60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey: Questioning Belonging. Where Do I Go From Here?

<p>Hello! to you in Duluth, Minnesota.</p><p>Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is 60 Seconds, your daily dose of hope, imagination, wisdom, stories, practical tips, and general riffing on this and that.</p><p>3 ½ years on Whidbey Island and I’m still at odds with belonging. Did I choose too soon? No. There were exigent circumstances. Did I choose too foolishly? No. I’m practical with the heart of an Aquarian Dreamer. Then what? I don’t feel my identity being sculpted here. Somehow I’m still missing a sense of belonging, belonging to a place I can inhabit because I am so linked to it that to leave would be my undoing.  </p><p>Now what? Well, in the time-honored fashion of others in a quandary turn to poetry and reassess. Perhaps I must, in the words of the poet David Whyte: “... <i>begin to love all the things it’s taken me so long to love</i>.” and begin to belong <i>that</i> way.</p><p>Click <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMxg5rIZI0Q">here</a> to hear David Whyte recite The House of Belonging.</p><p><i>"I awoke</i></p><p><i>this morning</i></p><p><i>in the gold light</i></p><p><i>turning this way</i></p><p><i>and that</i></p><p> </p><p><i>thinking for</i></p><p><i>a moment</i></p><p><i>it was one</i></p><p><i>day</i></p><p><i>like any other.</i></p><p> </p><p><i>But</i></p><p><i>the veil had gone</i></p><p><i>from my</i></p><p><i>darkened heart</i></p><p><i>and</i></p><p><i>I thought</i></p><p> </p><p><i>it must have been the quiet</i></p><p><i>candlelight</i></p><p><i>that filled my room,</i></p><p> </p><p><i>it must have been</i></p><p><i>the first</i></p><p><i>easy rhythm</i></p><p><i>with which I breathed</i></p><p><i>myself to sleep,</i></p><p> </p><p><i>it must have been</i></p><p><i>the prayer I said</i></p><p><i>speaking to the otherness</i></p><p><i>of the night.</i></p><p> </p><p><i>And</i></p><p><i>I thought</i></p><p><i>this is the good day</i></p><p><i>you could</i></p><p><i>meet your love,</i></p><p> </p><p><i>this is the black day</i></p><p><i>someone close</i></p><p><i>