Hi everyone,
I could not pick just one theme for this week’s Motivational Monday so I encourage you to develop your own. I don’t necessarily believe in epiphanies, but that’s fine if you do. Instead, I believe that we come across little “a-ha” moments throughout our lives that help us along our individual journeys. I rediscovered the following poem thanks to my grandparents; they gave me a special book for the holidays. It’s entitled, She Walks in Beauty: A Woman’s Journey Through POEMS and the poems were selected and introduced by Caroline Kennedy.
“The Journey
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice —
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do —
determined to save
the only life you could save.”
-Mary Oliver
I love this poem because it can apply to all of us in different ways and it takes on different meanings during different times of our lives. I hope you take something special away from this poem.
Love,
Janine
For the Benefit of 