“You do not have to be good.”

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of yourself
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile, the wild geese, high in the clear blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting–
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
–Mary Oliver in Dream Work

What a relief to know that we don’t have to be good. We don’t have to even remember the soft animal of ourselves. We will forget it soon enough, and once again fall into identifying with our ego, our persona and our social role.

Even though we forget that soft, sweet part of ourselves though, it stays with us, waiting for us to remember it and bring it up to consciousness again. It’s available for kindness, for connection, and for love. It’s available  today, requiring only that we let ourselves love what–and whom–we love.

Blessings to you, dear visitor. May you find some quiet moments in this and every day–moments to reflect on “your place in the family of things.” As Rumi says, “Inside you are sweet beyond telling!”