Table of Contents
Shaped by Life xiii
Getting Closer to Life
When We Set Out 5
The Soul's Work 8
Legacy 13
Personal Mythology 15
Getting Closer to Life 18
Making Our Way 22
Love Your Window 25
The Secret Kingdom Is Everywhere 28
Knocked Off Our Horse 31
The Three Fears 34
The Three Dreams 38
Striving Just to Be 42
Wanting to Go Back 45
Creating Safety 49
Taking Off the Armor 53
Finding Solid Ground 56
The Path Is Wider Than We Think 59
What Talent Do I Have? 61
I Awake 65
Drawn to What We Need to Learn 68
Regret 70
Burning the Map 73
The Journey Before You 76
The One Life We're Given 79
Loving What You Do
Bring Up the Lights 87
The Story Behind the Story 91
What It Means to Be Awake 97
Heart and Path 101
The Covenant of Love 105
The Power of Holding 108
Swimming Through Pain and Sorrow 110
Blind and Sighted 116
The Trance 119
Our Authority of Being 121
The Great Threshold 125
Understanding Success 128
Walking Together 132
The Work of Intimacy 134
The Practice of Return 137
The Career of Awakening 142
The Siren of Insecurity 146
Remembering 149
Loving What You Do 152
A Song for Pilgrims 156
Strength from What We Know 160
Feeling Thorough 163
Finding What Can Last
Letting All Things In 171
Following Light 176
Fire in the Temple 179
The Sacred Grove 184
Our Spirit Path 188
Making Honey 191
The Serpent King 193
Reading the Cracks 196
Asking for Our Turn 200
Not Listening 203
Keeping Our Eyes Open 206
Working Our Way into Grace 209
Waiting for Our Souls 212
Finding What Can Last 215
At the Center of Every Feeling 218
Unbearable and Unbreakable 221
Being Kind and Useful
Cultivating Wonder 229
The Bones of Grace 232
The Effort to Keep Looking 236
In Doses We Can Bear 239
The Work of Self-Awareness 243
Going Off the Deep End 247
The Gifts of Effort 250
Admitting Who We Are 253
Just a Glimpse 256
In a Greater Arc 259
The Efforts That Never Go Away 262
Freeing Our Compassion 266
The Moment That Saves Us 269
Radiant and Broken 274
To Be of Use 278
Staying Tender and Resilient 284
Gratitudes 289
Notes 291
