Pivot into THE HEART OF REALITY
By Dr. Timothy Dukes
To grow, to develop, to heal, to thrive, you must Pivot into the possibilities that await you. It is at the edge of your experience of this moment that life reveals itself.
The man walked down the quiet path to the water’s edge. Seeing his reflection, he asked, “Who are you?” In a whisper he hears, “I am the one who awaits your attention, just beyond this moment.”
Continuing on, looking up, he is startled by the beauty of the sky, the clouds, and he asks, “Who are you?” Like a gentle breeze caressing his skin, he senses, “I am the one who greets you when you least expect it.”
Wanting to rest, the man lays his body on the ground in the cool shade of a towering tree. In a moment of realization he asks the Earth, “Who are you?” He begins to float in the understanding, “I am the one who embraces you in every moment.” And the man dreams.
We do not need to live out our entire life to recognize who we are and what we are meant to accomplish. The signs are reflected all around us, if we are willing and able to embrace these messages that reside at the edge of our conscious understanding.
As you walk the edge of your experience, from what is known into what is being revealed, it is good to have a companion, a guide, at least for those times when change brings with it the possibility of a profound opportunity.
Notice as you imagine yourself on this edge that there are multiple, richly-colored, threads of connection extending from the distant past through this moment and into the knowable future.
But such memories are woven from gossamer threads; time eats holes in the fabric, and these she must darn with myth and fable. — Verghese, 2023
Now imagine that as you awaken to this work, you are following these threads, into the future, while receiving new possibilities. What is revealed to you as you do this?
Take note: write, sketch, or feel your experience. Notice where you are coming from and where you are going. Now, release these threads and walk alone just a bit further. Imagine that now someone is with you. This is where our work begins. This is the ground on which a mentoring relationship is built.
Typically, the tapestry of life is woven so that the background reveals the foreground. Traditionally, we know ourselves as a result of being informed from our past.
It is, however, possible to know yourself as you are revealed by how you receive your future.
These moments are your opportunity to greet the heart of your reality.
Your narrative unfolds as a direct result of the choices you make: do you continue to open and receive or do you proceed with certainty generated from your past — inadvertently closing to possibility?
Live this question, “Do I experience my life in every moment as influenced by the engrained patterns and conditioning of the past, or do I have the presence of mind to release these shackles and with an open heart, mind, and willful determination, receive a vibrant unfolding exchange with the life that greets me?”
Can you train yourself by reimagining what it means to be alive, as you cultivate regenerative exchange with each unfolding moment? The answer is, “Absolutely.” This is the threshold where your future informs your past in equal measure. In this third place, you return to your life, “rather than [being] a thread torn from the whole” — Vergehese, 2023. Here, you receive the potential of the life that awaits you, receiving the richness of your past while living fully into the moment as you receive an unfolding future.
This is The Heart of Reality.