I stalked her

in the grocery store: her crown

of snowy braids held in place by a great silver clip,

her erect bearing, radiating tenderness,

the way she placed yogurt and avocados in her basket,

beaming peace like the North Star.

I wanted to ask, “What aisle did you find

your serenity in, do you know

how to be married for fifty years, or how to live alone;

excuse me for interrupting, but you seem to possess

some knowledge that makes the earth burn and turn on its axis.”

But we don’t request such things from strangers

nowadays. So. said, “I love your hair.”

!Alison Luterman

when I wander through my mundane day and simply follow the jewels….

inquiry for today~ there may be a little wisdom searching for you today….

from the deep

There’s a myth that if you could just get it all together, you could have permanent pleasure. That’s a complete myth, but everybody kind of buys into it emotionally and psychologically.

So it’s said that the human realm is the very best place to spend time. And why is that? It’s because in the lower realms—particularly the hungry ghost and hell realms—the suffering is so intense and so seamless, there don’t appear to be any gaps.

With the human realm, you have just enough pleasure that you have some relaxation and just enough pain that it spurs you on. So it’s a sort of balance that is the fertile ground for spiritual awakening, for becoming a sane, whole, loving, compassionate, and wise person.

~Pema Chodron