Journey to the Heart

I am in the habit of reading a daily meditation in the morning after I journal. Each year I search for just the right book companion for the next 365 days. While I've tried several other meditation books, the one I keep coming back to and using over and over is this one by Melody Beattie that I purchased in 1996. The poor book is tattered with many turned down corners to mark especially pertinent days. Many of the essays throughout it are marked up with highlighting, underlined words and comments in the margins. I'm always amazed that the day's essay often speaks directly to issues, worries, fears that I'm currently facing. While Beattie is best known for her self-help books on co-dependency, this book that claims itself as 'daily meditations on the path to freeing your soul' is the one that most speaks to my heart. The author is open and honest about her personal struggles with drugs, alcohol, and the overwhelming grief she felt after losing her son. Hers is not a sugar-coated, fairy tale life; that's what makes her essays so down-to-earth and real. They speak joyfully to ways to connect with our own selves, our own creative processes, and our own fears. This year "Journey" is resting in my bookcase, but I'm sure 2011 will find it in use once again.

Today's words for the Journey: "Be happy now. Enjoy the creative process--the process of creating your life, yourself, and the project you're working on--today. Don't wait for those finishing moments to take pleasure in your work and your life. Find joy all along the way."