Hi,
This is Johnson Chang,
The author of Sage Sapien,
From Karma to Dharma.
This is a poem that can be used as a guided visualization or meditation,
Either sitting or laying down.
Set yourself up in a comfortable position and remember to take deep breaths in and out.
The Path Ahead Under the canopy of this vast forest,
I look up for a sign,
A confirmation that the path ahead is the right path.
Nothing but beams of sunlight crawling their way in through the thickness of each layer of green.
Nothing but droplets of the recent storm zigzagging their way from leaf to leaf onto the forest floor.
Should I stay or should I go?
I linger for a few moments and savor this feeling of certainty,
Certain that if I stay,
I too will wilt as the brown leaves have wilted from the memory of life.
There is a comfort in standing still.
The ordinariness in the recognizable feels safe,
Unobtrusive.
Like the decaying leaf,
I too could stand here till I disappear into antiquity.
I too can melt into the forest floor.
I continue to stare up the trunks of these colossal trees and I wonder when they were born and when they will die.
Long before I became me and long after I disappear from sight,
These trees will continue to stand rooted to the refuge of home.
Home an anchor of support fastened by roots,
Roots that I pine for.
Oh,
That I could be a tree,
Free from the consequences of choice.
Instead,
I have legs that rely on the fragility of ankles and toes,
Ankles and toes untethered to the ground with an unsatiable itch to move.
A crow softly growls nearby and wakes me from this daydream and a family of dragonflies descend from above.
They flutter about as if beckoning me to follow.
Their amber colored bodies glow against the glorious green.
Closer and closer they come,
Forming a crown over my head,
A crown of whispers.
They speak with a soft firmness,
Awaken,
Awaken my dear heart.
The time to decide is now.
The time to take a step into the deep shadows of the woods that lie ahead is now.
Yes,
The road is long.
The obstacles are great and fear lurks in every corner.
You cannot stay rooted in this place of neither here nor there.
You were not designed to be bolted into the ground.
Your home is not here.
Your home is not a place.
Your home is in the constant remembering of your greatness,
In the memory of why your soul arrived into this body,
Into this time,
With these stories of pain and stories of joy.
Your home is in the songs of the crows that call forth the force of transformation that lies within,
This force that carries the potency of the universe itself.
All of creation's mysteries at your fingertips if you only accept.
Home does not exist in this dualistic timeline of right and wrong,
Good and bad.
These perceptions are conditions programmed into you for the purpose of limiting you.
Don't believe them.
Instead,
Cultivate faith and trust that home is a feeling that all roads will connect you to your highest purpose.
Even if you fall,
Even if you get lost and confused,
You will dust yourself off and keep going.
You will remember who you are.
You are a creature of love and you will keep moving along the path ahead.
Awaken my dear heart and step into your destiny.
