Reaching Out

Sunset

Rainer Maria Rilke

Slowly the west reaches for clothes of new colors

which it passes to a row of ancient trees.

You look, and soon these two worlds both leave you,

one part climbs toward heaven, one sinks to earth,

leaving you, not really belonging to either,

not so hopelessly dark as that house that is silent,

not so unswervingly given to the eternal as that thing

that turns to a star each night and climbs ---

leaving you (it is impossible to untangle the threads)

your own life, timid and standing high and growing,

so that, sometimes blocked in, sometimes reaching out,

one moment your life is a stone in you, and the next, a star.

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Each fresh new morning is an empty canvas waiting for our arrival, our love, attention, and unique creative design. "How do I want to design my day today?" I ask myself. I check in with the values and strengths I want to practice daily, which I keep printed out on a piece of paper on my nightstand, and choose my colors and actions carefully. I read inspiring writings from authors who are my spiritual mentors, and then I begin to paint or sketch the design of my day. I follow my mind, body, spirit, and heart and strive for a balance between them.

And just as with relationships with others, my relationship with myself begins with two choices...moving toward myself or away from myself. The most perplexing thing is to move, not just think. Almost every time, moving toward myself involves, ironically, reaching out and then making something happen, taking action, and doing something new. Moving away from myself is not doing much of anything related to my values and strengths, which is where I can get stuck. It takes courage to practice my values and stand in my truth instead of thinking about what it would be like if I did. And every time, I have never regretted taking the action.