It has been many years now
that I have been in regular morning practice
to journal and to meditate.
It is reflective wonder
combined with
stillness and breath.
It isn’t the pages of words
that are the most defining outcome,
though that is significant.
It is the clarity of mind
integrated with belly
that has so grown me.
It isn’t the posture nor yoga body
that most altars me,
though that attention is also significant.
It’s the fulfilled
and known feeling
of source connected.
It is now that time of year
when it is dark in the morning.
It is 6:40 am.
It will remain dark for another 45 minutes.
At this time of year my journalling
and my meditation
so often flourish in the dark.
An Orientation To Guide
If I were thinking computers, this would be a kind of operating system. It would be a few parts that connect other parts, a few algorithms, some impressive engineering, and some remarkable speed.
But today, I’m not thinking computers. I’m thinking about human life. I’m thinking about human life in the 2020s. I’m thinking about the involved circumstance and pressures that are part of everyday life for everyday people.
Since I’m thinking human life, what follows below is more an orientation. A guide. A few rules of life perhaps. A few values that for me have some roots in my grandparents, my parents, my family, and some beloved friends and colleagues along the way.
So, here’s some clarity for this human life, living in November of the 2020s, sorting through the times, the photos, the images, the crazy-making, and the caring that is these days. Words that come to me in the morning, following the gift of overnight slumber, and from the dark of a day yet to be greeted by sun rising.
Simplify.
There are clearly times when less is kind, and less is more.
Get outside everyday.
Nature matters, even a short walk, a glimpse of sky, and wind that kisses face.
Pay attention to body.
It is vessel to hold us in the great changing.
Work shorter hours.
Integration requires wide berth, and is itself, important work.
Accept the pain.
It too is real, and denying it is too consuming.
Follow the joy.
It is a reliable clue, particularly upon accepting the pain.
Receive and give gifts.
Human civilization has always been fed by this.
Carry on with Spirit.
I suspect the Guides understand predicaments.
These are personal. But perhaps also, quite universal. To perhaps, guide, even if just for a few days.
A Poem of Appreciation
by Tenneson Woolf
In the end,
I suppose,
it is just good
to be with
good people,
to be blessed
with their presence,
their gifts,
their kindness,
their interests,
and to experience
for a moment,
a kind of togetherness,
be that for a mere few breaths,
or a longer encounter of days,
so that maybe,
any of us,
might also
be that blessing
with others.
There is life
in the connecting,
just as there is
life also
in the parting.
Belonging is Biological
It occurs to me
that human beings seek
belonging.
It’s not just emotional comfort,
though that can be just right.
Belonging is biological
It’s the belonging of being on a team,
or a committee,
or a community,
or a family,
or a moment of sharing a park bench with a stranger.
It’s the belonging, not just for talents exchanged,
but rather, where we discover
and grow our gifts,
our inherent and innate gifts,
so as to offer them,
and to be witnessed as contributory.
Belonging isn’t transactional,
though that can be helpful.
Belonging is irrepressible biological
human instinct and contribution
that brings irrepressible and life-affirming fulfillment.
It occurs to me that that matters
and underlays so much of what is contemporary
deep human discouragement, and,
deep human yearning.
