It's been a while since I've written in my blog. That's okay. I follow my path where it takes me and for a while it's led me on some adventures (which will be a topic I will share when I need to) but now I am back here.

Think about where we dwell. I’m not writing of our country, our city, our home, our street. Where do we dwell? Where are our spirits? The real us? A friend shared with me this week that she has never seen so much light radiating from someone. We explored together what makes us shine.

For me, it is like except for fleeting occasions, I lived in a dark cave. The cave was dark, but it was remote and that meant no one could get near enough to hurt me. The cave was very dark, but it was familiar even though I couldn’t see very well in it. I had lived in the cave almost my entire life and I could move around its confines with what I thought was confidence. The cave was extremely dark at times but the light outside reflected shadows that were terrifying!

Once in a great while, I would get the courage to approach the entrance of the cave and venture a peek out. What I saw where glimpses of sun, but that sun, shadows enormous, unknown and towering scared me so much that I retreated back into the uncomfortable, yet familiar confines of my cave. Those shadows loomed jagged, monstrous and menacing above me. There was no way I could challenge or face those horrifying shadows! Surely they must be perilous!

Many years passed inside my cave and I grew older and more at ease. I began to more and more walk to the entrance of the cave, testing myself and the shadows. I began to question what they were really made of. I even stuck my toe out once and the wholesome warmth of what I felt seemed to radiate through me until I was no longer satisfied with the cold, damp, dank chill of my cave.

One day, and I don’t remember exactly when, I looked outside the entrance of my cave and told myself I had had enough of darkness, confinement and limitations. I took a deep breath and ran full speed outside!

I defiantly looked up at the monsters that had been the shadowed demons of my dreams for so many years, only to discover to my delight, immense relief and joy, that they were giant, colorful, succulent, beautiful mushrooms! Mushrooms of every shape, size and hue! Mushrooms spotted and speckled and sun-kissed! Swaying in the gentle breeze that showed glimpse of an enchanted forest surrounding them, these mushrooms were heralds and beacons to another world.

Once out in the light, and free at last from the dark, damp confines of my cave I never looked back. I spent a lot of time with the mushrooms, who once I mistook for monsters. I so enjoyed their colors, scents and personalities. I became well acquainted with the forest creatures that enjoyed the mushrooms too. Squirrels, chipmunks, foxes and great noble stags visited me and I learned great, real wisdom from them. Some of them seem vaguely familiar to me, like wise ancestors who had become before me, but who I had never taken the time to learn from. Others were new to me, but I felt it was right to let them in and to share myself with them.

No longer was I alone in darkness. My first foray into the light had reawakened a strength I had always had, but long ago had forgotten.  I nurtured that strength for a long time among my new companions who were true. I became strong, healthy and eager to continue on into the light…