Seriously Though, Don't Go Back to Sleep

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
Where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.

- Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
 
I take these words quite literally these days, as the weather turns colder and I become ever more comfortable under the covers. When the alarm clock rings and it's time to get up for meditation, hopefully I can remember Rumi's advice, Don’t go back to sleep.
 
More profoundly, though, this poem calls on us to nurture our experience of awakening. It asks us to clarify and then commit to the shifts we really want to make. It encourages us with the possibility of stepping through the threshold into a new way of being. It also speaks to the perseverance needed to stay engaged with and interested in our own self-development.
 
It is our longing that spurs us on to search for the truth within ourselves and uphold our commitment to our own transformation. Indeed, it is in our longing where we find the resolution to continue walking the path, one chilly morning at a time.