Diane Dreher

The Tao Te Ching says, "The wisest person trusts the process"

                                                                 (Tao chapter 2).

 

Trust

that's been a difficult lesson for me.

 

When I was growing up, The world was constantly shifting beneath my feet.

My father was in the Air Force and we moved all the time, leaving familiar places and all my friends behind.

My mother was beautiful, charming--and unreliable, making promises, then changing her mind. I was never sure of her affection and approval.

 

So I learned to be defensively independent.

I learned to care and help others but afraid to ask for help and then be disappointed.

 

Today I am learning to trust the process

One small step at a time.

 

Asking for what I need has become a spiritual exercise

In a process of giving and receiving, a cycle of yin and yang.

 

If you've been struggling with trust in your own life, then join me in this brief meditation.

 

Take a long, deep mindful breath and release it.

Continuing to breathe slowly and deeply

Ask yourself, "Is there an area of my life where I've been stuck?" "Where I've been afraid to trust?"

Then ask, "What would it look like to trust the process?"

 

What is one small step you can take--just one?

 

Taking another slow deep breath, and slowly releasing it

See yourself taking that step.

 

If that step is successful, how does it feel? Smile and embrace that feeling

If that step doesn't work out, how do you feel and what can you learn from it?

 

What can you do next?  How can you take the next step?

 

It's a process

Moving forward

Just one small step at a time.

 

For as the Tao Te Ching tells us,

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

                                                                (Tao, chapter 64)

 

I wish you courage, trust, and joy on the path.

When I begin a new project, I'm filled with excitement, energized by new visions of possibility. But then somewhere in the midst of the process, inspiration gives way to frustration. I find myself in unknown territory. I'm confused. I've never been here before or done this before and I don't know where I'm going.

 

Part of me wants a map to this new territory or a step-by-step set of instructions. I want certainty for this project when what I feel is uncertainty wandering in uncharted territory all alone.

 

And yet, when I muster the courage to take even one small step, I discover a new flash of inspiration, new insight to light my way. As frustration turns to inspiration, the path ahead seems possible once more.

 

Frustration and inspiration are part of moving forward in any creative process that takes us into the great unknown. We don't know where we're going because we've never been there before. In any creative endeavor, we're explorers like Lewis and Clark, like Nobel laureate Linus Pauling, like Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, on a journey to discover something new.

 

The message for all of us is to trust the process, to be present with each step, to listen for the lessons and look for the light to lead us forward.

 

For as the ancient wisdom of the Tao Te Ching tells us: "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

 

What is your next step on the creative journey of your life?

 

I wish you joy as you follow the light.