May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed.'
~ John O’Donohue
It was a warm summer night in Vermont and we were home visiting family. My sons, who were teenagers at the time, slept in make shift beds in the living room. John has always been a vivid dreamer. He has been known to jump up out of bed quite animated while sleeping. That night he had a nightmare and began screaming and thrashing about as he tried to fight his way out of the bed sheets entanglement. His screams caused his brother Lee to wake with a fright and he too began yelling at the sheer terror of the moment. The rest of the household promptly jolted awake. I ran down the stairs with my heart bounding out of my chest. Once I realized what was happening I woke John with the reassurance that all was okay. Whew! What a scare but now when we recollect that night we all share a good belly laugh. Not exactly the kind of dream one might hope to manifest but life is full of surprises.
I recall listening to a chaplain tell about her first job at a hospital in Manhattan. She described feeling frozen with fear as she walked up to an entrance , hesitated and stared at the door. Meanwhile a nurse came by and kindly asked, “Do you want me to push the button for you?” "No" she said, and proceeded to press it and with a big swoosh the automatic doors opened as she stepped into the chaos of the emergency room. When she crossed that threshold she knew instantly that she was exactly where she was meant to be.
John O'Donohue offers some lovely insights on honoring life's thresholds.
"At any time you can ask yourself: At which threshold am I now standing? At this time in my life, what am I leaving? Where am I about to enter? What is preventing me from crossing my next threshold? What gift would enable me to do it? A threshold is not a simple boundary; it is a frontier that divides two different territories, rhythms, and atmospheres. Indeed, it is a lovely testimony to the fullness and integrity of an experience or a stage of life that it intensifies toward the end into a real frontier that cannot be crossed without the heart being passionately engaged and woken up. At this threshold a great complexity of emotion comes alive: confusion, fear, excitement, sadness, hope. This is one of the reasons such vital crossings were always clothed in ritual. It is wise in your own life to be able to recognize and acknowledge the key thresholds; to take your time; to feel all the varieties of presence that accrue there; to listen inward with complete attention until you hear the inner voice calling you forward. The time has come to cross. "
-John O'Donohue
To Bless the Space Between Us(New York: Double Day Publishing
Contributed by Liz Sorensen Wessel
Mandala Artwork by ~liz
