and my beloved soul says.....Fortitude

Fortitude. I have been learning to listen to the guidance of my soul self. Master Sha teaches that we have a Yuan Shen, an original soul that is permanently connected to the source, clean and clear and immortal. What a gorgeous thought! We forget this great soul self on purpose I think, so that we can play the compelling game of finding our way back to it.

At any rate, in meditation a few days ago, I asked my Yuan Shen what word or thought or vision it might have for me. Immediately came the word

for·ti·tude ˈfôrdəˌt(y)o͞od/ noun . courage in pain or adversity. "she endured her illness with great fortitude" synonyms: courage, bravery, endurance, resilience, mettle, moral fiber, strength of mind, strength of character, strong-mindedness, backbone, spirit, grit, true grit, doughtiness, steadfastness;

(informal, guts)...Fortitude.

At first this seemed a little daunting, like....uh oh.....but we all know that something big is coming.

Do we meet the challenges by being obtuse? Afraid? Unprepared? Dragging one foot behind? Or more like a ship in full sail, filled with courage and joy and light? We always have a choice, what can be lost by facing the challenging times to come with what Master Sha calls an Unshakeable heart?

I remember being at a retreat some years ago, when the guidance "be brave" came to me. In a funny way I said to the group present "The last time someone told me to be brave, I was just going into labor."

It is possible that the times we live in ARE a kind of labor, we are giving birth to something entirely new.

There may be a little squeezing in the getting there.

Fortitude, my loves, fortitude.