O'Donoghue's message

Thank you, Heather, for sending this wonderful poem to me. Somehow right now it gives me strength ...
Today I share it with all my travelling or wanna-be travelling-friends.

FOR THE TRAVELLER by John O'Donogue

Every time you leave home, another road takes you into a world you were never in
New strangers on other paths await. New places that have never seen you will startle a little at your entry
Old places that knew you well will pretend nothing changed since your last visit.

When you travel you find yourself alone in a diferent way
More attentive now to the self you bring along
Your more subtle eye watching you abroad; and how what meets you
Touches that part of the heart that lies low at home.

How you unexpectedly attune to the timbre in some voice
Opening a conversation you want to take in to where your longing
Has pressed hard enough inward, on some unsaid dark, to create a crystal insight
You could not have known you needed to illuminate your way

When you travel new silence goes with you
And if you listen you will hear what your heart would love to say:

.. A JOURNEY CAN BECOME A SACRED THING

Make sure before you go to take the time to bless your going forth
To free your heart of ballast so that the compass of your soul may direct you
Towards the territories of spirit where you will discover more of your hidden life
And the urgencies that deserve to claim you.

May you travel in an awakened way, gathered wisely into your inner ground
That you may not waste the invitation which waits along the way to transform you

May you travel safely, arrive refreshed and live your time away to its fullest
Return home more enriched and free to balance the gift of days which call you.

by John O'Donoghue