They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. But what creates the first step? Have you ever pondered the act of walking? You get up from the table and walk to the kitchen, you walk to the copier, you walk to your car, you walk to this and from that. You do not tell your legs, 'ok, let's go, time to walk, left, right, left, right.' You simply get up and go. Somewhere, without thinking, you mind had a thought that created a message to your legs and off you go. The mind didn't say, 'Would you like to start with the left or right leg this time?' 'Would you like to do a bit of the hokey pokey first?' 'Walk forward or backwards?' You had a thought, and without thinking the body obeyed. Sometimes we walk into a wall, like a battery operated car, forgetting to tell our legs to turn. And then there are those walks that the emotions and events are so heavy that you literally do have to consciously tell your legs to move. You almost have to will them 'left, right, left, right.' Back to the original thread...what creates the first step? A thought? But I thought "kitchen" not "walk" and yet off I went, walking. Tis not the destination, it is the intent.
Sometimes I picture the heart like a little tadpole squirting around in the lake with only a tiny tail propelling it. Later you see tiny little legs and then they begin to grow. Eventually the entire body changes and a frog is now squirting about the surface and on the bank. To let my heart legs emerge so, like my physical legs, the unconscious and knowing intent begins the journey .... to love, to awaken, to be compassionate, to trust, to dare, to leap and risk, to reach out and to reach in... to simply carry me there. And then I smile, the legs are there.......... awaiting the intent. Should my heart, like my legs, lead me into a wall, freeze and immobilize in fear, to not blame the heart, but reawaken my intent.
“Don't give in to your fears. If you do, you won't be able to talk to your heart.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
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