Finding the next step on your spiritual journey
I believe the answer to that question is what everyone is seeking. Knowing the answer gives something very basic: a vision for life, a purpose in being.
To answer that question for myself, I go to a secluded spot in the woods to consider and think. Again and again, I come back to the fundamental question: What do I want? And as I walk through the moss-covered trees and sit on a giant rock in the middle of a cascading stream surrounded by rock cliffs, giant hemlocks, olive rhododendrons and the first spring flowers, the answer begins to dawn. As the sun's rays peep through the clouds, the lightbulb of inspiration starts to shine through the clouds of my confusion.
Deep down inside, I find the answer. It's not a new answer. I've known it all along. It just likes to hide from me at times because it knows I go to the woods to find it. And in the process, I find myself.
What I want to do is: I want to share what I have found. I want to be a cool oasis of relief in the high desert of anxiety. I have something to offer people who are feeling that something isn't quite right with their lives, who are feeling deep-down anxiety . . . the kind of anxiety that comes when you feel like you're missing something.
I see myself standing in a forest clearing surrounded by flowering bushes, the sun beaming through the trees overhead, with my arms outstretched in invitation: Come. Come let me take you through the enchanted forests to see what Spirit has given us. Everything we need is all around us. Beauty is in front, beauty is behind, beauty is on all sides -- and especially within.
We simply need to open our eyes to see. And that's what I want to do: I want to assist people in opening their eyes to see.
To know what I want to do most is to feel what I care about most. To uplift my own spirit and uplift the spirits of others -- that's what I care about. To take the next step in my own spiritual journey -- what's what I care about. To offer my assistance and experience for others to open themselves to their next step on their path of spiritual fulfillment -- that's what I care about. Writing about simple techniques to help others in finding their own personal upliftment is what I have to offer. For example, when we come out into the world of nature and walk along the streams and through the woods asking for an answer (to any question) with the clear intent to receive, and then we start writing (even if we don't know what to write, but just write something) -- this is only one of many techniques for getting answers, for once again re-establishing contact within. It works.
No one is bereft of the benefits Mother Earth is waiting and willing to give us if we can only open ourselves to receive it. First and foremost is desire. Everything proceeds from there.
The manifestation of desire is putting energy into intent. I go out in nature. I stay there for some time, expressing my intent out loud by putting it in words. Just that effort alone clarifies my intent. When I do this, I find something wonderful. I find myself becoming happily inspired, marvelously enthused.
As the old storyteller says, "You gotta see this to believe it." It's true. Sitting in an apartment, this might not make sense. But anyone who tries it begins to understand. Pristine natural surroundings amplify our energy, recharge our batteries. And that's why it feels so good, just to be out in the woods.
I now live outside, in the arms of Nature, traveling and writing about my experiences, hoping to be of assistance to others. That's the answer I received. That's what I love to do. And even if I did have $10,000 or $50,000, I know this is what I'd do.
Now, imagine if everyone on the planet was doing what they love to do. What a world that would be!
Burton "EarthWalker" Smith is a wanderer. He can usually be found roaming somewhere around North America, and writing about it. "I want to be a catalyst, inspiring others to follow their heart's dream, and be all they can be." He'd be delighted to hear from you. His mail-forwarding address is: 187 Paragon Parkway, #135, Clyde, NC 28721. Voice mail: (704) 258-4839.