Can you imagine moving through your day, appreciating the hearts and spirits of those you engage with, the beauty of clouds, birds, grasses, and trees? Of course you also include what’s painful, perhaps your anger toward someone who’s hurt you, or the suffering of a friend whose partner has Alzheimer’s. Yet still, there’s an awareness that remembers the goodness that animates our beings. Thomas Merton wrote, “Life is this simple: we are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and the divine is shining through it all the time. This is not just a nice story or a fable, it is true.”

~Tara Brach

and when I know how to feel, I listen….

inquiry for today~ when something is not grounded, then what?

when you know

This is not a stage

for me to tell you

how to improve

in any way.

There is dignity

in staying with whatever’s real

with a long spine bathed in breath,

even as we fall.

If you’re still

listening, thank you.

May we turn

from this tiny contact here

toward the opening day grateful,

with gumption,

receiving what we belong to.

Last night I dreamed

a baby cow fell

from a periwinkle sky,

and when I helped him

stand,

the vertebrae under velvet fur

rose and fell like little hills

beneath my happy hand.

I’m telling my young son this dream.

He’s laughing sparks

of hilarity out his eyes,

their beauty barely matched

by the softly falling snow outside.

~Brooke McNamara