I took this photo of a mural I came across while wandering in the Mission in San Francisco some years ago. It still knocks my socks off.  I stood for a long time in front of it. I wanted to light a candle right there in the alley to such a basic hard earned and undeniable awareness.

This is often how I find inspiration. Someone else follows the rivulet to their source waters, a search which is often  hard and deep and wide, and then they offer it up and it rekindles mine.

We all have times in which we lose vital contact with our innate inspiration for life, for living.  We can’t find our way. The dark becomes weighted, dense and burdensome, the light knife sharp and glaring.For some the search becomes too punishing to continue alone. So I am invited in for a time.  But how can I  be fully responsive?  That is the inquiry I have ever continued after being in this field for so many years.

I have found that   I need to remain committed to my inspiration, to live close to my source waters.  When I am myself lost I must accept I am both frightened and brave.   If I do not hide from myself, I can see better in both dark and bright when companioning someone as they rediscover their way.