Reasons to Celebrate

Jeff Foster —

November 2, 2017

When you are confused, celebrate. In this moment, you’re free from having to know, liberated from the burden of expertise. There is no step from confusion to clarity; you clearly see confusion, and so clarity is already closer.

When you have doubts, celebrate. You have remained curious, and you haven’t settled for secondhand answers nor fixated on a conclusion. You’re free from certainty, the great weapon of the ego, undoubtedly.

When you feel fear, celebrate. You are moving into the unknown, leaving the known world, the dying world, the old world. Stepping into the new. Fear and excitement are so close here. The illusory armor of the separate self is breaking apart; life is flooding in. Fear is trying to protect you; bow to it.

When you feel anger, celebrate. Feel its ferocity, its power, the cry of a velociraptor. Life is surging through you, raw, unfiltered. You are on the verge of finding your song, fighting for a cause with passion, standing up for those without a voice, knowing what you deserve. Anger is related to courage, your willingness to move toward life and protect what you love, even in the face of danger.

When you get lost, celebrate. In every great journey, heroes lose their way sometimes, doubt their own power sometimes. Get lost, and find yourself. Find presence, the breath, the beating of the heart. Take the giant step of not knowing which step to take; a perfect step. Trust the doubting, too. And your path will find you, moment by moment. Your true path cannot be lost, ever.

When you feel sorrow, celebrate. You are not numb. You have not closed your heart to the unwanted. You are wide open to life, sensitive. This old, familiar friend has come to you for help. She is not a mistake. She only wants to warm herself by the fire of your presence, be given a space at the table, next to joy.

When you feel that you cannot celebrate life, celebrate. You are honest, you tell the truth of the moment, your eyes are open.

Looking for more great reads?

Excerpted from The Way of Rest by Jeff Foster

Jeff Foster shares his own awakened experience a way out of seeking fulfillment in the future and into the miracle of “all this, here and now.” He studied astrophysics at Cambridge University. Jeff’s books include The Way of Rest and The Deepest Acceptance. For more, visit lifewithoutacentre.com.

Posted November 2, 2017

Jeff Foster

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Jeff Foster shares from his own awakened experience a way out of seeking fulfillment in the future and into the acceptance of "all this, here and now." He studied astrophysics at Cambridge University. Following a period of depression and physical illness, he embarked on an intensive spiritual search that came to an end with the discovery that life itself was what he had always been seeking.

Foster, Jeff © Emily Goodman

Listen to Tami Simon's in-depth audio podcast interviews with Jeff Foster:
The Deepest Acceptance »
The Deepest Acceptance: Part 2 »
Unconditioned Awareness and the Challenges of Everyday Life »

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Victory! A Poem

Jeff Foster — January 28, 2021

Victory!

By Jeff Foster

You don’t have to be the best.

You don’t have to win.

You only have to be yourself.

You only have to be real.

And speak from the heart.

And know that you have the right to see how you see,

and think how you think, and feel what you feel,

and desire what you desire.

You don’t have to be a success in the eyes of the world

and you don’t have to be an expert on living.

You only have to offer what you offer,

breathe how you breathe, make mistakes and screw

and learn to love your stumbling and say the

wrong thing

and stop worrying so much about impressing anyone

because in the end you only have to live with yourself

and joy is not given but found in the deepest

recesses of your being

so there can be joy in falling and joy in making

mistakes

and joy in making a fool of yourself and joy in

forgetting joy

and then holding yourself close as you crumble to

the ground

and weep out the old dreams.

Joy is closeness

with the one you love:

You.

You don’t have to be the best.

You really don’t have to win.

You only have to remember this intimacy with

the sky, the nearness of the mountains and feel the sun

warming your shoulders and the nape of your neck

and know that you are alive,

and that you are a success at being alive,

and that you have won already,

and you are victorious already,

without having to prove

a damn

thing.

To anyone.

This poem is excerpted from You Were Never Broken: Poems to Save Your Life by Jeff Foster.

Jeff Foster shares from his own awakened experience a way out of seeking fulfillment in the future and into the acceptance of “all this, here and now.” He studied astrophysics at Cambridge University. Following a period of depression and physical illness, he embarked on an intensive spiritual search that came to an end with the discovery that life itself was what he had always been seeking.

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The Courage to Stand Alone

Jeff Foster — January 13, 2021

The Courage to Stand Alone

It can be scary when we are called to confront our aloneness, the seemingly inﬁnite depths of that empty, homeless feeling inside of us. When all our old protections fall away and the abandoned and neglected ones inside come begging for our love and attention. It can feel sometimes as though there’s nowhere to turn, like we want to crawl out of our own skin, urgently get out of the Now and into some other time or place.

