JW: Crossing the Threshold

Eric, for the past several days, I've been feeling like I'm ready to take the next step on our journey ... crossing the threshold ... but what is the threshold? This question has bounced around my brain for days.

Your entry into Anam Cara has pulled me back into that work and that idea, reviewing previously highlighted passages and highlighting new ones. Because of how we have come to this journey, it's easy for me to focus on us as anam cara and I think there is truth there, that we are two souls who have recognized each other in surprise and delight (IMHO).

However, the closer I come to the idea of crossing a threshold, the more I think that view of anam cara might not be the point for me ... and definitely isn't a prescription for action as much as it is a waymarker pertinent to my journey.

Somewhere around the turn of the century, I took a course which was a series of weekends with Michael Ray at Stanford. The primary thing I remember was that on the last weekend, we were invited to make a declaration. I was in the midst of InnovationNetwork, very career oriented, and yet, when I stood up and made my declaration, I said, "I want to be love." I didn't know what that meant at the time and still don't. Perhaps it's time to find out.

Speaking only for myself, I see where I have long relegated love to a secondary focus in my life, confusing self with other, expecting others to fill the gaps in self. What I see emerging from Anam Cara is a call to truly love myself ... to bravely cross the threshold into love of my own clay, my own soul, my own life, wherever that may take me. I believe this is the threshold I have to cross in order to "be love."

It also means dropping expectations, especially the ones based on societal norms. They are a heavy load and I aspire to letting go of them, even if it's only one pebble at a time.

You have become very dear to me and I treasure our journey. I do not believe I could have gotten this far without your kind and gentle wisdom and support. I also want, and intend, to fully support you in living your best life wherever that might take you.

This is a magical journey and I look forward to whatever unfolds along the way.  joyce

EWR I can't add a single thing to this Joyce it is an eloquent and heart-felt statement and I endorse it fully. By that I mean I want the same for myself, to find out what it means to love myself, a notion that I find daunting and a little unsettling. Perhaps this is the year I find a pathway forward on that crucial quest.