“something
you already had
And set it down in
A new place.”
This week, when I am 4 days back home for a few weeks at Six Mile & Livernois and looking ahead for 3 weeks off the road, these weeks feel like some settling in after 3 weeks of hammer-slammer multi-tasking on the sabbatical road. These November weeks remind me of a short-form prayer I have shared for many years with a soul friend. Every so often, when the intuition catches my attention, I text my friend this short message: “have you breathed yet today?” “Breathing” in this context works like this: you stop where you are (i.e., stop walking to a next task; you straighten your shoulders and stand tall; you draw in a slow deep breath, filling your lungs; you release the deep breath). You imagine that this ritual has created a place of stillness where you can hear the sound that a tree creates {or the grass around you} as they grow. Within that stillness, you make a commitment: “I love my life, exactly as it is now, with nothing changed.” Then you go on your way again.
Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem feels just like that prayer. Have a blest day.
john sj
Today’s Post “Fresh” Naomi Shihab Nye
“Fresh”
To move
Cleanly.
Needing to be
Nowhere else.
Wanting nothing
From any store.
To lift something
You already had
And set it down in
A new place.
Awakened eye
Seeing freshly.
What does that do to
The old blood moving through
Its channels?
Naomi Shihab Nye
b. March 12, 1952 (age 67)