It takes bravery to stop, breathe, and—slowly, slowly, slowly—turn back toward the lonely, dark, empty “void” inside (in reality, there is no void). To actually turn to face the sense of abandonment buried deep within our guts, to soften into the sense of separation that has been with us for as long as we can remember. We don’t have to make the feeling go away today, only lean into it, breathe into it, begin to make room for it, maybe even learn to trust its presence.

quote image

Perhaps loneliness is like a cosmic nostalgia, a preverbal memory of a deep womb-connection, with ourselves, with the planet, with every being who has ever lived. In leaning into our own loneliness, shame, and existential anxiety, we may be able to touch into compassion for the loneliness of every human being, for every heart longing to connect, for every grieving heart, every frightened heart.

We are alone, yet never alone. This is the great paradox of existence. Our loneliness, when not resisted or numbed away, may actually end up connecting us more deeply to life and each other, like it did for me and my sweet father that winter evening.

Let us learn to be alone, then! Alone, without distraction, which is true meditation. Alone, communing with the breath as it rises and falls. Alone with the mind and its incredible dance. Alone with the rain and the morning sun. Alone with the crackle of autumn leaves under our feet, or the crunch of winter snow. Alone with the hopes and joys and anxieties of this human form, living a single day on this remarkable planet. Alone with our precious selves, with this unfathomable sense of connection to all things, with birth and loss and death and their myriad mysteries.

Alone, with all of life.

This is an excerpt from You Were Never Broken: Poems to Save Your Life by Jeff Foster.

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Into the Belly of Meditation

Jeff Foster — December 21, 2020

Into the Belly of Meditation

By Jeff Foster

You are weary, friend.

Sit.

You are thirsty.

Here. Drink.

You are hungry. Here. Take this.

A piece of bread.

A small bowl of soup.

See how God has taken form!

It is all I have but it will keep you alive.

I will light a fire that will never go out.

A sacred flame. Unconditional in its burning.

To illuminate us in the darkness.

Oh. I see you are wounded.

Bruised. Bleeding.

Exhausted from the world.

You have suffered much, I know.

Come.

Take off these dirty rags.

Don’t worry. It’s safe.

There is strength in your nakedness.

Here. Wash.

Rub this medicine onto your wounds.

Put on these robes, they are clean and dry.

Lie down. Close your eyes.

I will watch over us tonight.

Listen. You have not failed.

I see new life breaking through.

I see birth. An insurrection.

The sharp edge of hope.

I have no teaching for you.

No wise words.

I only want you to trust what you are going through.

To bring this fire inside of you.

Until the end.

I have known this pain. Yes.

This courage to keep moving. Yes.

This courage to rest, too.

The sacrifice of the known world.

Friend.

Drop into the belly of meditation now.

The place you were always seeking.

The vast silence at the Earth’s core which is your own core.

Breathing into the gut now.

The throat. The chest.

Irradiating the nervous system with unspeakable

tenderness.

Flooding the body with soft, warm light.

Drenching the human form with divine love.

And sleep.

I may not be here when you wake.

We may not meet again in form.

Yet I leave you with all you need.

Food. Water. A bed.

A chance to rest.

A touch of kindness.

And your unbreakable Self.

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This poem is excerpted from You Were Never Broken: Poems to Save Your Life by Jeff Foster.

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This week, Tami Simon speaks with Laurie Nealon, an intuitive energy healer, medium, and educator whose work is profiled on the Sounds True podcast Phenomena: The Science and Stories of Energy Healing. Seventeen years ago, Laurie began seeing and hearing those who had passed—not in dreams, but in the middle of her waking life. She resisted it. Then she built a practice around it.

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Michelle Wadleigh: “I Demand to Be Me”

— August 4, 2026

“You have to want the freedom more than you want to be right about it.”

That’s what Reverend Dr. Michelle Wadleigh offers to anyone who has tried forgiveness and found that it didn’t take. Not a technique. A decision.

This week, Tami Simon speaks with Wadleigh—ordained minister in Centers for Spiritual Living, retreat facilitator, co-founder of the Planned Happiness Institute, and author of Forgiveness, Shadow Work, and the new Dance Like Nobody’s Watching: The Soul’s Journey to Courage, Authenticity, and Self-Love—about what it actually takes to stop living at the mercy of our own stories.

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Insights at the Edge is supported by Omega Institute, a global gathering hub for lifelong learning and spiritual exploration. Located in upstate New York’s beautiful Hudson Valley, Omega offers weekend workshops, special events, rest and rejuvenation retreats, professional trainings, online learning, and more.

Special Offer – Sounds True community members enjoy 10% off any workshop registration at Omega Institute. Discover what calls to you at eomega.org/true. Use code TRUE at checkout.

Insights at the Edge is supported by Magic Hour, whose ceremonial teas carry more presence, beauty, and ritual into ordinary days. Magic Hour draws its leaves and botanicals from regenerative small farms around the world, in blends made to nourish the body and open the mind.

Explore their teas, matchas, and herbal rituals at clubmagichour.com. Get 20% off your first order with the code TRUE.

Reasons to Celebrate

Jeff Foster

Products By Author

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Sacred as You Are

Also By Author

Victory! A Poem

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