Henry David Thoreau says,

“So thoroughly and sincerely are we compelled to live, reverencing our life, and denying the possibility of change. This is the only way, we say; but there are as many ways as there can be drawn radii from one centre. All change is a miracle to contemplate; but it is a miracle which is taking place every instant.”

I received from this quote a stunning image. I saw of each one of us…each a glowing orb radiating infinite silver threads…suspended together in midair. We are each poised to make our next choice, steering the direction of our paths with merely the touch of a single thread.

I saw that these uncountable shining silver threads are all our potential choices extending outward from the center of our Heart, blazing through our bodies, shooting out farther than the eye can see.

The effect of our combined lights merges together into a greater light…

Yet still with each thread maintaining the power and light of its own path.

Whichever one we select will always determine our next step…and the next set of threads available to us.

The orb of light that we are individually will still burn as brightly, but is now shifted slightly or greatly by the choice we just made.

Our light has changed…

But it is always reflected in the lights of others.

This amazing vision of all of us, with our glowing radii continuously reaching out, revealed this to me:

Our light is a shared light, our threads subtly connect us…to everyone else…to all other beings…

whether near or far, it matters not.

We all share.

Our influence may be subtle…from afar.

Or more powerful from closer by.

But we all touch each other in some way by what we say and do.

Because our silver light threads are connected.

These glowing threads of choice reflect our powerful ability to make monumental shifts in our world…at any moment.

What astounding responsibility we possess!

So we could choose to avoid questioning a thought or action…grabbing a familiar, thread without forethought, thus staying stuck in our usual view, resulting onc again in our usual response.

Therefore we remain in our usual unchanging path.

Or we can embrace the miracle of change by being curious enough to say, along with Gabrielle Bernstein, “I am willing to see this differently. I am willing to see love.” We are then choosing to shift our belief, staying open to newer possibilities, by selecting instead one new, brighter silver thread.

Whether we are aware of it or not, this process is happening in every moment of every day: every moment, we are making a choice, sometimes consciously…but more often without any conscious connection to our decisions whatsoever!

Just ponder for a moment how much of your thoughts and actions are on automatic: it’s quite sobering when we realize how often we aren’t really “there”, actually participating fully in what’s going on!

But even so…we are constantly being called to become more attentive, to notice our threads…and those of other beings…so that we may choose with more compassion. The messages are there…but we will need to pause, or at least slow down, to see and hear them.

These messages implore us constantly, continuously, whether we hear it or not, to shift our mind…to become re-engaged through the filter of Love.

As we practice this awareness, we will begin to experience life with growing astonishment and awe, seeing that we always have myriad choices available in – as Thoreau describes – “as many ways as there can be drawn radii from one centre”.

Paradoxically, we ARE each of us the “centre” and yet at the same time, combined to be One Centre, with our infinite paths available before us in every moment.

We are suspended, poised…

But no matter how alone we might feel, we are always suspended and poised…

Together.

Separation is an illusion…a story our mind tells us based on old beliefs, the thoughts and actions of others, all the data we are fed Day in and day out.

But we are not alone.

And never meant to be.

Hemingway understood this when he said,

“No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main…”

And so…we are taking a moment to Pause here…

To be curious…

To question.

We do this not just for ourselves, but for everyone and for everything else as well.

What thread do you and I now hold, poised to pull?

What words or actions are we preparing to put into motion?

What happens if we pause to open our Heart with Curiosity…to look up and all around us, gazing with the awe of renewed awareness at the silver radiance that completely surrounds us…

Do we see our own radiance?

Do we notice the light of others who share our life, our world?

As we now soften and become willing to “see differently”, which choices emerge more clearly as Love…and which do not?

Before any final decision, we need only inquire of both our Heart and Mind,

“What do YOU choose?”

Then we listen in this Space of stillness called Pause….

And hear their answer, only and ever echoing in reverse audio….

“Love!

LOVE!!

L O V E !!!”

Now let’s gaze into our future for one more moment (Yes that’s “our” because your future is mine, and mine, yours.)

Do we see our hand stay with what is familiar, what is habit, influenced again by our mantra of “too busy”…and remaining untouched by curiosity?

Or do we see it shift over, to select another warmer, brighter thread…

In order to share…

With the miracle of all the other glowing stars melded and merged together all around us?