And it is good . . .

March 15, 2021

Awaken to the mystery of being here
and enter the immensity of your own presence.
Have joy and peace in the temple of your senses. . . .
Be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul.
May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven
around a heart of wonder.
For Presence, John O’Donohue

I take part in a group that engages in heart/spirituality/psychology work and looks at how the three (and more parts of us) intertwine and relate to one another.  Our group tends to reflect beyond boundaries and boxes that religious and other institutions have established while still realizing that those boundaries and boxes exist.  Mostly, we take all of these parts and delve into the heart because we believe that it is in the heart, in the seat of Divine Love, that healing and wholeness take place.

Last week, our facilitator invited us to take part in an exercise.  The instructions were to fill in the blank with our own name and write it down:  “It is good to be _________.”    This exercise might be easy for many, but to be honest, I didn’t want to do it.  I could already sense tears pressing against my eyelids because it hasn’t always been “good to be Rosemary.”   That statement opened the floodgate for past mistakes, difficult experiences, betrayals, inadequacies and failings to swamp me.  But I wrote it down, and as I knew would happen, that judgmental part of me began to have a party.  If the silence and expressions on the faces of others in the group were any indication, I suspect that they were dealing with the same judge.

Yet as I sat a bit longer with the statement, something shifted.  Six simple words were on the page.  Nothing else.  No reasons, explanations, or justifications.  “It is good to be Rosemary.”  Period.  My heart shifted and I began to feel that yes, it is good to be me. Period. No reasons, explanations, or justifications. My mistakes (both past and future), my complexity of emotions and intentions, my background, my sacred stories, my particular choices and journey have shaped me into who I am.  They have all given me my voice, not someone else’s.  No one else can possibly be me but me.  That is a sacred truth, one that the world will never tell us, one that we can only discover where Love dwells, waiting to welcome us home.

Gerald May, spiritual writer and psychiatrist, wrote:  “Creation would miss us if we were not here.  We are significant, precious, and needed, not just for the choices we make and the actions we take, but for our very presence.  The scriptures of every major religion attest to it:  the love in which we exist loves us for our very being” (The Awakened Heart). “For our very being,” no reasons, explanations, or justifications.

As we shake off the ashes of the past year and move toward the new life of spring, what if the gift we gave ourselves was that very statement—it is good to be who we are?  Just that and nothing more. What if we planted it like a seed in our hearts and let it take root?  It would not only change us, but quite possibly help transform the world.

Whoever is reading this blog, it is good to be you.  You are precious, honored, and loved.  Creation would miss you if you weren’t here.  I would miss you if you weren’t here. Believe it. Blessings ~ Rosemary