A New Beginning

A friend recently sent me this poem by John O'Donahue.  It's called "For a New Beginning" and it expresses a lot of what was happening while I was making the decision to leave Canada.  Here in El Salvador I've been taking the time to write posts when I'm sick which maybe translates into them being a bit negative and I don't mean for them to be.  The truth is that I wouldn't trade where I'm at right now for anything.  There is some risk, and definitely a new rhythm, to my life here.  But more than anything, as O'Donahue writes, "my soul senses the world that awaits me."

For a New Beginning 

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,

Where your thoughts never think to wander,

This beginning has been quietly forming,

Waiting until you were ready to emerge. 

For a long time it has watched your desire,

Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,

Noticing how you willed yourself on,

Still unable to leave behind what you had outgrown. 

It watched you play with the seduction of safety,

And the gray promises that sameness whispered,

Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,

Wondered would you always live like this. 

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,

And out you stepped onto new ground,

Your eyes young again with energy and dream,

A path of plenitude opening before you. 

Though your destination is not yet clear,

You can trust the promise of this opening;

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning

That is at one with your life´s desires. 

Awaken your spirit to adventure;

Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk,

Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,

For your soul senses the world that awaits you.