Hello to you listening in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Time Out Tuesday and your host, Diane Wyzga.

I paused my computer screen saver as it pulled up a photo from my Camino pilgrimage: a lake in a town on a sunny day - and swans. Graceful, regal, fully in their watery element, no longer bound to the land. 

While swans can lumber across the ground swaying dangerously side to side, their element is water. That’s where they belong.  

Following is a version of Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem - The Swan - translated by Robert Bly:

“This clumsy living that moves lumbering

as if in ropes through what is not done,

reminds us of the awkward way the swan walks.

And to die, which is the letting go

of the ground we stand on and cling to every day,

is like the swan, when he nervously lets himself down into the water, which receives him gaily

and which flows joyfully under

and after him, wave after wave,

while the swan, unmoving and marvelously calm,

is pleased to be carried, each moment more fully grown, more like a king, further and further on.”

Maybe like me you’ve been asking yourself: What is my element? Where do I belong? How will I find it? Could it be looking for me?

Question: What is your element? How do you know?

You’re always invited: “Come for the stories - stay for the magic!” Speaking of magic, would you subscribe, share a 5-star rating + nice review on your social media or podcast channel of choice, and join us next time!

Meanwhile, stop by my Quarter Moon Story Arts website to:

✓ Check out What I Offer,

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Stories From Women Who Walk Production Team

Podcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story Arts

Music: Mer’s Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron Music

All content and image © 2019 to Present Quarter Moon Story Arts. All rights reserved.