How does one know one is well on the path?

There was a time, I knew I should be this way or that way.

For instance, I knew I should not care so much but I did.

I knew I should let go and not let certain things obsess me,

but I could not do otherwise than obsessed over it.

Then one day I noticed, I was doing it.

I was detaching, I was not obsessing.

That was my first clue, I am well on my spiritual path.

And realized that was what the nuns said,

by the fruits, we would know the veracity of our paths.

I was a young nun, four years into meditation,

when I entered into infused contemplation.

I shared it with the mother prioress, who did not believe me.

“You do not have the fruit to show for it,” she told me,

“You are still very vain.”

I responded, “What about the way I not only forgive but forget?

When the young nuns who were mean to me, become nice,

I forget everything and am nice to them in return.”

“That does not count,” she told me, “You were born that way, good natured.”

Through the years, her words stayed with me.

And today, 48 years later, I know what she means.