I close my eyes and it’s like there’s a constant stream of thoughts, of things, of places, of people, of dreams. Sleep wouldn’t come tonight, so I got up and did what I do when sleep eludes me… I write.
Thoughts were scrambling about between my ears like kids caught in a cornfield maze. I’m the one standing on the guard tower watching for the ones that get lost, choreographing their exit out of the “maze” and onto the page. These rambunctious “kids”, these words running about, aren’t so easily directed, but I know sleep will come if I just get up and give them a place in a story or fill up a blank page.
October is here. I can’t believe the year is 3/4 gone. Halloween blowups are popping up, up and down the street. Scary caricatures and robust pumpkins, long arm floppy blowups dancing in the air, are showing up on front lawns and filling empty pastures. Artificial pumpkin patches grow in chain-link enclosures and church parking lots. The county fairs are in full swing, and fun is in the air being chased by mischief and malevolence.
It’s quiet, it’s dark, it’s cool. And in the wee morning hours of a sleepless night, what surfaced for me was the word kindness quickly followed by gratitude. Kindness and gratitude are the thresholds by which I choose to measure how I live and love in this world; pumpkins, pirates, and all.
In this busy, crazy, fun time of the year, they are the quiet touchstones that remind me of what matters most when the noise and chaos grow too loud. This morning, in the Fall of my seventy-sixth journey around the sun, watching the flickering candle light the smile of a giant pumpkin face across the street, I find myself pausing to breathe deeply into both.
I wish for nothing more than to give and to receive kindness (how about those to fill trick or treat bags), and I am profoundly grateful for the countless blessings that have filled my journey on this sacred earth walk.
Life, in its mysterious generosity, has handed me a myriad of possibilities, each one an invitation to grow, to take risks, and to open my heart just a little wider. It has also handed me struggles, moments that stretched me to the “edge of the river” and at times brought me to my knees in the water.
Yet even in those hardest times, there has been a quiet grace around, an unseen hand teaching me resilience and showing me that the cracks in my heart allow more love to enter as the broken pieces heal.
I have learned that gratitude softens the rough edges of grief and regret, and kindness heals what nothing else can touch. When I look back at the miles behind me, I see beauty lovingly braided together with challenge, love woven through loss, and laughter ringing through, even in the midst of tears.
What a gift it has been simply to live, to love, to stumble, to rise again, blessed to be a part of it all and still here, present, engaged, and in the wee hours of a sleepless night, writing.
As I walk forward graced by the days ahead, I carry no grand ambitions beyond this: to keep planting kindness, to keep growing gratitude, and to be ever watchful of honoring the sacred wonder of being alive.
Blessed be your journeys.
Please enjoy my Free “Meditation for Centering” MP3
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Vicki Dobbs is a bold and adventurous warrior walking a path of heart to manifest spirituality in everyday lives. She opens existential gateways for individuals to face their challenges and embrace these tests as the great teachers that they are.
Her goal is to see everyone walk in beauty and balance every day of their lives empowered by the voice of their own authentic truth.
Through Wisdom Evolution and Sacred Wisdom Workshops, Vicki creates opportunities for others to make deep personal changes through experiential classes, ceremony, sacred art and story. She endeavors to inspire others to create their lives intentionally. Vicki is an Inspirator of everyday awareness, an Instigator of spontaneous stories and a Connoisseur of Creativity. Gratitude and grace sprinkled with humility and humor are the medicine she brings to the world.
As an Elder, Teacher and Entrepreneur, Spiritual Coach, Ordained Minister and Crafter of Sacred Art and Tools, Vicki perceives life’s journey as an ever-upward spiraling ascension of the human spirit leading her to wisdom, wholeness and authenticity.
Her experience includes being trained in the Harner Method of Shamanic Counseling and the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition of Cross Cultural Shamanism. She is a Graduate Teacher and Mentor with the Lynn Andrews Center For Sacred Arts and Training and has been the Administrator and Writers Guide for Writing Spirit, the School.
Vicki is also an Artist of the Spirit Certified Spiritual and Energetic Life Coach, a Graduate Mentor in the AoS program and a founding member of HeatherAsh Amara’s Warrior Goddess Leadership Team and Facilitator of the Warrior Heart Practice.
Connect with Vicki here on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vickildobbsauthor