Welcome to the first “Three Joyful Things” for the new decade! The month of January has been all about looking at how you can set a foundation for a new year. This week, I want to spend some time with an inspiring quote about the beautiful simplicity, which looks at the question of “what happens when you trust The Way, and Find Your Warrior Self?”
I sat with this little nugget for the first hours of the New Year, and found that it felt like the kind of quote that could take a lifetime to really unpack, to breathe with, to understand.
My three things this week are in service of this quote, which seems to shake the foundations of me as someone who loves to plan. It begs the question of – how do we simply be present?
“When I was young, I believed that life might unfold in an orderly way, according to my hopes and expectations. But now I understand that the Way winds like a river, always changing, ever onward. My journeys revealed that the Way itself creates the warrior; that every path leads to peace, every choice to wisdom. And that life has always been, and will always be, arising in Mystery.”
Dan Millman, Way of the Peaceful Warrior
Inspiration: “the Way winds like a river, always changing, ever onward. My journeys revealed that the Way itself creates the warrior; that every path leads to peace, every choice to wisdom.”
Kind of like Jennifer Louden said, there’s no way to know the outcome of anything we do, so how can you and I practice being present for the things that do happen?
How do we have faith that we are being shaped into the warrior we’re meant to be, walking towards peace, and gaining wisdom as our life unfolds?
How do we allow peace in the interim, before we more fully understand the path we’re walking?
Intention: Instead of putting expectations or hopes or our own need to control things on a situation (or a life), allow it to unfold. Be present, non judging, and mindful.
Action: There is a great deal to learn about the idea of being present from Centering Prayer, which allows you to simply observe the thoughts in your own mind, and let them pass by. You can find try it out with the one I recorded here, on Insight Timer.
Another action for you to try is to ask yourself (journal it, if that helps you):
How has the Way shaped you?
How has your journey led you to this moment?
Who is the Warrior inside you, that you can see now? What has he or she been through? What is the peace you’ve gathered and the wisdom you’ve learned?
If you look at the year and decade to come, how can you prepare yourself for the next part of the journey, knowing that all paths lead to peace and all decisions lead to wisdom?
What can your inner Warrior tell you about how to look at the future?