May 28 2018

In addition to safe communities, there are countless other ways to nurture yourself and others. We hope you too find many gifts along the way. As I said in the first blog post this month, you begin with the first thing before you right now. I leave you with David Whyte’s poem, poem, “Start Close In.”

Start close in,
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first thing
close in,
the step you don’t want to
take.

Start with the ground
you know,
the pale ground
beneath your feet,
your own way of starting
the conversation.

Start with your own
question,
give up on other
people’s questions,
don’t let them
smother something
simple.

To find another’s voice
follow your own voice,
wait until that voice
becomes a private
ear listening to
another.

Start right now 
take a small step 
you can call your own 
don’t follow someone
else’s heroics,
be humble and focused,
start close in, don’t mistake
that other for your own.

Start close in, 
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first thing 
close in,
the step you don’t want to
take.