I'm rereading one of my favorite books. It's not one of those charming fairy tales I love so much, unless of course you consider your self and your soul as fairytale fodder. (Who doesn't, right?) It's called SOULCRAFT, by Bill Plotkin. And if you're involved at all on a spiritual journey that's included times of intense darkness, this book is essential. Similar to the many offerings by soulful author Thomas Moore, this book investigates the variety ways we are initiated into the realms of soul, but it does oh so much more. It charts a path as blazing and unique as you are, as I am, and insists that all we need for initiation into the deep, is our own wild soul and a connection to inner and outer nature. It not only allows for - but encourages - the cocoon stages of our lives.

I'm just into the first third of the book, and I find myself taking notes, staining the pages with yellow highlighter, and running to my laptop to type missives to myself. This is one such missive. Check out these priceless quotes I found on page 40 last night:

I slept and dreamt that life was joy,
I awoke and saw that life was service,
I acted and beheld, service is joy.

Wow. This brings it all back to me. In a time of great pressure and chaos, when bills and limitations can become the focus, and "how's" and "why's" overwhelm, still the truth remains. When we act in accordance with who we are, when we bother to both find and excavate our essence, turns out our contribution to the world is both a gift to ourselves and to others. There's no way to really do this. You must be it.

Here's another juicy quote from page 40:

A task without a vision is just a job
A vision without a task is just a dream
A vision with a task can change the world.

I've been so task oriented. I confess. There's that left-brain side of me that chants, even while asleep, "You gotta go go go and do do do or you ain't gonna have have have." It's not that tasks are wrong, it's that they're often in service of the wrong vision. Or worse, no vision.

I'm not writing this morning because I have answers. I write this morning because I have a quest.

To be authentic.
To be joyful.
To be of service.
To be a vision.

And to align my beingness with doinginess, so that my task and vision can change the small corner of the world that is mine.

And on that note, back to the book I go...