Yesterday and for the first time, I came across “Walking in Beauty,” the closing prayer from the Navajo Blessing Way Ceremony. Reading it silently gave me chills. That’s it, I thought. That’s my approach for life. Reading it again aloud, filled me with peace.
In beauty I walk With beauty before me I walk With beauty behind me I walk With beauty above me I walk With beauty around me I walk It has become beauty again
You can read the entire poem and in the Navajo language, here. On the website, there’s also a video with an explanation of what the Navajo path of Walking in Beauty entails. Walking in Beauty is “about encountering fears and getting beyond them,” as the narrator explains. And when one does, the reward will be joy, happiness, confidence, and peace.
Today I will walk out, today everything negative will leave me I will be as I was before, I will have a cool breeze over my body. I will have a light body, I will be happy forever, nothing will hinder me. I walk with beauty before me. I walk with beauty behind me. I walk with beauty below me. I walk with beauty above me. I walk with beauty around me. My words will be beautiful.
We all have deep pockets of fear. Sometimes we’ve created so much distance between ourselves and our fears that we don’t even know how much they control us. I can only speak for myself here, but by paying exquisite attention to my habits and choices, I know when subconsciously I’m letting fear run the show. When I’m not taking care of myself—not exercising, snacking more than usual, or binging on a tv show, there’s usually a fear at the root of an issue I’m not dealing with and it plays like elevator music in the background of my psyche. Or when I feel down or unmotivated, it’s a fear weighing on my heart, immobilizing me. When I notice that I am trying to control my external world too much, who is the usual suspect? It’s fear, informing me.
In beauty all day long may I walk. Through the returning seasons, may I walk. On the trail marked with pollen may I walk. With dew about my feet, may I walk.
Courage is an antidote to fear. Courage is action. Courage is in noticing that something is amiss, there’s a trespasser in the psyche, and something must be done. Courage is an action of the heart. It takes courage to even look at fears. Courage is love rising. It comes from the Old French word, corage, from cuer, meaning “heart.” We may always continue to feel fear, yes. It’s an emotion and emotions are meant to be felt. But we don’t have to let it run our lives.
Walking in Beauty then, is a path of courage. A path of love prevailing, no matter the circumstances.
With beauty all around me may I walk. In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk. In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk. My words will be beautiful…
Speaking of beauty, I have to share this photo I snapped the other day. It’s a beauty berry bush in flower and come August, it will be filled with gorgeous violet colored berries that gleam against chartreuse leaves. August is an uncomfortably hot and humid month in the deep coastal South where I live and the appearance of beauty berries feels like a life line sent from heaven. I love spotting it in yards as I walk through the swampy air. It uplifts my spirits. Beauty berry, along with the magnificent golden orb spiders that appear in August are a reminder to me that even in physically challenging times (August in the lowcountry!) the pulse of love, from the biointelligence of life, beats through.
It has become beauty again…
xo, Katie
Those goosebumps! I got them up and down my arms as I was reading this beautiful post. Thank you, my friend.
That bush is gorgeous. Also, I love that poem. If we listened more to Indigenous wisdom, how wise we would truly be. I took a Zumba class tonight and for one of the dances, a woman brings a scarf with her, to make the dance more joyful, more beautiful, to walk more in beauty. I like thinking about what this would look like for me.