Quietly centering yourself and discovering your breaths rhythm, begin to notice or become aware of how your body feels when you are “waiting”. It may be a feeling, sensation or thought, or perhaps nothing at all. Just stay with the noticing of waiting.
Is there a place in you that feels a sense of waiting?
It could be a longing, a giving up, an anticipation or even a hope.
Notice the quality of your felt sense of waiting. Pause.
As you sit in this awareness let us reflect on David Whyte's poem, "Everything is Waiting for You." Follow my voice as I share this reflection.
Waiting is often seen as a passive and unproductive state. We are conditioned to believe that we must be doing something, achieving something, or striving towards an outcome.
However, Whyte's poem challenges this notion and invites us to embrace waiting as a transformative experience. That in the wait there may be other _unseen_ actions taking place that have not yet entered your awareness.
The poem suggests that everything we need is already present, and is present in the ordinary of our lives, but we must be patient and allow it to reveal itself to us. The ordinary of our lives then, is an invitation to fully present living.
Waiting is not a time of inactivity, but rather a time of preparation and receptivity, and importantly self-discovery.
It is a time to listen to our inner voice, to reflect on desires and aspirations, and even the anticipatory loss of those things yet to arrive… and it is a time to cultivate a sense of openness and curiosity, even to Time itself.
In a world that values speed and efficiency, waiting can be a radical act of resistance. It allows us to slow down, to savor the present moment, and to connect with our deepest selves.
Pause for a moment, notice your body as you consider your waiting.
Waiting can be a time of growth and self-discovery, a time to shed old patterns and beliefs and to embrace new possibilities. It can also be a time of not knowing and of having no previous experience. Waiting can be unfamiliar.
Whyte's poem reminds us that everything we need is already here, and within us, and that waiting is simply a way of allowing our inner wisdom to emerge.
By embracing waiting as an embodied experience, we can cultivate a deeper sense of awareness of our waiting, its purpose, meaning, and even fulfillment in our lives.
Whyte invites us, "Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds and creatures of the world are unutterably themselves. Everything is waiting for you.”
For our patients or those we care for. Waiting can feel frightening, stuck, and unfamiliar, yet at times hauntingly familiar. They are not just thinking about their waiting… they are living it in their bodies.
I invite you today. To be present to what’s not being spoken about in the waiting, but is evident in posture, tone, their eyes. As you attune your body to them, you may sense their cues and even bids for presence, patient waiting and gentle wondering.
