Our Goodness is Outside of What We Know

Last week a friend offered me a couple of hours work painting at the church hall. I’m grateful for the opportunity of working away from a screen and seeing a space transformed by colour. During the afternoon a couple of other guys were around, one of them was working on the dryers in the toilets.

We briefly said hello and for a few minutes I got on with what I was doing. On reflection I’m conscious that although I spoke, it wasn’t with the warmth I know I can offer. I withheld a part of myself.

I can engage with him while I paint, or I can stop, open my stance, relax, make eye contact and be more present in my body. I make a choice to open.

“What brings you here then?” I smile. I’m warm. I shift my attention to be genuinely curious about him. I find out he’s Peter, and he knows my friend because he rescued him while stuck in a pot-hole in Devon a few years back.

Over the next 30 minutes we talk. Quite quickly we share stories and talk of relationships, work, commitments, faith. It’s a deeply rich encounter. He shares he wants to leave his marriage. 

I speak a little into his story. I’m touched by Peter’s vulnerability and he by mine. Ten minutes ago he was just a guy holding a toolbox. Now, something precious is becoming known.

Something is always waiting to come through.

The conversation brings me real joy. I feel this. I smile. I get centred. I consciously enjoy the felt sense, my heartbeat and tingle in my guts.

This feels good. 

What waits to come through us is beyond what we see. We prefer to control our lives in the realm of what we know. And in doing this we stay still while everything around us evolves.

When we give up our need for control, for separation, for safety, then we allow the goodness to flow.

How does your body tell you about your goodness?