The Silence Between Notes

Comfortable. At home. Breathing deeply.

I was sitting in a most comfortable chair in the cabin we rented for a long weekend at Iron Springs Resort, on the Pacific Coast of Washington, having just opened my Mother’s Day presents from my daughter. Thoughtful presents all: a card, rum cake, a candle, a roll of chocolate Necco’s, a facial cleanser, and most of all, a watercolor painting she made for me, placed lovingly in a Japanese frame.

All spoke of love.
Of a lifetime of challenges and nourishment, struggles and peace.
My life behind me.
My life in front of me.

The silence between notes.

I have just completed two years of getting up at 5:30 every morning, on fire, ready to write.

And write I did.

My astrologer had given me a two-year launch date of April 28, 2026 — what at the time seemed impossibly far away. A long road ahead.

And it was.
And it wasn’t.

I was passionate. Fierce. The stories kept pouring out.

I knew the reader was my friend, my colleague, my fellow pilgrim on a journey toward transformation. Someone knocking on my door wanting to shift their relationships:
to themselves — letting go of the critic within, cultivating compassion and forgiveness;
for others — healing broken relationships and deepening loving ones;
for work — the foundation of all accomplishment;
for life itself — seeing obstacles as great teaching opportunities;
and for the sacred — finding God within, your own inner spirit, revealing a life of meaning, wonder, and purpose.

The reader was my companion and my friend, a hungry heart ready to open, to be contributed to by stories of people they would never meet in person.

Then shooting an online course 2,000 miles away that I was not happy with.

And a few months later, in my own office/studio, we filmed, newly.
At my desk.

And I loved it.

Soon, that course will be ready to make its own contribution to whoever wishes to have Sacred Listening in their world, forwarding them in The Art and Practice of Sacred Listening.

And now, in early June, another book launch:
this time live,
at our beloved local bookstore on Bainbridge Island,
Eagle Harbor Book Co. —
a place where the community gathers,
and the heart of Sacred Listening can once more soar into the world.

But for now,
for this weekend,
a full stop.

A descent into family life:
husband,
daughter,
a devoted dog.

A fireplace.
My poetry book to write in.
Board games.
Movies.

We watched Amadeus for the fifth time, letting Mozart’s music stir our hearts.

I listened to the crackling fire and watched the flames lick their way up the chimney walls.

I walked out onto the balcony and saw my daughter playing with her big, beautiful black German shepherd, Cruz.

I stopped.

The voices in my head stopped.
The obligations stopped.
The “shoulds” stopped.

A new threshold crossing.

Presence came easily there.

I listened to the silence.

I entered into a daydreaming space — the edge between my interior world and where it meets the outer world.

A poem emerged.

I share it with you in its first draft form, just as it came onto the page.

May its spirit speak to you, whether or not you understand what it says.

I’m not sure I understand it either.

For now,
let the poem rest.
Let my heart rest.

And may you rest as well,
in the silence between notes.

I want to write about longing.
About the heart’s desire
to marry its own soul.
There, on the path before you —
the dark path
where no one else
has ever traveled —
underneath the trees,
there in the wood,
it meets itself.
Its future,
glimmering, sparkling,
looking up at you
like a timid animal in the trees.
We are in the forest now.
The deer glances up, shimmering.
The future, barely seen
in the darkness of the woods.
You
join with your heart’s longing.
The fawn,
invisible to everyone else,
follows you
out of the woods,
accompanies you
as you flow through life,
glowing, growing older each day,
until,
at last,
joined with your soul,
you and the future
(which has followed you from that wood)
become your life.
Peace.

Before I close, a few invitations for those walking this path with me.

If you live in the Bainbridge Island, Kitsap, or greater Seattle area, I would love to see you at the live launch of The Heart of Sacred Listening at Eagle Harbor Book Company on June 11 at 6:30 PM.

The evening will include readings, reflection, conversation, and exploration of Sacred Listening itself. The RSVP information is available through Eagle Harbor Books.

The evening will include readings, reflections, conversation, and shared exploration around Sacred Listening itself. I would truly love to see you there, to share in a community gathering.

I have also recently created a new introductory PDF doorway into Sacred Listening, available at:
https://galeleadership.com/books/the-heart-of-sacred-listening/

(You may need to scroll down slightly to find it.)

Please feel free to receive it yourself, and also to share it with friends who may resonate with this work.

And finally, I am happy to say that a self-paced online course, The Art and Practice of Sacred Listening, is now beginning to take shape and will be released in the months ahead.

More and more, I find myself interested not only in sharing ideas, but in creating spaces where thoughtful people can reflect, listen, and journey together.

More on that soon.

Amba