Start Close In…

“Start close in,
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.” ― David Whyte, first stanza of Start Close In

A recent conversation with a friend reminded me how challenging it can be to begin a new journey or endeavor. We often race ahead in our minds thinking of all of the steps and changes our one move forward will initiate. Then we freeze.

Is there something you’re hesitating to begin? From an exciting journey to an inner exploration of grief we’ve avoided, the summer can give us space to take a deep breath and begin.

David Whyte acknowledges our hesitancy to start and our ability to also be distracted by the voices of others in his poem, Start Close In.

Start right now
take a small step
you can call your own
don’t follow
someone else’s
heroics, be humble
and focused,
start close in,
don’t mistake
that other
for your own. ― David Whyte, from Start Close In

Whether the next adventure calling you is inwardly or outwardly focused, I invite you to take a small step in that new direction today.

May you be blessed with the courage to begin something new or start again something that has lovingly called you forward time and time again. And may you feel your soul breathing in fresh, healing air as you give yourself this gift.

To read David Whyte’s complete poem, To Start Close In, you can see his Facebook post of the poem HERE.

Becoming

“For me, becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

Your Direction

“The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.”
― Johann wolfgang von Goethe

Live Slow Enough

Like the Earth that carries us, the ground of our being moves so slowly we take it for granted. But if you should feel stalled, numb, or exhausted from the trials of your life, simply slow your thoughts to the pace of cracks widening, slow your heart to the pace of the earth soaking up rain, and wait for the freshness of the beginning to greet you.

― Mark Nepo, from The Book of Awakening