Becoming Peace

 

Made from Bone 

by Mark Nepo

(from Reduced to Joy)

When I can be the truth,

it grows more and more clear

when it is necessary to tell the truth.  

That is, when I have access to the place

within me that is lighted, I don't have

to speak heatedly. I can just give away

warmth. When I am still enough to brush

quietly with eternity, I don't have to

speak of God. I can just offer peace

to those around me.  

A tree grows so it can convey wind.

It is not the wind. And a person grows

in order to convey spirit.  

They say that animals recharge

their innocence each time they hoof

the earth. And we are reborn

each time we touch what matters.

It has been months since I last sat down to write a blog entry. It's not that my life has been stagnant - quite the contrary - but it feels like I've been percolating, sifting through relationships and situations, preparing for something new to open. What new truth is being birthed within me? How do I walk this earth in a way that offers peace to those around me? How do I shift with the ongoing winds of change? How do I become truth and kindness in life's journey when I am triggered by situations and relationships that bring up the old limitations of my inner child? 

This is an ongoing theme for all humans and I'm no exception! My relationship with my father often resurfaces during one of these cycles and invites me to reflect on what is true and what is not. When there is a misunderstanding with a friend or family member, and it is necessary for me to retreat into myself for reflection, I ask the ancestors, "What is the truth behind this feeling? What is the lesson I am being invited to learn?"

I am grateful for the fact that both my parents wanted me and welcomed me into their lives. The fact that they didn't have a sense of who they were in the world must have been confusing but they did know that they wanted a family and believed that they would protect the children they brought into the world. During the first few years of life they showered me with love and affection.

But when adolescence descended, in my parents eyes, I became a child they no longer understood and my father's faith in his ability to guide and protect me was shaken and he was afraid of my encroaching sense of independence. My rebellion terrified him and he retreated into himself. The strong man I had depended on was floundering without a compass. But the foundation of love that I received as a child had given me roots and has allowed me to find my center through each storm and cycle in my life.

This ongoing cycle of death and rebirth allows us to be reborn again and again. Whatever our beginnings were, the lessons provided were exactly what we needed in order to become our soul's true self. If we tune into our inner knowing and follow that thread to our own truth, we connect with the Divine within and are able to shift with the winds of change. We are "reborn each time we touch what matters."

There is a beautiful song by India Arie called "I Am Light" that sums up the truth that Mark Nepo writes about in "Made From Bone."

I am Light 

I am not the things my family did

I am not the voices in my head

I am not the pieces of the brokenness inside 

I am Light 

I am not the mistakes I have made

or any of the things that caused me pain

I am not the pieces of the dream I left behind 

I am Light 

I am not the color of my eyes

I am not the skin on the outside

I am not my age

I am not my race

my soul inside is all light 

I am Light 

I am divinity defined

I am the god on the inside

I am a star

a piece of it all

I am Light 

May you continue to discover your own inner truth and become peace for you are Light!