dailydatewithgod

I love watching little kids when they are exploring.  By the time they figure out they can grasp things with their hands and get a closer look they are all about reaching for things.  The part that makes the adults watching them nervous is how they may not account for the other parts of their body and the various obstacles which stand between them and their reach.  I remember as a child getting scolded by my great-grandmother who only spoke Italian. I had stood up on the couch next to the bookshelf to reach and get the silver coasters I wanted to play with.  I did so successfully but turned around to the chair bound woman on the other side of the room waving her hands about and speaking louder than normal as she looked at me very sternly.  I, of course, saw no issue but promptly told  my mom who was int the kitchen that I had upset Nana.  We typically think of reaching as going for something outside ourselves. We reach for a goal to attain.  We reach to hold on to something lest it come loose from our grip. We reach out to other people.  We reach our destination.  But what about reaching inside ourselves?  What about tapping into a reserve we often forget is there? The benefit to exploring what we can reach for within is in its availability to us because it comes from within us.  We can reach for others, but they may not be available. We can reach a destination but it may have changed by the time we arrive. We can reach for a goal but it may not matter in the future they way it does now.  When we reach for a feeling or a thought motivating us to keep going in our travels we can continue to walk the path of our live which has many destinations.  When we reach for a feeling of comfort to still our minds we can relax and make it through a moment when a friend is not available.  When we reach for a sense of satisfaction in the moment we are able to stick with the process of moving towards a goal.  Reaching within provides the resources to show up today that are not dependent on what others and circumstances provide.  It is not about being so fiercely independent as to not need others, it is about reaching and engaging the power of who we are by cultivating their use in the balancing nature of interdependence.