Prelude to The Dance

What if it truly doesn't matter what you do
but how you do whatever you do?
How would this change what you
choose to do with your life?

What if you could be more present
and openhearted with each person
you met if you were working as
a cashier in a corner store or as
a parking lot attendant than you could
if you were doing a job you think
is more important?
How would this change how you
spend your precious time on earth?

What if you contribution to the world
and the fulfillment of your own happiness
is not dependent upon discovering
a better method of prayer or
technique of meditation, not dependent
upon reading the right book or
attending the right seminar,
but upon really seeing and deeply
appreciating yourself and the world
as they are right now?
How would this affect your search
for spiritual development?

What if there is no need to change,
no need to try to transform yourself
into someone who is more compassionate,
more present, more loving or wise?
How would this affect all the places
in your life where you are endlessly
trying to be better?

What if the task is simply to unfold,
to become who you already are
in your essential nature - gentle,
compassionate, and capable of living
fully and passionately present?
How would this affect how you feel
when you wake up in the morning?

What if who you essentially are right now
is all that you are ever going to be?
How would this affect how you
feel about your future?

What if the essence of who you are
and always have been is enough?
What if the question is no why am I so
infrequently the person I really want to be,
but why do I so infrequently want to be
the person I really am?
How would this change what you think
you have to learn?

What if becoming who and what we truly are
happens not through striving and trying
but by recognizing and receiving
the people and places and practices
that offer the warmth of encouragement
we need to unfold?
How would this shape the choices
you make about how to spend today?

What if you knew that the impulse to move
in a way that creates beauty in the world
will arise from deep within and guide you
every time you simply pay attention and wait?
How would this shape your stillness, your
movement, your willingness to follow
this impulse, to just let go and dance?

Oriah Mountain Dreamer