For Dennis~

A note to my client and for all the Dennises in the world

Dennis,

you have spent so many years

believing your soul was small-

as if you were a guest in your own life,

waiting for someone else to hand you permission to enter.

You bowed too quickly, took the blame too easily,

opened your palms without ever asking

for what your heart needed.

And when the ache of belonging grew too heavy,

you tried to soothe it

with objects- a boat for the longing,

a tennis club for the loneliness,

fishing rods, golf bags, all the ways a man tries to say:

See me. Invite me. Want me.

But those were only shadows of the real homecoming.

Friend,

you were not searching for things-

you were searching for yourself.

Now I see you

stepping gently out of the old story,

no longer idealizing others and shrinking before them,

no longer trading your worth for a place at the table.

You are beginning to realize

what the soul has whispered for years:

The field does not belong to anyone.

It opens for the one who enters with truth.

And you?

good husband, good father, loving son~

spiritual man disguised in doubt-

you are learning to walk with your full weight,

your full voice,

your full belonging.

Give yourself the grace you give everyone else.

Give yourself the break you’ve been waiting for.

Ask,

without apology.

Receive,

without shame.

You have plenty.

You are plenty.

And the field-

it has always been here.

Your only task now

is to remember.

the field is always rising to meet your feet.

Jayne~

Haiku:

Belonging at last:

not in boats or borrowed praise

but in your own breath.