This is a poem I came across some time ago that I had forgotten about until I heard Dr. Wayne Dyer quote from it in a recent lecture series. I saw it in a small, beautifully illustrated publication in 2002 that I received in the mail and liked it so much I held onto it. The publication was called Heron Dance Art Studio, Issue 35 (Heron Dance Website) and I thought I’d share it with you:

The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth
Across the doors where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.
-RUMI

The secrets of life, yours and mine, are still available but not in the form we’re used to accessing. We’ve lost touch with the world that created us. That still, small voice we used to hear is blasted out by the noises and the hustle and bustle of everyday living. I remember when we first moved to the mountains 25 years ago I couldn’t get over how quiet it was. You could hear the wind from a distance pick up and slowly pass by in the trees. It took me six months to get used to the silence – it was deafening, at first, and then I began to slow down to the rhythms of the mountains. I just had to listen differently and tune into the ebb and flow of life happening all around me. It wasn’t demanding my attention – just flowing, and I could participate in the dance if I wanted to.

It’s a life force that never leaves us. You see it in the face of a newborn baby or in the eyes of an animal. They know it. It’s not a mystery to them as much as it is to us. We’ve separated ourselves and believe in a different reality. How did we get so removed from the rhythms of the cycles of life? The harmony and peace are still there, we just have to turn our attention to it – never withheld.

Leading up to this holiday season, turn your ear to the mysteries and still small voice you heard long ago beckoning you to tune in. When you hear it, don’t go back to sleep.