Somewhere my younger self
wanted to understand
what lay beneath every stone.
My current self
seems more willing
to step onto the next one
and see what happens.
Open-eyed surrender
feels like the wisest course
in most instances.
I trust my body
more than I ever have,
and that trust is inseparable
from the impulse to surrender.
The sky gives way to clouds.
The ocean gives way
to storms or calm.
The birds give way
to the wind,
navigating however they must.
Perhaps the difference
between me
and the birds,
the dog,
or the weather
is that I might assume I am
slightly apart from the dance.
Yet what I perceive
as outside myself
is part of a whole,
and so am I.
It’s time to more fully embody this knowing.
Then what arrives
from inhabiting my own skin
so completely is a profound quieting.
Of the endless inner critic.
The desire to please others
above myself.
The constant questioning.
They finally fall silent.
I can settle into myself
and trust.
Because I am
the most trustworthy person
I have ever known.