The River Speaks

I go down to the river this morning and it is cold...

I do my Lovingkindness meditations and my Reiki meditations as well - chanting the Reiki mantra and then reflecting on the first precept:

"Just for today, do not anger..."

I think of how much more is implied - do not feel anger - or sadness, or separation - for it is all illusion...I think of how the cultivation of compassion is the appropriate response to everything...

I hear a voice deep inside that reminds me that everything is within...

I hear the voice of the Divine ever so gently whispering in my heart:

"I will be with you until the end of time...
You are never alone..."

So much more that I hear - it is all beautiful and breathtaking...I listen - not wanting to miss a single word...

And then I realize - I have not been cold for the entire time I have been sitting...Only when I am ready to depart do I feel it once again...

I end with this poem shared by Oprah during her webcast with Eckhart Tolle this week:

Lost
by David Wagoner

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.