August 18, 2020
To What Do I Belong?
By Amba Gale
Today, I picked up my very own, recently published book, Crossing Thresholds, Island Reflections, as a start to my beginning of the day, and as a start to a morning meditation. I opened it up to any page that seemed to be “calling me,” a page that “felt right.” On that page was a single lined question, or reflection: “To what do you belong?” The question was preceded by a poem which, of course, I know well (since I wrote it), and I didn’t re-read the poem. The question, however, intrigued me.
What a fascinating question!
The word, “Belong,” for me, has overtures of connection, of safety, of enfoldment, of embrace. When I looked it up in the dictionary, one of the dictionary definitions was “to be a part of something else.”
One could answer this question in so many ways. I just started writing. This is what I wrote:
I belong to –
The ancient stirrings of my soul
The lives of the people whom I am privileged to serve
The conversation I am being now and now and now
My family
My community
The great sea as she laps and slaps upon the shore
The sun as she greets the tops of the trees that surround my home each morning
The icy river as she wends her way through the ponderosa pines and alders of high desert country
That which gives me inspiration
The poetry of Mary Oliver
The world
Language
A suggestion:
Take ten minutes. Write that question down. See what you have to say to yourself, either through a meditation, or through writing down whatever comes to you.
If you like engaging with my question, as I invite you to, you might very much enjoy my online course, coming soon. Check it out! https://galeleadership.com/a-new-opening/
