You work with what you are given,the red clay of grief, the black clay of stubbornness going on after.
Clay that tastes of care or carelessness, clay that smells of the bottoms of rivers or dust.
Each thought is a life you have lived or failed to live, each word is a dish you have eaten or left on the table.
There are honeys so bitter no one would willingly choose to take them.
The clay takes them: honey of weariness, honey of vanity,
honey of cruelty, fear.
There are honeys so bitter no one would willingly choose to take them.
The clay takes them: honey of weariness, honey of vanity,
honey of cruelty, fear.
This rebus – slip and stubbornness, bottom of river, my own consumed life –
when will I learn to read it
plainly, slowly, uncolored by hope or desire?
Not to understand it, only to see.
when will I learn to read it
plainly, slowly, uncolored by hope or desire?
Not to understand it, only to see.
As water given sugar sweetens, given salt grows salty,
we become our choices.
Each yes, each no continues, this one a ladder, that one an anvil or cup.
we become our choices.
Each yes, each no continues, this one a ladder, that one an anvil or cup.
The ladder leans into its darkness.
The anvil leans into its silence.
The cup sits empty.
The anvil leans into its silence.
The cup sits empty.
How can I enter this question the clay has asked?
Jane Hirshfield, Given Sugar, Given Salt
Our Mindfulness practice, whether it is on the cushion paying attention to the emotions and thoughts that weave between the breath and bodily sensations, or whether it is in the world paying attention to our actions and behaviors which emerge from our emotions and thoughts, is always a reminder that in order to change any unhealthy or harmful patterns – in order to transform any suffering – we have to first become aware of the patterns themselves. We cannot change anything that we are not aware of…. On a personal level this may show up within the experience of intense emotions. Often we are driven by unconscious motivations of our emotional landscape. How often do we feel lost in the rage or the upset that sometimes arises? The impact that Mindfulness brings is that the experience of being aware of the rage is not the rage itself. Being mindful of all the sensations of rage or anger is not being lost in or consumed by the fire. How often do we actually feed the experience of anger without examining what is really happening? …Our practice simply invites us to do the best we can – to be as mindful, aware and kind to whatever arises, even our intense emotional landscapes.
Mindfulbalance 