A dear friend and inspiration, Jim Spivey sent this to me many months ago but it is one of those truly valuable pieces that create an aha! and remind me of the beauty of keeping the childlike, the innocent, the authentic, the spontaneous in me alive.
See, this is my opinion: we all start out knowing
magic. We are born
with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us.
We are born able to
sing to birds and read the clouds and see our
destiny in grains of sand. But
then we get the magic educated right out of our
souls. We get it churched
out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. We get
put on the straight and
narrow and told to be responsible. Told to act our
age. Told to grow
up, for God’s sake. And you know why you were told
that? Because the
people doing the telling were afraid of our wildness
and youth, and because the
magic we knew so well made them feel ashamed and sad
for what they’d
allowed to wither inside themselves. …
The truth of life is that every year we get farther
away from the essence
that is born within us. We get shouldered
with burdens, some of them good, some of them not so
good. Things
happen to us. Loved ones die. People get sick or get
in wrecks and get crippled.
People lose their way, or we lose our way, for one
reason or another.
It’s not hard to do, in this world of crazy mazes.
Life itself does its best
to take that memory of magic away from us. Until you
learn to steal it
back.”
Steal back the magic!
In little ways, with gentle nudges (a previous blog post) it becomes possible to live in the preciousness of our essence, the reality of the moment and the greatness of who we are. Very often, its just a breath away. Gay Hendricks in his beautiful book, ‘The 10 second miracle’ also shares how we might shift into this space, our true nature effortlessly.
Today, Now… you may like to experiment with simply picking up the phone and appreciating someone from the heart, or just taking a few deep breaths, perhaps taking just a few minutes to clear a bit of clutter, maybe singing a song or just see what happens to your being as you are willing to simply smile marveling at what’s beneath your nose that you don’t see often- literally and metaphorically 😉
Let's learn and create together ! 
But why steal?
Steal back because Deepti, the society has stolen it away!
i like the idea that there is a comet and a forest fire inside me… 🙂 and i am often connected to them or rather am them! thank you for sharing the poem – will be so useful in my work.
i think this is the true work of education to preserve or keep alive ”the child” in the child!!!
Gul,
Why steal what is rightfully yours? Society is a myth….we abdicate, we should receive the grace….it is not even about reclaiming.
i guess the challenge lies in the “turning around” and “dropping of masks”….it always appears that the cost of change is too high for the uncertain rewards….
we often mistake the familiar with the “real”, the comfortable for the “real”…actually sanskrit is better here…it is always a challenge between the shreyas and preyas …and most of the time the preyas holds us captive.
unless of course we awaken to the real — i.e. realise that the shreyas is the only preyas
Anil & Deepti, my dear friends..
It is interesting that you both speak in a similar voice.
Of course, society is a myth.. and of course why must one steal back what is rightfully ours..
And yes, the comfortable is mistaken for the real and sometimes the uncomfortable also!
And yet.. if we see beyond the ‘word’ .. to the spirit of what is being said..
Perhaps not literally to the meaning of ‘steal’ ..
we may catch the meaning of what is being said..
Yes, Deepti.. we are stealing from ourselves!
There is no other..
And thats the game of the lover and the beloved.. the great dance..
For who is the lover and who is the beloved.. but an expression of the one who chose to experience itself..
and hence the two ..
So- its all an illusion and yet there are some parts of the illusion that can take us out of the illusion.. isnt it?
Isn’t forgiveness an illusion.. and yet it enables the shift.. Isn’t meditation an illusion? And yet it might awaken us to something that is beyond words..
And, Anil.. can you please explain the meaning of Shreyas and Preyas..
So.. how can you steal what’s yours? And what is “society”? Really, isn’t it just a reflection of what you are inside? So in effect.. you are again “stealing” from yourself…