NW Institute on Intimacy

Super excited to co-lead this 3-day women’s retreat this summer - and for all those that jump at participating in this life and love expanding opportunity!

It can be frustrating when in our mindful commitment to our healing and health that the path do often is bumpy and circuitous. I have always been especially impatient w this! However, I try to remember, that every step, every place has something to teach me. It’s hard and I think it’s true! This morning I came across this poem as another powerful reminder that “here” is good and deserving of our mindful presence and gratitude.

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

From Traveling Light: Collected and New Poems. Copyright 1999 by David Wagoner. Used with permission of the University of Illinois Press.

How do you soothe your soul in the frustration of the healing process?