Philippa Gregory (in The Taming of the Queen):
“…if you are a writer, you will find that you are driven to write. It is a gift that demands to be shared. You cannot be a silent singer.”
Lyn Thurman (in The Inner Goddess Revolution):
“I made a vow to myself that I wouldn’t be with anyone else who didn’t ‘get me’. I needed to be 100 per cent myself, not feeling as if I had to play a role of how a dutiful wife should be… There’s a part of our culture that hints that we are somehow less than whole if we’re not in a relationship… ”
The Lover’s Path… if you follow your heart and are true to yourself, you cannot help but walk on the lover’s path. Love for friends; love for family; love for children; love for the world; love for the person you adore the most in the world; and love for yourself.
“To truly love another, you must follow the lover’s path wherever it may take you .”
“If you ever find yourself stuck in the middle of the sea,
I’ll sail the world to find you
If you ever find yourself lost in the dark and you can’t see,
I’ll be the light to guide you.”
There you are, standing, feeling broken-hearted, looking out at the sea as the ship drifts over the horizon. The wind blows your hair and clothes; blows the tears from your cheeks leaving nothing but a vague memory. The words of Morag’s Cradle Song come to mind: “Gaze I seaward in the gloaming; gaze I skyward, sad and weary…“.
Letting go doesn’t mean forgetting or no longer loving – it means accepting.
Acceptance doesn’t necessarily mean not being sad – it means understanding.
Understanding means loving enough to be able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes.
Truly loving means that even while you miss and yearn for the beloved, you accept him for who he is and that he must do what he believes is right for him; believing in him and thinking he’s amazing; knowing he’s great; letting go of him.
He has left on that ship and you had to let him go – maybe for a while, maybe for ever. You can only step away from the sea and get on with your life, holding the beloved in your heart and trusting that the Universe, Fate, God, Allah – call it what you will – has it all worked out, and that ‘all will be well and all manner of thing shall be well’.
And of course the pain recedes and it is easier to remember the good things – the love – and not feel hurt by the bad; the doubts and questioning and disdain.
Live in your strength – be true to yourself – let yourself shine.
photograph copyright R. Lewis 2017
runningin3time 
There have been many who got away… and I thought that this last one was something extra special – a true twin soul. But even when I was with him I thought that if it turned out that he wasn’t and that there was someone even better out there, then that would be absolutely amazing. I can’t see it at the moment but as someone said to me once, “you just don’t know what life holds”. I’m conscious that anything that can happen, and also far more aware of the spiritual side of things than I ever have been – and that’s a combination of living up here in Cumbria, of getting older, and of David (my husband) leaving, which left me free for this guy – who I know also feels a deeper sense to life, but just perhaps hasn’t gone with it so much. So I feel as if I’m just taking my first steps on a new road…
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It is always good to get to read you. You let me reminisce about the ones who got away. In very hindsight, I am glad since they allowed my husband to show up after 11 years of being a single mom.
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