"Where am I blind?"

A great spiritual teacher (who I don't recall his name at the moment) had a tradition of asking his closest friends to sit with him annually and ask them to tell him where he was blind, meaning where was he so close to his own life that he was not seeing the forest for the trees.

We all have those times and places within us when we feel stuck or confused or lost as to how to view something, what, if any action we should take or where we are selling ourselves or our loved ones short.

After returning from Ireland, life soon took on a frenetic pace preparing the home I live in to be placed on the market, which required some major spring cleaning after months of neglect after my knee injury, and this time of year is full of celebration with birthdays and graduations at every turn. All good things....but hence, no quiet time for contemplation or stillness.

So many great milestones, especially this year. Amber graduated from High School and is preparing her life to move out into the world on her own. Laura completed Elementary School and steps into the new activity of being a cheerleader....can you believe it? So many things still float just above the ground, refusing to pick a spot and stay there.

I've certainly learned so much during this 2 years of proverbial 'homelessness'. I have spent this last month contemplating what I have learned from this time and decided that in losing personal ownership of a physical dwelling, I have had to find a new way to feel at home. Ungrounding me as never before, it caused me to be at home in my body, at home in my soul, at home in the unknown.


As I watch so many others in the world lose so much more than I have, I realize that this time on the planet is offering us all the opportunity to discover what is unchanging and important within a world with rising waters and shifting plates; and it is only through wearing blinders or blindfolds that any of us can really feel any sense of ownership or permanence in anything physical whether that be our bodies or our houses.

For me, it has brought me to a deeper look inside, to what can never be lost and even travel with me beyond this reality.

And so I sit, a quiet breeze blowing through the blue sky and ask you, my friends and fellow travelers, to the same question;

"Where am I blind?"

As you watch me move through my life, and hear me talk, what am I missing that is right in front of my face? Where am I my own worst enemy? Where am I keeping blessings back and calling trouble in? Where can I be more open and where do I need to close doors? Where am I blind to my gifts and selling myself short?

I'm not so much asking to be told what to do or think, but where to look further at myself, inside, at my motivations and fears and where is my vision so focused on one thing that I cannot see other things?