416: Questions for Discerning What is Timeless and True

A conversation about discovering that the entire world around us—the first star breaking through darkness, rain dancing on rooftops, stooping to pick up an acorn—aren't distractions from life's important questions but invitations further into them. That we are never separate from the world, and that there are many ways in which the world is calling to us even when we feel alone. And that rather than retreating from the world to find the answers to our most urgent questions, perhaps we can soften back into contact with what surrounds us as a way into the answers.

This week’s conversation is hosted, as always, by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

Episode Overview
00:00 Introduction to Turning Towards Life
02:25 Exploring Ingrid's Poetry
06:30 On Ordinary Moments
10:07 Connection to the World Around Us
14:34 Receiving from the World, Finding We Are Not Alone
19:24 Discovering our Non-Separateness

Here’s our source for this week:

Questions for Discerning
What is Timeless and True

When mist settles thick on the water
as far as the eye can see,
may you hold yourself in generosity,
and ask what do you endlessly dream?

When the first star breaks its light
through the darkest evening sky,
what is the wish that flutters
in the temple of your heart?

When rain dances with joy
on the roof above your head,
what do you feel most grateful for,
and for what do you give thanks?

When the catbird settles on a branch nearby,
tips his head back and sings,
what sweet urgency pours from your life
into the living, breathing day?

When you stoop to pick up an acorn
that has fallen along your trail,
allow yourself to wonder:
what seeds do you plant and grow?

When the autumn leaf lifts
on a swirling current of wind:
what journey are you missing?
What adventure do you long to begin?

When the present insight slips
into the vast eternal realm,
what do you still remember
in the very bones of your soul?

When the morning sun wakes you
and asks for your finest gift,
what do you pull from your infinity
to give and give, and open to, and give?

Ingrid Goff-Maidoff
ingridgoffmaidoff.com

Photo by Lucas van Oort on Unsplash
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About Turning Towards Life
Turning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace.  Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Amazon Music and Spotify.

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Keywords:
timeless questions, sweet urgency, temple heart, infinity giving, autumn leaf journey, catbird settling, acorn wondering, star breaking light, rain dancing joy, mist settling thick, bones soul memory, morning sun gift, world offering attention, contact receptivity, contracted separation, life calling back, rose smelling presence, ordinary invitations, belonging planet, softening contact, generous participation, separateness fear, social media hysteria, retreat fantasy, bodily contraction, woods walking