[Thanks to Candace Nagle for serving as a guest columnist with this essay. -erie ]

“All life has emptiness at its core. It is the quiet hollow reed through which the wind of God blows and makes the music that is our life.”   Wayne Muller 

 Essay written by ~ Candace Nagle

Sometimes I find myself living in a gray cloud of nothingness, a space of apathetic numbness that I mistakenly identify as emptiness. I have come to realize this fruitless place is actually overwhelming fatigue of spirit.  And I think the reason that I land there is because I have been so caught up in the demands of my commitments and duties that I have not stopped to develop the ear to hear the music that is my life. 

 When the wind of God blows through me, I want to be able to enjoy feeling the breeze.  I want to find myself standing like a solid tree, branches swaying with the life flowing through me.  And I have come to believe that this is possible only if I, as mother, daughter, friend, and caregiver leave enough space and time around my self to actually be with my dreams, desires, and passions.  Now heading toward 60 years of age, I regret to say, I am just beginning to make room for the wind of God to blow me into being.

 It takes lots of nothing to make something…just like the expanses between stars…all of that emptiness is needed for a star to shine.  These days I crave emptiness…not the gray nothingness of a bone weary life but the kind of emptiness that allows my soul to shine; the kind of emptiness which allows for deep luxurious breathing and warm syrupy stretching that lead me to feel the very core of my body’s aliveness. 

 When we take time “to listen to the wind of our souls”, others can feel the healing life flowing through us.  This is what we want.  But, also, when we do this, beautiful paintings and poems find their way into the world.  Gardens and fabulous ideas bloom.  Our bodies heal.   In loving our selves the world becomes a much better place for everyone.

 May the golden God wind flow up and down your spine, connecting your heart and your mind to your deepest greening dreams.  May all of the space around your body, all of the time around your soul be filled with new life and vitality.  And may you stand in your life like a tree; roots deep in the Earth, branches reaching up into all of that space and wind and light.  May you allow yourself to be that alive.

-Candace Nagle