Beginnings

Often, Mothers get it exactly right. Even when they're far away. And this piece of prose popped into my inbox from Mum which I thought I'd share, since I hope I'm not the only one who finds beginnings a little un-nerving.

When we arrive into the world, we enter into an ancient sequence.
All our beginnings happen within this continuity.
Beginnings often frighten us because they seem like lonely voyages into the unknown.
Yet, in truth, no beginning is empty or isolated.
We seem to think that beginning is a setting out from a lonely point along some line of direction into the unknown. This is not the case.
Shelter and energy come alive when a beginning is embraced.
Goethe says that once the commitment is made, destiny conspires with us to support and realise it.
We are never as alone in our beginnings as might seem at the time.
A beginning is ultimately an invitation to open towards the gifts and growth that are stored up for us.
To refuse to begin can be an act of great self-neglect.

by John O’Donohue

And with that, a Juicy Lucy calendar she gave me at Christmas, which luckily made it into the bags that did arrive with us. In January the message is: 'A new year brings new adventures! Skip forth and be bold. Anything is possible.'

Just what I needed. Thank you, Mum.