Some say the body holds

the spirit up like

a corset, is its eyes and

ears, displays its moods,

points it to its prey,

retrieves what the spirit

desires, and gets a pittance

in return- in fact is

ridiculed because the spirit

thinks it’s hot stuff,

wants everything all

at once and cannot stand

the body’s ponderous delay.

But others say the spirit

is the body’s friend, takes

it everywhere, dresses it

up, introduces it around,

makes a name for it,

conceals its unseemly

parts, abides its

nervous schedules, gets it

to laugh, keeps the noise

down while the body sleeps.

~George McCauley

may we know the intensity of waiting to be simply our need to acknowledge……we are all vulnerable and holding the rhythm of our heartbeats….

When you are coming back into your body and have been gone for a long time, which most people have, I think it is important to remember that whatever is happening will not be that way forever. It will change. Here the concept of impermanence, that everything changes, can be of great comfort. Tibetan master Sogyal Rinpoche suggests that “impermanence is like some of the people we meet in life- difficult and disturbing at first, but on deeper acquaintance far friendlier and less unnerving than we could have imagined.” Being mindful of impermanence allows you to ride with the experience, to stay with it. This is Annie Dillard’s advice. “Not only does something come if you wait, but it pours over you like a waterfall, like a tidal wave. You wait in all naturalness without expectation or hope, emptied, translucent, and that which comes rocks and topples you; it will shear, loose, launch, winnow, grind.” And you will be healing while you allow the changing to happen.  ~Rita Justice

in a flash- life rushes by

The only thing that makes life possible is permanent,

intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.

~Ursula LeGuin