Now I Become Myself

Now I become myself. It's taken

Time, many years and places,

I have been dissolved and shaken,

Worn other people's faces,

Run madly, as if Time were there,

Terribly old, crying in a warning,

"Hurry, you will be dead before--"

(What? Before you reach the morning?

or the end of the poem is clear?

Or love safe in the walled city?)

Now to stand still, to be here,

Feel my own weight and density!...

Now there is time and Time is young.

O, in this single hour I live

All of myself and do not move

I, the pursued, who madly ran,

Stand still, stand still, and stop the Sun!

-May Sarton

As our development of self grows and our heart becomes less entangled, we begin to discover a deeper truth about the self: We do not have to improve ourselves; we just have to let go of what blocks our heart. When our heart is free from the contractions of fear, anger, grasping, and confusion, the spiritual qualities we have tried to cultivate manifest in us naturally. They are our true nature, and they spontaneously shine in our consciousness whenever we let go of the rigid structures of our identity.

-Jack Kornfield

There is a vitality, a life force that is translated through you into action. And because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost.

-Martha Graham