Here's a blessing I offered for my son when he was embarking on a semester abroad a few years ago. Traveling is not only filled with great excitement and adventure, there is danger, discomfort, and challenge. It's the challenges that open us to the mystery of our own transformation. This blessing invites the journeyer into that mystery, conscious of the challenges, but willing, in faith, to receive the gifts that can only come to us when we set sail from the shoreline of the life we know so well. May it gift others on whatever pilgrimage they face, whether the journey is to other lands or, perhaps, some inner journey of the soul, prompted by loss, crisis, or pain.
When you take that first step forward
from the shoreline of the life you know so well,
something new will open inside you.
With that first step forward into the unknown,
a new energy opens within.
It’s the energy of the cosmos,
ever springing forward and outward
in the universe’s own lust for adventure—
its passion for new lands and planets
new stars and galaxies.
This energy—
the same that burst forth
from that infinitesimally small speck
of dense matter—
continues to expand inexhaustibly.
This is the energy that’s opening in you
as you take your first step forward
toward a new shoreline of discovery.
Your journey,
and the energy it releases,
is a sacred thing,
especially if you journey in an awakened way,
wisely tending the fire within,
gently walking this good earth,
sensing the divine ardor in every blessed thing.
For the fire within you
and the energy beyond you,
are One and the Same.
So may you free your heart
of the baggage it’s borne so long.
May you travel lightly,
trusting the goodness of All
to give you what you need.
May your awareness
of this new opening within you,
become for you the ballast of the Mystery
that holds you in the Center,
that longs to bring into your life
treasures inexpressible,
happiness unexplainable.
And may you travel happily
(your fears notwithstanding)
and arrive home again
refreshed,
older,
wiser,
stronger,
a seasoned citizen of the Earth,
because you dared to take
that first step forward from the shoreline
of the life you’ve known so well
into the Great Unknown.