It has been several months since I have posted anything on my blog and I have realized several things during the months of non-posting.

My writing is a practice and it is a practice which keeps me centered, balanced and focused. It is a practice that would have been good to rely on during the previous months.

My yoga is also a practice which keeps me centered, balanced and focused. It, also, is a practice which would have been good to rely on during the precious months. Correction: my yoga is a practice which puts me into a place of meditation which keeps me centered, balanced and focused. My yogi teaches that the mind is the taxi driver and my spirit is the person in the backseat. If the taxi driver is doing the driving with no instruction from the person in the back seat there really is no idea where the path of the journey will be. If the person in the backseat is giving instructions to the taxi driver then the journey will be more filled with intention and purpose. For many years my mind was the driver and the person in the backseat was silent so when I choose to think in a stress-filled way, that old pattern likes to jump into control again. It is only through diligent practice that I can maintain a difference between the taxi driver and the person in the back street. These last months have taught me the importance of that diligence.

I have also learned that it is possible to completely block out the moment to moment experience of life and not notice or feel parts of life or all of it. It is possible to become numb and not realize the “numbness.” I have learned, again, that it may take something “momentous” to be forced out of the numbness. I wonder how many times I will have to learn this lesson in this lifetime. The “momentous” experience for me this time happened over a period of several months this summer and fall. I was forced to look at the experience of my life and realize it was time to break out of the numbness.

I have also learned that moving into a place of uncertainty may cause others to feel fear and worry. The phrase I heard most often toward the end of my momentous experience was variations on how will I survive. When I responded with “I don’t know but I’m sure I will be fine” that is when I was frequently confronted by fear. On the surface it may have been legitimate concern for my well-being but I think on a deeper level that response may have touched something within each questioner about his/her own uncertainty.

I have also learned to be precise and clear when setting intentions. Last year at Christmas I set an intention to be out of retail before another Christmas came. At the beginning of June there was no path that I could see for the fulfillment of that intention but here it is a few days before Christmas and I am no longer in retail. As I look at a lifetime of unintentional and intentional intention setting I am in awe at the way the Divine works on our behalf.

I look forward to deepening my practice of writing and I look forward to reading your responses and thoughts. My hope and prayer for everyone during this Christmas season is that the Light that is celebrated on December 25th shines into all the dark corners of everyone’s life bringing divine illumination.