I Can See Clearly Now…
“The question is not what you look at, but what you see.” —Henry David Thoreau
Even here in hot, dry Austin, autumn’s arrival is slowly making itself known with changing colors and falling leaves.
The space left behind after the leaves are gone is the perfect metaphor for an opportunity to see differently—to see clearly—when we let go of what no longer serves us.
Referencing Johnny Nash’s 1972 song, “I Can See Clearly Now,” during this past Saturday’s day retreat, everyone immediately knew what I was referring to. Asked to sing the first few lines, I politely declined (and saved everyone’s ears). Then a magical thing happened. We all begin to sing it together. Just a few lines of this tune, but it shifted the early afternoon energy in the room and reinforced the power of music and community.
I can see clearly now, the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-shiny day
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-shiny day
― Johnny Nash, (first few lines of the lyrics
Reminded of the power of attracting in what we give our attention to, it feels like a profound act of both resistance and hope to make “I can see clearly now” something to repeat over and over, hum, and even sing (with others!), even when we’re not yet at that point. So let us sing it into being! For with clarity, comes new possibilities and new solutions to challenges.
A further sign that this just might be something for all of us to remember or hum is finding an email this morning from Sheila Slevin with a link to a YouTube video of Jimmy Cliff performing this song. Having been one of the participants Saturday, she chose to pass it on to the You’re Not the Only One group that she hosts on Zoom on Monday evenings. (Who might you pass it on to?)
What might open up for you after you’ve said yes to seeing clearly now and sought out the blue skies within and without? What might you discover was there all along that only needed your willingness to let go of the clouds covering the light?
May you be blessed with the ability to see clearly now the way forward and the possibilities on the horizon.
Take good care.
The Heart Knows
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
To See Clearly
“The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something and tell what it saw in a plain way. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion – all in one.”
― John Ruskin
Look and See
This morning, at waterside, a sparrow flew
to a water rock and landed, by error, on the back
of an eider duck; lightly it fluttered off, amused.
The duck, too, was not provoked, but, you might say, was
laughing.
This afternoon a gull sailing over
our house was casually scratching
its stomach of white feathers with one
pink foot as it flew.
Oh Lord, how shining and festive is your gift to us, if we
only look, and see.
―Mary Oliver, Why I Wake Early: New Poems by Mary Oliver © Beacon Press, 2004
