That’s a mug from my friend Tom. My coffee today. With a bit of honey. Makes me think of Tom. He’s the kind of guy at Soultime that most often carries a cup. A strappin’ late 40s lad. He’s a guy that oozes welcome. And invitation to sit on the couch to share a cup. Or stand on the porch and quietly stare in the same direction together.
Gifts from friends settle me. How. Umm, they settle my heart. They lift and sip a sense of belonging that is buoyed by friendship. That makes me want to contribute my skills in the day. That makes we want to learn. And laugh.
Words well-written also settle me. You know, the kind that show up in your in-box that you often don’t have time for. For me, the kind that go into a catch-all folder to remember for a future day. Like these words, the poet David Whyte describing “the extraordinary benefits of profound attention.”
“Everything is an invitation to something larger and more generous. Everything in today’s world can also be a distraction, breaking us and our lives into fragmented pieces, dissipating our powers and rendering us fretful and anxious: the difference between those two lives lies in our ability to pay profound attention in silence to everything that approaches and surrounds us. Deep and prolonged attention grants rest and recuperation, turns seemingly besieging forces into opportunities and transforms far-off hopes into immediate possibilities. Above all, prolonged attention makes us friends with the world again and with those who inhabit it.”
Good, right.
It grounds me to hear other people that I have love and respect for offering words that lift the heart and that lift the big story that guides a thoughtful human experience.
Settled. Settling.
It’s what is happening at Becoming & Belonging. My series that patterns a gentle paying attention together. And some friendship. And some welcome. And some words and stories shared. And some attention to what brings and creates life.
Jump in. I’ll be glad to poor the coffee.
