The focus of this issue of Alaska Wellness is going within. It’s about deepening ourselves in relationship not only to other people, nature and the world at large, but most of all to ourselves.

As more than one writer notes this issue, we can’t deepen without first being willing to go within and see ourselves. This means clearing our vision from all the deceptions of who we think we should be, or who we pretend to be, or who others want us to be. It means foraging deep down: boldly facing our doubts and fears, piercing through the illusions of our self-created judgments. It’s not easy work and it shows us all the things we most dislike and disown about ourselves, most of which we are more than eager to project upon others.

At certain points, however, we begin to glimpse the humor; maybe we even come to appreciate the irony held in a sneaky cosmic smile at all the craziness we perpetuate in and to our own lives. If we are willing to persevere, we inevitably notice that the journey holds promise. And that the prize, the goal, the pot of gold is none other than finding ourselves at last. Look, here we tumble out of the briars! Into the clearing, vast and shining. We carry a new kind of vision because we have become a new kind of being, one that claims not only an eager willingness but an ardent desire to embrace who we really, honestly and authentically, are.

Dawn Brunke is the editor of Alaska Wellness and the author of Animal Voices, Shapeshifting with Our Animal Companions, and the newly released Animal Voices, Animal Guides. See www.animalvoices.net for more.

 

Our deepest thanks to Bonnie Murphy for her many years of excellent columns. Thanks, Bonnie, for all the knowledge, insights and ideas you have shared! We gratefully appreciate and always welcome comments, letters and articles from our readers. Do you have something to share? Send to editor@alaskawellness.com.