Some necessary steps

As we approach each Gateway on our path to our Reconciled Self, some necessary steps may enrich and deepen our experience:

1. FRAME OUR QUESTION OR ISSUE: It helps if we can frame our question or issue as clearly as we can. Helpful questions are ones that do not permit a “Yes” or “No” answer. So, “What is the meaning of…?” or “How could I proceed with…” are helpful questions.

“Should I euthanize my cat?” is probably not a helpful question.

2. READ THE WORD AT THE TOP OF THE GATEWAY: It is wise to approach a Gateway hesitantly and slowly read the word written at the top of the Gateway. We can allow ourselves to breathe in its quality and stay open to the question, “Where might this Gateway lead me concerning my inquiry?” Then we may breathe into any places that might tighten in our body and allow them to soften as we approach this Gateway.

3. SEE OR HEAR A MESSAGE: We may also see or hear a message written on – or communicated by – a Gateway. Here it is wise to pay careful attention to it. We may inquire more deeply into its meaning concerning our inquiry.

4. HOW EASILY IT OPENS: Passing through the Gateway, we may experience how easily it opens to our gentlest touch, our most tentative impulse. We may feel the Gateway opening easily to our energy.

5. GRACEFUL PASSAGE THROUGH IT: We may sense the gracefulness and ease of our passage through the Gateway.

6. WONDER AND ANTICIPATION: Then we can step in wonder and anticipation through the Gateway and into its new realm.

7. OPEN TO THE TERRAIN THAT UNFOLDS: As we fully open ourselves to the new terrain that unfolds, we may experience the territory of each new realm we are entering and passing through (its landscape, its shade, and light, its sounds, its scents, its ambience, its sense of opportunity, its wisdom). We may ask ourselves, “What does such a territory look and feel like?” We can drink in all the sensations that arise for and in us.

8. WHAT IS INVITED OF ME? We may ask: “What does this Gateway invite me to enter, to visit, to enjoy, or to embody?” It’s valuable to spend time reflecting on those questions – and relating them to our question or inquiry.

9. WHAT MIGHT I GIVE UP? We may also ask: “What does this Gateway invite me to give up or to surrender about my inquiry?” We may even spend time reflecting on those questions.

10. GIVE THANKS: Naturally, we will be drawn to give thanks as we pass from that territory and cross the threshold so that we may stand before another Gateway (or another new reality).

11. WHERE MIGHT THIS LEAD? And, finally, we may want to stay open to another question or two: “Where else might this Gateway lead me?” “Might it lead me to God?”