Boyd Varty, master tracker,
writer—The Cathedral of the Wild--and
owner of the Londolozi Game preserve in South Africa, writes:
“I’ve learned that nothing is
worth doing if it cannot be done from a place of deep peace. If we want to
restore the planet, we must first restore ourselves. I believe that you find
your way to your right life, your mission, the same way you find an animal.
First you quiet your heart and be still. Then find the fresh track and be
willing to follow it. You don’t need to see the whole picture; you only need to
see where to take the next step. Life isn’t about staying on track; it’s about
constantly rediscovering the track.”
Having just made a life-changing
decision to sell my English cottage of twenty-seven years, I ask myself: Was it done from the place of deep peace that Varty
describes above? I think not. Nonetheless it was—like many of our seemingly
abrupt decisions-- done from an unconscious accumulation of experience and
awareness.
Still, I think Varty has said
it all and I admire the way he wrote it in his remarkable book about growing up
on Londolozi land in South Africa. Reading the book, we witness the lively,
sometime hilarious and sometimes frightening story of his journey into
adulthood that brought him into the wisdom expressed above.
“First quiet your heart and be still.” That
means waiting. Many of us are not so good at that. Waiting. My wise son said
about my pending decision to sell my beloved English cottage, “Wait three days,
Mom, and then see what you want to do.” I waited the three days—three days are
so symbolic—and then I was certain it was time to let it go. Sometimes the wait
needs to be much longer than three days. Perhaps, as Ina Garten has written
about her decision to begin writing cookbooks, a person might need to wait a
year to find “the fresh track.”
Being still and waiting
allows the Universe, God, the Great Choreographer in the Sky, to do some things:
shift some ideas, create some space and open some minds, including our own. All
of the above, and so much more: miracles that we cannot fathom.
Waiting makes us feel
powerless because we are not doing anything.
In our action-oriented culture, that’s bad news. In eastern cultures there are
three acknowledged and accepted states of mind: Yes, No and I Don’t Know.
“I don’t know?” People in the west tend to think you are a
wishy-washy no-account if you don’t know what to do next. I remember my
youngest son returning from a visit to Ohio—where he was born--after spring
vacation of his senior year in college, and saying to me, “Everyone wanted to
know what I was going to do and I had to say I don’t know. It was awful, Mom!” (This man—not so young now---has seven
television Emmys to his credit.)
A friend of mine retired from
teaching a month ago and almost everyone she runs into asks her what her plans
are. Travel? Moving? She laughs, waves her hands in the air and says, “Summer!”
Finding the “fresh track” and
being “willing to follow it” takes courage. We need to trust our intuitions and
also, if we are a bit off the mark at the start, we are urged to be mindful that we can shift our course. Making adjustments, learning from our errors, in my estimation, is the most significant life learning we can accrue. And, as Boyd Varty
writes, “Life isn’t about staying on track; it’s about constantly rediscovering
the track.”
“Rediscovering the track,”
Yes. The process of rediscovery challenges us to remain alert and alive in our
own existence. What a great way to live!
***
Check out Unleash
Potential, offering personal growth groups in Fairfield on the first
Thursday of the month. Expert life trackers, Caroline J. Temple and Lisa
Jacoby, are the compassionate leaders of Unleash
Potential and my companions on this journey of reflection and
self-discovery. Click here for more: http://www.unleashpotential.us/events/
