Look within. The secret is within you.*
Dajian Huineng

The best stories and novels lead the reader not to an explanation, but to a place of wonder.**
Peter Turchi

How important it is to see this person for who they are,
Beyond labels or explanations;
How critical for this person to see themselves
beyond the stories they’ve been self-telling.

I may be talking about you,
I am definitely talking about me;
I think I want to be proven wrong
when it comes to my story:
I’ve been doing it wrong all along.
This is one of the great benefits of learning.
It’s also a common challenge. …
If you need to be proven right,
learning is a challenge.
If you’re eager to be proven wrong,
Learning is delightful.^

Even when our story cum explanation of life so far
contains pain – even here, there is hope;
See this from Susan Cain:
Have you realised that you’re part of a
long and storied tradition that can help you
transform yor pain into
beauty,
your longing into
belonging? …
And have you asked what is the ache
you can’t get rid of –
and could you make it
your creative offering?^^

And this from Donald Miller:
Pain, then, is often the teacher that
transforms the hero into a guide.
That is, if their attitude toward pain
is accepting and redemptive.*^

There is more to everyone than meets the eye,
Including you and me:
Life is to find
the secret within.

*Joseph Campbell’s Myths To Live By;
**Peter Turchi’s A Muse and A Maze;
^Seth Godin’s blog: I’ve been doing it wrong all along;
^^Susan Cain’s Bittersweet;
*^Donal Miller’s Hero On a Mission.

The more something is shared, the greater its value becomes.
Robin Wall Kimmerer

I have married a lot of people,
That is, married this person to
this person,
And I would sometimes share how
we need to grow from being in love to being loving,
Perhaps the journey from being an abstract noun to
a verb;
It means that even if we cannot
think or feel loving, we can act loving.

One of the most popular readings for
those who wanted something from scripture on their wedding day
goes like this:
Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy,
it does not boast,
it is not proud. 
It does not dishonour others,
it is not self-seeking, 
it is not easily angered, 
it keeps no record of wrongs. 
Love does not delight in evil 
but rejoices with the truth. 
It always protects,
always trusts,
always hopes,
always perseveres.
Love never fails.**

And, if a verb,
It means that we can develop and grow love
as a skill,
And then we can add love to
anything we do.

*Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass;
^1 Corinthians 13:4-8

It’s a miracle. The ability to invent beauty out of thin air.*
Gabe Anderson

You’re either the person who creates energy. Or you’re the one that destroys it.**
Seth Godin

Your talents,
Your energies,
Your values –
Just waiting to bring
something into being
that wasn’t there before:
An idea,
A connection,
A completed piece of work,
A galvanised team.

*Gabe Anderson’s blog: The Writing;
**Ryder Carroll’s The Bullet Journal Method.

There are naïve questions, tedious questions, ill-placed questions, questions put after inadequate self-criticism. But every questions is a cry to understand the world. There is no such thing as a dumb question.*
Carl Sagan

Hard work can be done without consequence. Contribution, however, is hard work with others in mind.**
Gabe Anderson

The best answers always seem to provoke
more questions;
At least this is how it appears for me
in my dreamwhispering work:
Questions uncovering more of what is
hidden or unobserved in a person’s life –
And there’s always more to uncover.

Reach for the questions.

*Ryder Carroll’s The Bullet Journal Method;
Gabe Anderson’s blog: Hand Work and Contribution.

A threshold is not a simple boundary; it is a frontier that divides two different territories, rhythms and atmospheres. … At this threshold a great complexity of emotion comes alive: confusion, fear, excitement, sadness, hope.*
John O’Donohue

Maybe your life will work. Most likely it won’t at first, but that will give you poetry.**
Yrsa Daley-Ward

On the surface of things,
It’s a thin line to cross;
Beneath the surface there’s a whole lot more
going on.

The line itself is unlikely to be the
source of resistance;
That’s mostly to be found inside ourselves.

My hope is for a world in which
all are invited to cross the line into their
something more;
That there’s a whole load of stuff
going on inside of us at this moment is
our opportunity for transcendence.

*John O’Donohue’s Benedictus;
**Katherine Morgan Schafler’s The Perfectionist’s Guide to Losing Control.

Out of this sense of belonging, the world seems to call to us, to recognise us, and to speak to us directly, the voice itself an embodiment of our particular nature, and the way that nature finds a home in the world. At best. this conversation between ourselves and the world becomes our work.*
David Whyte

Happiness cannot be pursued, it can only ensue.
Viktor Frankl

When we belong to ourselves –
That is, when we are at home in our lives –
We also feel at home in the world and universe.

It’s not that the world behaves as David Whyte imagines it,
But it feels as if it recognises and speaks to us,
And this sense of belonging is more than enough for us to be
creative and to make our
contribution.

Here in our sense of belonging are found
the two questions I often refer to –
The personal and the social myths Joseph Campbell believes that
we each need:
Who is my True Self?
What is my Contribution?

There are many places we may feel
we do not belong,
But never here,
You always belong here.

*David Whyte’s Crossing the Unknown Sea;
**Ryder Carroll’s The Bullet Journal Method.

So. What if I asked you this same question: What are you longing for?
Susan Cain

Life is so subtle that sometimes you barely notice yourself walking through the doors you once prayed would open.**
Brianna Wiest

The tricycle kid is waiting for
something amazing to happen,
But maybe it already has.

Transcendence can be subtle like that –
Best to train ourselves in
noticing more –
And good to know that often,
This is all that’s required.

*Susan Cain’s Bittersweet;
**Ryder Carroll’s The Bullet Journal Method.

Ideas do not belong to people.  Ideas live in the world as we do.  We discover certain ideas at certain times.*
M. C. Richards

*M. C. Richards’ Centering.

Being of an reasonable sort appears to require limitation. Perhaps that is because Being requires Becoming, as well as mere static existence – and to become is to become something more, or at least something different.*
Jordan Peterson

*Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life.

It’s more important, I think, that we listen deeply to our stories and then see where it leads. And that’s the piece. If we all do our part … Whatever our part is. Just do one thing. That’s all we have to do.
Simone Campbell

Your ikigai is at the intersection of what you are good at and what you love doing.**
Héctor Garcia

It is likely that
meeting the needs of others will be
the most meaningful thing that we do in our
lives.

One thing that dreamwhispering conversations
with hundreds of people has impressed upon me is how
everyone has competency and passion in something –
And that’s enough,
More than enough to begin.

It’s really about believing in what we discover about ourselves,
So that we can put the pieces together into
a story that brings us joy and serves
others –
Your meaningful
isn’t far away.

Awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet
immensity of you own presence. …
Respond to the call of your gift and
the courage to follow its path.^

*Krista Tippett’s Becoming Wise;
**Ryder Carroll’s The Bullet Journal Method;
^John O’Donohue’s Benedictus: For Presence.