Living In The Questions
Friday, March 23, 2012 at 3:30PM Today's guest blogger is Tracy Brooks. Tracy has been spiritual traveler and a soul seeker her whole life. She has always felt a call to be a listener of life and to inspire others. A yogini and poet since age 9, she grew up in New York rescuing abandoned animals and holding a space for those who hurt. Born intuitively empathic, she often finds herself listening to strangers open up to her. Studying education, psychology and engaging in community service invited her to feel we all have a gift to share. Life has led her to teach, write and now home-school her young ones. Blessed to be happily married to the love of her life and living (out loud!) in Florida, she has been embracing contemporary shamanism, writing inspirational pieces, and working on her first book. You can find her Facebook page or visit her blog.
I just returned from an amazing weekend of soul healing. I was able to meet a beloved teacher and immerse myself in 2 days of learning alongside kindred souls. Over the course of this workshop I was able to journeyfor myself and partners (as they did for me), share and hear stories and witness some real shamanic healings. It was a gift to be a part of this, and I am still letting it all sink in and integrate deeply.
So as we were guided to ask our future selves what we perhaps needed to face/do/ask I did that. Yet, smiling future me was either really “just free and loving” or just being a smartass, ‘cause all I ever got was “Stay on your path”~ No details of what I needed to do/try/share/learn. I did not even get much about this path, where it leads or what is up ahead. Again future me just smiled and offered “All is well.” I said “great, so all is going to be well...whew, so I guess I have to...” Future me motions to be quiet and says “All is well here in your future, all is well where you stand right now.” Hmmm. Not so many answers. Yet, lots of questions.
So here I am in my now, somehow smiling at it all. I can really embrace the notion of just “living out the questions.”
...I would like to beg you dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything
unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked
rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could
not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live
everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will
gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke
Reader Comments (25)
Beautifully written, all about living in the moment, not the past, not the future, just enjoying every living, loving moment that is happening right now (now) (now).
I hear that echo again and again. Patience is a huge soul lesson for me. After all, how can I possibly get to the future without the choices I make today. So many paths, so many choices, so many moments to cherish, right here, right now.
Tracy, it's interesting you were not given the gift of seeing out so far into the future.
As we moved from 2011 to 2012 there was a lot of talk around this "big" year - the year the Mayan calendar is said to end. Even when the highly evolved attempted to see out into the future, they were shown a blank screen, so to speak, at the end of this year. ~ We are in a time where we literally are creating everything new. This place we are at in humanity and our evolution is truly Unwritten; we are creating it with every choice, with every interaction. And, of course, every choice and every interaction happens in the Now moment.
And I'll end with: What Jan Said! Love to YOU!
Tracy, I always enjoy reading your word gifts, and this was no exception. Marita's comment about creating our own evolution feels very RIGHT to me. Whatever choices we make right now, are leading us to where we need to be.
So grateful for your sharing dear souls, and for your words of kindness. Living out the questions has been so amazing hasn't it? It really as if we are embarking on a "soul metamorphosis", learning about patience and re-creating all at once. Than for sharing this journey with me. Much love to you all.
simply beautiful!! It is important to remember that we have the power to be whatever it is we want to be. i love that you met your future self and were able to have a "talk". It gives us such clarity to know where we are going!!! thanks for sharing your journey!
Hi Tracy-what an excellent exercise! I always appreciate the opportunity to look future forward and discover what dreams & goals I have been hiding away-it provides me with both insight & clarity-thanks so much for sharing.
Bri!
Future Forward. Love that phrase!!!
Thank you for sharing your journey to the future, Tracy!! And funny, I JUST referenced that quote from Rilke and attributed it to Goethe on a different blog!!
I love the expansive feeling you convey of living the questions and that grounded knowing that you are on the right path - thank you...
xoxo.nona
Tracy, I think your future self must be related to my future self! I keep getting the same reaction! :)
I find living in the questions to be so hard. I want answers, and I want them NOW. But, with practice, I'm slowly learning to love the questions and find joy in staying with them. Thanks so much for sharing your story. It is encouraging to know that I'm not alone.
Living in the moment.... so powerful but so often forgotten. Thank you for the beautiful reminder. I will let it shape my week in such a nice way.
I LOVE the idea of living in the questions. And I love that your future self was potentially a smartass, because I have this hunch that if we could really get a glimpse of ourselves in the future, we'd all see that little bit of sass. This makes me think of what I'd say to younger me, if I had the chance, "Hold on. You'll get there. We're going somewhere, and it's gonna be awesome. And I know you want it NOW, but you wouldn't be able to fully experience it at 15 or 19 or even 25. Just know you're a badass - stronger than you can now conceive."
Thanks for sharing your trip and your thoughts. It's given me a lot to think about!
Tracy,
Thank you for sharing your experience. Some years ago when I was in Coaches Training we did that meditation. It was actually the very first time that I did any sort of guided meditation. For me it was AMAZING. I think I will do it again and see if I get the same message. The message for me was "Don't sweat the small stuff, and in reality just about everything is small stuff" *smile* Like you the visit with my future self was more about the intangible sense of who I am to become that it was about any questions getting answered. I love the "living in the question" concept! Thanks again for sharing! We live in an incredible time, don't we???
Looking to the future...knowing everything will be fine...but knowing we don't need to know how it will be fine...just that it will! Great reminder!!!
I love the idea of "future forward" too and asking that future self advice. Thanks for sharing your journey with us.
I think the truth is often that wisdom is simpler than what we think it will be! It's not complicated or said in big fancy phrases.. it's usually simple and straightforward.. loved this.
Lisa
http://www.Intuitivebody.com
Simple Sacred Solutions To Living Beautifully In Your Body
I am so grateful for all the feedback...I so apologize for the delay in responding. I kept checking my email as I signed up to be notified of blog comments but never was?! Ha! Anyway,tonight something told me(in a German accent ;-) "check the blog directly"~ I am so glad that "living in the questions" seems to really resonate.
Tracy, it's funny, I've had this post on my screen for two days now and I keep starting to read it and then finding something more interesting or pressing to do. In short, resisting what I was about to read. I even went to far as to visit your blog and Facebook page. It seems we've lived very similar lives (my mother also died in 2010 - I'm sorry). I too am sitting with the same questions you are and, like you, I don't like the non-answer. But I will say this - your comments and poems have pulled me out of the mire a bit today and for that I am incredibly grateful. Thanks for being a fellow journeyer. Would love to Skype you sometime if you're game. Look me up at kelle.sparta.
My New Year's resolution is to stay locked and loaded on the here and now, but I cannot be reminded enough how important it is. Everything is going to be OK. Because it will.
I can never believe quite how enigmatic I am when i see myself in a meditation like the one you describe. I sometimes want to shake me, to be the future me for answers; but like you I always have this calm, almost anglic smile and all you can do is trust. I haven't done one of these meditations in a while and you have inspired me to do another one, not to get answers; but just to renew my faith that all will be well and to reassure myself that I am on the right path. Great post!
It is amazing how much you all inspire me as you share your journeys,thank you all! I am looking forward to connecting with you Kelle, I am grateful I was able to help you. Lisa, I am going to check your site out too. I would love to deepen this journey and hear how you all have felt speaking to your future selves.
Namaste dear ladies