My Life

My life is a simple one; I prefer it that way. So does my son Rob. My husband and daughter were the outgoing ones but they are gone now and the silence shapes around us.

It is five a.m. and I have eaten a bowl of instant oatmeal and sipped a cup of tea. I wonder at the ease with which I write these little notes. Some of you are early birds as well. Isn’t life simpler before the day gets started? It is dark outside and yet a few birds are sounding their notes. They do not say that they are birds; they just sing. And so do I.

Our lives are bound together separately. Together we comprise the mystery of all beings working together. This is called Tao, the Way. To fight it is to invite stress and yet the ego never learns this. It wants to battle its way through things that are just waiting to battle back.

And so slowly but surely, we learn that our true nature is Tao and that it does not have to fight. The ego gets bored and tries to lure us into another bad situation— but if we are lucky, we just take a deep breath and settle back into the Tao.

I like the fall and winter months of withdrawal. The evenings when we draw the curtains against the cold. The nights when we shiver under our blankets and turn within.

Who knew that the path of awakening could be so simple and direct? The ego certainly didn’t. It prefers drama. The social world thrives on drama and the insecurities of the ego. When the soul finally withdraws, there is a curtain that falls down softly around the soul and it walks in peace.

Vicki Woodyard