We should not force ourselves to change by hammering our
lives into any predetermined shape. We do not need to operate according to the
idea of a predetermined program or plan for our lives. Rather, we need
to practice a new art of attention to our inner rhythm of our days
and lives. This attention brings a new awareness of our own human and divine
presence. A dramatic example of this kind of transfiguration is the one all
parents know. You watch your children carefully, but one day they surprise you;
you still recognize them, but your knowledge of them is insufficient.
You have to start listening to them all over again.
It is far more creative to work with the idea of mindfulness
rather than with the idea of will. Too often people try to change their lives
by using the will as a kind of hammer to beat their life into proper shape. The
intellect identifies the goal of the program, and the will accordingly forces
the life into that shape. This way of approaching the sacredness of one’s own
presence is externalistic and violent. It brings you falsely outside your own
self and you can spend years lost in the wilderness of your own mechanical,
spiritual programs. You can perish in a famine of your own making.
If you work with a different rhythm, you will come easily
and naturally home to your self. Your soul knows the geography of your destiny.
Your soul alone has a map of your future, therefore you can trust this
indirect, oblique side of your self. If you do, it will take you where you need
to go, but more importantly it will teach you a kindness of rhythm in your
journey. There are no general principles for this art of being. Yet the
signature of this unique journey is inscribed deeply in each soul. If you
attend to your self and seek to come into your own presence, you will find
exactly the right rhythm for your life. The senses are generous pathways which
can bring you home.
John O’Donohue
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