, sometimes just staying upright is tough to achieve. Blessings to you Lucy.
xoxoxoxo
lucy,
I got a post on my site from a friend who wondered if I'd ever looked at Lucy's site, and, if not, I really should.
CP
This strikes me as the life we live when we die to ourselves ... when we allow him to lead us into the dark as well as the light, trusting that he knows where he's going, and there's reason for the darknesses.
The soul who braves the darkness sees greater light.
Lucy, you always bring out the best comments from your readers -- Sue - The soul who braves the darkness sees greater light. Verrrrry nice!
navigating the contrasts of life...wow, food for thought there.
I read something by Abraham Joshua Heschel today that seems apt. Talking about awe, he says that it enables us to:
"feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal."
SS says it well i do get "the best comments from my readers!" thank you all!!!
ER--i am particularly struck by the quote you shared. i think it is one that i will have to let soak in for awhile. it definitely resonates and i am not fully aware of why and how. (i love that about it!)
Lucy-
Just read about your man - awesome! What a talent he has!
good quote, ER
Lucy,
I wonder if it's in the meaning and the contrast of words. Much like the sound and feel of being caught up in powerful gusts of wind on top of a mountain, then making it into the treeline which causes the wind to suddenly ebb to stillness. Experiencing this stillness in the contrast, can be awesome.
Then one thinks of the contrast of our mortal life here compared with the eternal; there can be a lot of discussion as to getting caught up in busy earthly endeavors, or breathing in and embracing the awesome stillness of something greater than ourselves, and in doing so shifting our thoughts to this higher pursuit.
Great quote, ER