Welcome to the river of life! You have an inner tube to float 
along in. It is yours and will never be taken away from you. 
Float with me down this river of life. We can't see where the 
river is going, we can't see around the next bend, but look there 
over you head, grab that fruit off the overhanging branch and 
taste the gifts of the river. There are many more branches with 
all kinds of delicacies here in the river.

Look at all those who float along with us! Honest people, 
healers, good people who want to float here and experience life 
and live their lives to the fullest.

Here comes a boulder in the water. You will just float around it, 
don't worry about the obstacles, they come and they go but you 
are in your inner tube and always safe.

The river is quickening now. People are saying there are rapids 
up ahead. Some people are trying to climb out of the river. Look 
at them holding on to the boulders. Clinging to them, fighting 
against the water. Some are scrambling up the river banks 
standing still watching the river of life go by them. They look 
sad don't they, and scared to ride this river.

But we are not scared! We go through the rapids like a great 
Disneyland adventure! We come out the other side just fine even 
if we got a little wet and we see more gifts hanging on branches 
over the water we can easily reach. The people on the river banks 
can't reach these gifts from there. They must get back into the 
river if they want these gifts. Lets holler to them! "Come on! 
The water is fine! You are safe here! You belong here! We will be 
with you! Come on in!" Maybe one will come out of his or her rut, 
back to living life and we will be happy about that.

I hear the rushing of a water fall, do you? Oh boy, hang on! This 
will be a big adventure! Swoosh! Over we go tumbling around and 
bobbing back up, laughing and quite wet indeed! What an adventure 
that was! We are safe throughout this ride and we know it, no 
matter what happens.

We know there are more bends in the river but we don't know what 
they will bring. We know there are more boulders in the river but 
we know not to cling to them. We don't need to. We know other 
people are standing on the river banks too scared to travel this 
river of life freely the way we do. We feel sad that they can't 
do it. It is their choice.

We know that will be other branches along the river offering us 
precious gifts and we need to stay in the river to reach them.

Where does this river go? Eventually when our time has passed, it 
takes us to a golden sea where all the other souls can be found 
in peace and joy and harmony. I can't wait to get there myself! 
But we have to ride the river until we get there. So in the 
meantime I am loving this inner tube, this river, this ride and 
experiencing it for all I am worth. I am glad you are here beside 
me!  

Shaman Elder Maggie Wahls is one of America's most loved elder 
teachers of Shamanism for today's modern society. She is the 
creator and instructor of the course Come Walk With A Shaman at 
http://www.shamanelder.com. Visit her website full of articles 
and helpful information to live the life you want to live now! 
You can recieve a free consultation by writing 
mailto:shaman@shamanelder.com