The Grace of Change

Kindness First

I remember the first time anyone suggested that I could be kind to myself, no matter what.

Say what?

I was slumped over in my therapist's office decades ago, too depressed to have brushed my hair that morning. It was an abysmal nadir: physically and emotionally worn out, ill with a serious chronic illness that was sapping my soul, grieving multiple deep losses.

I was a mess.

Life Is A Garden, Not A Road

So here's something to chew on:

What if life is a garden, as this poem says, and not a road? What does that say about the directionality we all assume about our lives? I, for one, sure behave differently in a garden than on a road. Makes me realize how imbedded that Western notion of "going somewhere" is in this heart and mind.

I'm planning to play with this for the next while - anyone care to join me?

life is a garden,

not a road

 

we enter and exit

through the same gate

 

wandering,

where we go matters less

than what we notice

 

~ Bokonon ~

 (The Lost Book)