I love this message from Hafiz. It so simply and eloquently points to the power and beauty of being who we truly are – which is love.

Even after all this time
the sun never says to the earth,
“You owe me.”
Look what happens
with a Love like that ~
it lights the whole world.

But how do we experience who we truly are?  I find that meditation is one of the most helpful and powerful tools for this.  I have been working with Adyashanti’s suggestion that we take time to sit quietly, look deep within and ask with great sincerity, “What am I?”  It is what I call an open-ended question because the goal is not to find an answer, but rather to let go of pre-conceived ideas so the truth of who we are can emerge in our consciousness.

Starting here,
what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers?
What softened sound from outside
fills the air?
Listen,
will you ever be bringing a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect you carry,
wherever you go right now?
Are you waiting for time
to show you some better thought
than those you have?
When you turn around, starting here,
lift this new glimpse that you found,
carrying into evening all that you want from this day.
This interval you spent hearing this:
keep it for life.
What can anyone give you
greater than now?
Starting here,
right now in this room,
when you turn around?

William Stafford