Trusting the Calling – Reflections on Poetry In Practice

I decided to start with my friend Ted Howell, who is a respected lawyer, a mentor to many small business leaders, and an early reader of my book. I thought he would respond to my request with a few pithy reflections that could serve as quick soundbites on Instagram, but to my delightful surprise, what came back was worthy of its own essay.

His words about his contemplative process beautifully describe the essence and power of poetry as a tool to help reveal and integrate deeper truths within ourselves:

“I’m going a little off script here, as this morning I am finding resonance from many sources, and when that happens your poems seem to tune in. It is not always a specific poem, it is the right one for the right moment. It is not even a specific line in the poem. It is the essence. The unspoken words, the ones with no translation, that find their home, because I believe your words were also trying to describe them. Honestly, I think that is what truly happens, and why we can read the same poem a dozen times and then, suddenly, it integrates. Integration requires an environment that is conducive to the message. The message cannot be spoken, because there are no words. The words are a response to the message and to energy itself, and thereby a pathway for others to find it. When the environment and ecosystem are ready.”

Ted then went on to describe, with great vulnerability, how he uses poetry as a gateway to unfold his own unique journey of unraveling conditioning and dancing with the unknowns in his life:

“This morning I felt that resonance. I randomly open to poems and stories from multiple sources on a daily basis. When there is resonance, they all align in the most beautiful ways. Starting last night, I began to see my path more clearly. I know attributes of my path but still cannot entirely see it, yet I know it is close. The time is not right yet. I still have a few more key ego‑related things that I need to work out. I have begun to see my actions objectively and accept them, and now I simply need to take responsibility and learn the proper reactions.”

Ted goes on to describe how sometimes the poetry does not immediately resonate, but when we are patiently consistent with our practices of self‑reflection, which can include journaling, meditating, and nature walking (to name a few), transformative experiences sometimes emerge:

“Two days ago, I randomly opened to Embracing the Unknown and went to the next page and found some resonance with Trusting the Calling. But it honestly did not go much farther than the words. However, this morning, after having the feelings described above and writing about them, not only in my journal but also to trusted friends, I felt it. I felt that loss of anxiety that comes with anticipation and that feeling of oneness and bliss that comes with simply knowing and being.”

One of the most powerful contemplative practices we can have is sharing our insights with trusted friends. Sharing in community can help us feel validated in a world that does not value introspection and can keep us inspired to continue trusting the messages of our souls. Sharing can also ignite a creative spark that can lead to unexpected new possibilities, such as co‑authoring this essay. Ted reflects on the time after we met for lunch to discuss our experiences with contemplation:

“As you know, this was a week or so after resonating with your poems and our discussion at the cafe. Then I read Rumi’s Burnt Kabob, which, to me, speaks of that moment after being continuously drawn to and burnt by the fire of desire, immediately before that feeling of oneness. Then, yes, I randomly opened your book once again to Embracing the Unknown. Once again, I read Paradox of Significance, but this now seemed to be describing experiences on the path to where I now stand. It was Trusting the Calling that evoked the thoughts in this message and the meaning beyond the words, the ones that I trust were the inspiration for the words.”

Ted ends his message to me by quoting this stanza from Trusting the Calling: “At times the calling sits seemingly motionless . . . waiting patiently for the proper circumstances.”

Trusting the Calling

At times the calling is a spark of a possibility
Expanding the heart with delightful wonder

At times the calling appears too consequential
Doubting the capacity and capability to achieve

At times the calling feels playfully flowing within
Inspiring the mind and body through its expression

At times the calling sits seemingly motionless
Waiting patiently for the proper circumstances

At times the calling is experienced as divinely led
Unfolding the needed support somewhat magically

At times the calling comes into deep questioning
Criticizing voices challenging its value or validity

At times the calling whispers lovingly as a wise elder
Reminding that the work is simply to keep trusting

-Tejal Tarro

When I received Ted’s deeply intimate and thoughtful response to my simple request, at first, I did not know what to do with it. It deserved to be shared, but I struggled with doing so in a way that offered a context that honors the place from which he wrote it and aligns with the themes I am attempting to convey.

What Ted also did not know was that I had been struggling to write the monthly essay for my blog. I had sensed for a few weeks that I wanted to align it with the poem Trusting the Calling, but the words and ideas I was generating felt slightly performative. I was not feeling that deep “yes” that tells me the words are coming through me and not from my conditioned mind. Feeling frustrated with this block, I decided to let go of writing the essay altogether and instead focus on a short social media post using Ted’s message. But when I looked at what he had sent, it was over 500 words and filled with such beautiful insight that shortening it felt like a missed opportunity.

It was in that moment that I realized I had been experiencing exactly what I describe in Trusting the Calling. In the weeks leading up to that day, I was “doubting the capacity and capability to achieve” my desire to write, with “criticizing voices challenging its value or validity.” My inspiration felt “seemingly motionless.”

When the “proper circumstances” arrived in the form of Ted’s message, I felt that “spark of possibility, expanding the heart with delightful wonder.” What if Ted’s response was meant to be part of my monthly essay? I was not sure how it would come together, but as I relaxed into a more playful way of writing, I felt the words “inspiring the mind and body through its expression.” As the pieces fell into place, the writing began to feel “divinely led, unfolding the needed support somewhat magically.” And again, I heard the whisper, “reminding that the work is simply to keep trusting.”

Trusting the calling can take on many forms in our lives, from the lofty purpose of our existence to the very mundane minutiae of daily life.

Sometimes it can feel like a call to reorient our relationship to challenges, sometimes it is a mission to serve, sometimes it is a reminder to relax and enjoy, and sometimes it is a gentle nudge to let creative expression flow in unexpected ways.

I sense the calling as an ongoing invitation to listen deeply to where the divine love of our soul is nudging us to unfold. The challenge is that our conditioned minds are often so loud, and our external environment so chaotic and distracting, that sensing the calling consistently can be difficult. That is why I believe contemplative practices can be so beneficial, and why tools such as poetry can offer a portal into deeper insight and meaning.

Contemplation is especially important for leaders whose words and actions have a rippling effect in our world. If we, as heart centered leaders, truly desire to serve from a higher consciousness, then we must be willing to commit to the ongoing introspective work of compassionately reckoning with our conditioning, humbly accepting our unknowns, and curiously opening space for new creative possibilities. If you feel called to this kind of intimately vulnerable contemplative practice, know I am here with you, along with other leaders like Ted. When we share as a community, we can inspire one another to trust our callings.

– coauthored by Ted Howell