Life is a gathering
When we look at a river, we tend to think the water before us is fresh and new. Yet every drop carries a history. Water arrives from distant hillsides, underground springs, mountain snowfields, summer storms, and forgotten streams. What appears to be a single river is actually a gathering. The same is true of a life.
Where did your river begin?
If life has jettisoned you over the waterfall into the plunge pool, now is the time to return to your headwaters, small, quiet, often hidden. Where did your life's current first stir? What earliest influences, longings, or gifts set your river in motion? This is the territory of childhood memory, family inheritance, and the stories we were gifted before we could choose them.
When the River Goes Over the Edge
Every river of life has waterfalls, sudden, horrific drops over the edge into a plunge pool of grief. Thinking often abandons us in that churning darkness. But wonder — that raw, open, bewildered receptivity — remains.
Lost Enough to Find Yourself
There are moments in life when the old maps stop working. The role you inhabited for years no longer fits: the relationship, the career, the belief, the version of yourself you carried so carefully. Something has ended, or is ending, and you find yourself in unfamiliar terrain. This is not a problem. This is a threshold.
When the River of Life Turns to Rapids
Spring brings a dramatic shift to the life of our rivers. As mountain snow begins to melt, a steady surge of water flows into river systems, often creating the strongest currents of the year. Unlike a sudden flash flood, this runoff builds slowly and can last for weeks. During this time, the river gathers strength, reshaping its banks, moving stones, and carving new pathways through the landscape. In spring, the river has time to do its most powerful work.
What are the Chapters in Your Life?
I am continually amazed by how rivers have taken up residence in my dreams and thoughts as I walk the dog, drive to the store, or sit quietly sipping my tea. Reflecting on the confluences in my life has drawn my attention to those who helped me open my heart, develop essential skills, and take risks far beyond what I once believed possible. I feel deep and abiding gratitude for these influences.
Entering the River of Your Life
Are you ready to step into the waters of your river of life? There is nothing to figure out, only a willingness to listen. Life, like a river, reveals its character through stages of flow. As you follow your river through headwaters, confluences, rapids, waterfalls, and quiet eddies, you may see how your inner landscape has been shaped by choice, love, loss, and time.
Have you lost your sense of purpose?
Has there been a major loss in your life? Are you grieving for who you were or who you thought you should be? Are you wondering, “What do I do next?” If you are feeling lost, untethered, or uncertain, you are not alone. Many of us reach a moment in life when the old story dissolves before a new one has formed.
The Art of Ritual
You may have noticed that I always include a ritual practice in each of my newsletters. I do this because ritual invites us to slow down and step into the sacred rhythm of our lives. Through ritual, we expand our emotional landscape, honor the thresholds of change, and tend the grief that inevitably accompanies love and loss. Rituals also help us manage our emotions and stress. They offer steadiness and meaning amid life’s constant challenges.
When Times Are Turbulent, Cultivate Gratitude
Gratitude arises naturally in humans and other primates. It is woven into our very nature. When we become aware of the good things in the world or the gifts we have received, a quiet sense of thankfulness can emerge. This awareness doesn’t deny suffering in others or in ourselves. Gratitude is not a matter of positive thinking; it is a deeper recognition that our lives are sustained by sources beyond our own.