June 29 2020

I want to leave this month’s theme of “How Do You Calm Yourself?” with a poem written by author and retreat leader Kent Ira Groff and entitled, "There & Here:"

You can't get there from here.
Only if you stay with each here
and discover a way to embrace its fear
can you listen for the seed of hope
within the horror or the terror.

You can't get here from there.
By dwelling on a future place,
an outgrown year, you fail to be aware
in this space, this here, and
you will miss the seed of joy
within the anger or the languor.

You will find that living
into the present--
the question this day,
the struggle this moment,
you will inch your way
along into some amazing answer-
then serendipitously, miraculously,
you will discover that you are there.

But you will not see it along the way,
and even in arriving at your destiny
you will not find yourself saying,
"Now I am there"--but
only what you have been
practicing each day:
It is good to be here.

I hope you find your own ways of calming yourself by being “here.”

Resources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbradberry/2014/02/06/how-successful-people-stay-calm/#5d781f5a2f79
https://www.nationalwellness.org/general/custom.asp?page=resources