As I trudged through the mud of yesterday’s downpour, my heart whispered, “keep going.” I had my doubts as I looked ahead. The path appeared blocked, impassable, a dead end. The wind blew wildly, drying the earth with each audacious gust. The shushing sound of dancing, yellowed reed grass entranced me. The creaking, moaning stretches of old cottonwood trees haunted me in a delightful way. One lone red willow tree stood solemnly in defiance, and I knew I must be close. The rhythmic three-note songs of red-winged blackbirds beckoned me farther. I balanced my way across the fallen, ashy branches of watchful aspens, so timid with my steps, so afraid to fall.

“Don’t worry,” my heart said, no longer whispering. “I’ll catch you.”

I still could not fully trust what I could not fully see. I didn’t know where I was going. I could turn back. I could always return the way I came. But I also could not allow fear to decide. Not anymore. I had to know what my heart clearly already did.

That’s exactly when I saw it. The river.

This was no dead end; it was a new place to begin.

My heart cooed. A river flows from the heart of the earth. You are not just from the earth but a living, breathing, feeling part of it.

Follow the river, and you follow your heart. The Heart of the Earth.

***

To follow the river is an act of courage, of strength, and of true self-love. It is an act of defiance in a world that demands we live our lives according to outside expectations, oppressive rules and obligations, the illusion of hierarchy, and an abusive status quo.

And it’s about releasing the compulsion to constantly “fix” ourselves in a society that tells us that we aren’t enough.

I don’t believe that there is only one way to do something, one way to be, or one way to find peace. There are many rivers that flow from the Heart of the Earth.

Do not be discouraged if the path ahead appears treacherous. Listen to your Heart and trust yourself.

What does “follow the river” mean to you?

🖤, an Aquarian Chaos Witch