The Breeze I Feel

When my world begins to crumble, I know it is time to stand on the edge of this once comforting nest, stretch my wings, and prove to myself that the breeze I feel, but cannot see, will carry me into a broader new world.

We find a measure of comfort in the acknowledgment that change is the single most consistent element of our external life. We know from experience that Heraclitus was correct when he observed that one cannot step twice into the same river. As we think of those times in our life when a change we feared turned out to be a wonderful growth opportunity, we can inspire others going through something similar.

Yet when change knocks on our door today, we may find ourselves struggling to reinvent the wheel of faith. It is easier to take an optimistic view of change from a distance than when it is staring us in the face. While many artists feel their best piece is their last, it is easy to believe our present crisis is our worst.

When my world begins to crumble, I know it is time to stand on the edge of this once comforting nest, stretch my wings, and prove to myself that the breeze I feel, but cannot see, will carry me into a broader new world.

I am not what I do. I am not the circumstances that surround me. I am not the people I know. I am not the one others have turned their backs on. I am not this body I inhabit or this career through which I express. I am more than all of these. And as Walt Whitman wrote in his Song to Myself:

There is no stoppage and never can be stoppage, If I, you, and the worlds, and all beneath or upon their surfaces, were this moment reduced back to a pallid float, it would not avail in the long run, We should surely bring up again where we now stand, And surely go as much farther, and then farther and farther.