#MicroPoetry|March ’21 Reflections

To create is a central blessing with which we are entrusted by Creation. This responsibility is a significant reminder that even if we are unaware of this or deny it, we are still creating. When we do so without intention, we must confront that what we create may in fact not be good for ourselves, need alone those with whom we journey in life. Awakening to this blessing, therefore, is an important milestone not just individually, but collectively.

Our doing and thinking can sometimes compete with one another. They can occasionally detract from one another. Other times, they can be an excuse not to do one or the other.

Yet these two faculties with which we are each blessed must complement one another for us to do that for which are here: create. To find this balance, the first step is to recognise that one must complete the other. On their own, neither thinking nor doing, brings into reality what they can do when harmony is sought between them.

I find myself looking. I am not always certain for what, but I often find its about hope. It’s easy to see the opposite, it’s easy to hear stories that numb us to be receptive to seeing opportunity and possibility. In order to not be dissuaded or distracted, how we train, practice and commit to seeing the world takes on an import that must be recognised. Otherwise, we simply stumble though life’s unfolding bound by habits and patterns that control us, even should we think we are free.

Do we walk through life perceiving only what we assume is there?

Do we endeavour to recognise moments that surprise and jar not as obstacles, but as teachers?

What might we learn if we embrace that change provides a lifetime of learning? That it adds rich textures to a life we are too often tempted to be numbed, even if indifferent?

One ancient way of seeing anew is captured in the idea of removing scales from our eyes. I believe this means those things, whether habits or practices, voices internal or external, that limit our ability to perceive beyond simply what is, in order to imagine what might be.

As you walk into each new day, what are those things you need to let go of, in order to see with wonder and possibility?

The practice of travelling, whether the inward journey or going from here to there physically, is an opportunity to be renewed to wonder and possibility. It might be easy to be distracted by the consumer component of the bucket list and souvenir acquisition but holding onto the intrinsic nature of seeking that which is new offers us a limitless reservoir. This, in turn, feeds the spiritual longing that binds us all to that which is bigger than any one person.

As you walk into this new day, pay attention to what you do to begin it.

Do you notice patterns? Triggers?
Does the routine bring you joy? Consternation?

If our eyes are open from the beginning of the day and pay attention, it become possible to recognise how our repetition creates the day we see and experience.

If you find you do not like that which you are seeing, where shall you begin to nurture that for which we aspire?

Do you remember that first time you were able to skip a rock more than once over the water’s surface?

I recall being both excited and struck by how the ripples from each skip moved outward and merged. It was mesmerising.

I think our choices are like those skipping rocks of fancy. They move outward and affect the world in ways that we may not even appreciate. If each of our choices, when aligned, ripple, I wonder what we might create if we did so with shared intention.