inspired by david whyte's coleman's bed
with so many living so much longer there has been a lot of interest in ancestry. people are finding relatives they didn’t know they had, sometimes with great joy and other times with regret and sorrow. the past seems to come more into the present, and it affects the future. the search for ancestors, the connection with those who preceded us, can allow for life repair and forgiveness, as well as deep learning.
where we are right now, who we are right now, sets the stage for our future. we become then the ancestor of our future selves. david whyte, in his poem coleman’s bed invites us to “Live in this place as you were meant to and then, surprised by your abilities, become the ancestor of it all…”
first we must “live in this place”, as we are meant to. be present, become conscious of all that we experience. live as we are meant to, breathing into each moment. find our seat at whichever table we find ourselves. be willing to live fully, as we are meant to. take risks, for we may have less to lose than we had when we were younger. perhaps our ego is a bit less invested in what others might think of us. perhaps we are willing to be fully who we were meant to be.
then we will be surprised by our abilities. our decades of life experience is what we bring to that table. whatever wisdom we have gained speaks to the others at the table. by claiming our seat at the table we live in that place fully embodied, fully realised. and no one will be more surprised than ourselves, at what we know that is, as yet, unspoken.
in taking our place fully we become the ancestor of our own future. we create our present at the same time as we write our legacy with each action, with each word, with each breath. the legacy we leave is the one we live now.
we then become worthy ancestors.
(p.s. i'm so sorry this post is unillustrated. i'm still having tech issues with wordpress...sigh.)