Last week I made a lovely connection with a young woman by surprise. We were participating in an event where the leader requested my very least favorite group exercise: gazing in the eyes of a stranger.
I realized it would be far easier to drop my opinion and see what happened than to keep my story. As it turned out …(drum roll)…there was nothing to hate about it. In fact, it was quite sweet. Quiet. Present. Love. This was the groupie thingee that I’d been hating on for the last…oh…thirty years?
Fascinating.
After five minutes or so, we talked.
“You have had many lifetimes as a wise woman,” she offered, adding that she had a gift for seeing past lives.
I’m an agnostic on the subject of past lives, but I was honored by the compliment.
“Right now I’m just working on this one,” I responded with more than a touch of irony.
She seemed to want to be helpful. “You should develop the confidence to go for it. Let people see your wisdom.”
I noticed that being willing and confident to share wisdom is no longer a problem for me. I’m comfortable now in that identity, as long as I’m not pretending to know more than I do or to “step up” to an image of being a Wise Woman.
Once I take on that identity, I’m in trouble. I have to pretend wisdom when sometimes I’m not feeling it so much.
On the other hand, I sometimes experience deep gratitude…and grounding, by the wisdom of my female ancestors, those wise women who came before, from my personal family tree as well as the human tree of life.
All of us come from many lives of Wise Women. No problem there. Just such a rich pool of deep connection with all that was, all that is.
And then, there’s this life. Where we (or I) are sometimes “off,” grouchy or irritable. Where I still sometimes fight with the reality right in front of me.
In the end, what’s worth remembering is that I AM still working on it. It this lifetime. And I’m glad.
What wisdom of the ancestors inspires you today? How do you find your way back to your Wise Person, in this life? Where are you challenged to be as wise as you know how to be? Turn it around: Where are you challenged to not be wise when you think you should be?
Image PD-1923
