You Reading This, Be Ready

In this blog I often write about coaching skills which are also good leadership skills which are also simple spiritual practices. And I’d originally planned to write about “futuring”— the practice of imagining ourselves a year ahead or two years ahead — after making the changes we want to make. Futuring can be a powerful force that propels us toward a preferred outcome for our leadership and life. But then I realized that today — February 1 — is a threshold day.

Today marks the halfway point between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox. The ancient Celts celebrated February 1 as a return to the “light half of the year.” And I realized that today is not a day for me to imagine the future. Today is a day for me to be fully attentive to what is right in front of me, right now.

The poet William Stafford wrote You Reading This, Be Ready just a few days before he died:

Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
sound from outside fills the air?

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now? Are you waiting
for time to show you some better thoughts?

When you turn around, starting here, lift this
new glimpse that you found; carry into evening
all that you want from this day. This interval you spent
reading or hearing this, keep it for life –

What can anyone give you greater than now,
starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?

Today is a threshold between the darkest day of winter and the official welcome of spring.

I could choose to look back and learn.

I could choose to look forward and dream.

Instead, I choose to embrace the present moment with breathing respect. I will gaze around me with gratitude and contentment. I will carry it wherever I go right now. I have all that I need. I can give and serve from that deep well of grace and abundance.

Walking with you,
Vicki