By Mariah Mckenzie
It would be many years before I appreciated the difference between commitment and attachment, but the seeds were planted during this era when I began to ask my own questions and to inquire deeper into the nature of intimacy and attachment, deeper into fear and surrender. It felt like time to move again into uncharted territory. What boundaries am I attached to? Which ones can yet be removed? How much more can I surrender? How far am I willing to go?
~ excerpt from More:
 Recently I contacted Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, author of Writing the Sacred Journey, the beloved dog-eared book I carried with me while writing of my own sacred journey (During our correspondence she mentioned the book “Red Hot and Holy” by Sera Beak (I nearly gasped at the title alone, for it immediately stirred a passion within myself that few appreciate.
Last night I started the book as I always do, first reading about the author, curious about the writer behind the scenes. Then reading reviews by others, then reading every part of the front and back pages of the book setting myself up for the read. At last I dove in and within two chapters my face broke into a delicious smile as a tickle of sheer delight spread. My husband could feel me beaming.
He turned to me and asked, “How’s the book?”
I sighed dreamily. “Oh, it’s brilliant. I feel happy and well, it’s hard to describe. I feel enlivened, full of wonder again at life and existence. Her writing is . . . ” I struggled to think of the proper word. “Unfettered!”
“Wow,” He said. “That’s powerful.”
And it was. Because, although conditioned thoughts had been threatening to take control once again, in those two short chapters I was brought back to my Self.
So, a big thank you to writers like Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew and Sera Beak, who write to inspire, writers who color outside the lines, writers who carefully observe the nuances of their own lives and then tell us their stories so that we can find our own.
From my own journey, I know More is available out there in the Unfettered—just beneath the surface, in passionate abandon, in surrender, in acceptance and shameless existence. It’s there—just past the veil of my conditioned mind. So, how in my daily life do I find it? By paying attention to this moment: gently returning to the breath, remembering gratitude, listening to a birdsong, recording my own kind observances, or as I discovered last night, by reading the passionate words of another. Each can shake loose that veil and from one moment to the next the Unfettered More drops in.
Recommended:
http://www.elizabethjarrettandrew.com/books/writing-the-sacred-journey/
http://serabeak.com/red-hot-and-holy/
Mariah Mckenzie and her husband, Jake, live in Alpine, CA but travel frequently up and down the west coast from San Diego to Seattle for business and to visit family. Mariah has worked in executive-level Corporate Communications for high-technology businesses. She is also an awareness practitioner who has dedicated a significant portion of her life to exploring consciousness and ecstatic living. Mariah leads writing and meditation groups and workshops in the greater San Diego area. Visit www.sacredjourneytomore.com for periodic musings on life and the spiritual journey.
More – Journey to mystical union through the sacred and the profane is published by O Books, ISBN: 978-1-78535-262-1 (Paperback) £14.99 $25.95, EISBN: 978-1-78535-263-8 (e-book) £6.99 $9.99.