The Journey - Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice --

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do --

determined to save

the only life you could save.

- 'When the voice inside you becomes louder and clearer than the voices around you, you've mastered your life' I can't quite remember who said this but it was in the dvd/book The Secret I leave to go to Australia in 2 weeks and I most definetly feel like I'm leaping in the hope that the net will appear. When I made the decision to do this I had to ask myself questions about what I wanted and the universe showed me that this would be my path. Too many things happened. The biggest thing that happened of all was that I followed my intuition. In this case I didn't want to hear the voices around me. I was able, in that moment, to envision myself going deeper into the world with a determination to better myself and be open to new experiences and a new culture. I'll let you know if it works out ;-) And so my love for this poem is centred around the idea of self. You have to follow where your heart leads you. Others won't always agree but sometimes you have to be still with solitude and listen to your intuition. Your life is a blank canvas until you paint it, don't let anyone else destroy that piece of art. It belongs to you and only you. I always add photos/pictures that I believe represent the poem. And seeing as the topic is about following your heart who better to portray that than....me! ;-)