February 22 in The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo

February 22

Opposing Voices

Let the opposing voices in your head speak.

They are only finding their part in a larger, yet-to-be-heard song.

Being alive is a paradox, an ongoing mix of things that on the surface don’t always seem to make sense. But voicing what doesn’t seem to make sense helps. It’s like an orchestra tuning up to play together. We have no chance of discovering the fullness of our inner music, if we don’t let the players in our hearts and minds and spirits tune.

Often, confusion is the tension of trying to make sense of things too soon, before enough of the inner players have learned their parts. Often, experience is the way that the heart and mind and spirit practice what they need to play.

Isn’t the trail of our relationships the time it takes for the heart to practice its part in the movement we call Love? Isn’t the trail of our honest questions the time it takes for the mind to practice its part in the movement we call Wisdom? Isn’t the trail of our changing beliefs the time it takes for the spirit to practice its part in the movement we call God?

And isn’t our trail of Oneness, those brief moments when everything comes together, isn’t this the time it takes for Love and Wisdom and God to bring the common place in us alive?

• This is a guided thought meditation. Center yourself and bring into view an issue that carries indecision or confusion for you right now.
• Though it will feel initially chaotic, breathe slowly and let the opposing views of this issue bubble up uncensored.
• Take your time, breathe deeply, and let the opposing energies play themselves out.
• Rather than struggle to understand how these things go together, breathe steadily and, as if each energy is an instrument, feel the duet they are trying to play in you.
• Enter your day humming that tune.

The above excerpt is from The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo.