Poetry of Winter
A poem I penned this morning:
January 10.
Dark & early morn.
To see sprigs of spring on
the boughs of winter while
staying put in the season
at hand is good practice and
no small undertaking.
To know with both head & heart
that while yes a new year has started,
the months will move like a river.
So as not to get to December
and wonder where all the time went,
perhaps it's best not to rush
and also not to wait.
To appreciate how night's cocoon
will butterfly into daylight, the black
coffee sky a necessary appointment
for dawn's arising, one must be willing
to be reborn each new day.
_________
While part of me is drawn to wanting to offer an update on the logistics of winter living in the woods here at EM, I am feeling more called in this moment to share about the poetry of life.
Form and function are crucial to both life and spiritual practice. But without the poetry of living, the heartbeat of our soul weakens, dims, and fades.
I am soon to offer a 4-week online practice group centered around what I call the 4S’s, which are: stillness, settling, slowing, and softening. More specifically we will be focusing on stilling the body, settling the mind, slowing down in space & time, and softening the heart. (This group is free to attend and all are welcome. It starts on Jan 25. For more info or if you’d like to join, please see our calendar of events here.) What is clear to me - and most of us I’m sure - is that our mainstream society actively discourages us from cultivating a connection with the 4S’s. And without a relationship with the 4S’s, I don’t think we can feel our way into the poetry of life.
In my view and way of thinking, the poetry of living is what matters most. It’s what gives depth and breadth to our one precious life. But I can say it’s what matters most because I have no worry whatsoever that I will stop tending to the daily logistics that are necessary to uphold my chosen lifestyle. I trust fully that I will keep cooking and carrying water and chopping wood. What takes much more effort and conscious intention is to develop an understanding of how our heart is both a vessel to be entered and filled and a bottomless wellspring of potential to be delved into. It takes a lot of courage and diligence and mind-training to give ourselves permission to engage on a deep & meaningful level with the poetry of living.
I find it interesting and disappointing how difficult this is to do. So much momentum is forcing us in the direction of perpetual productivity and forever looking for something to DO with our time. Some external measure of worth & value. But while yes if we’re lucky the work we do - whether or not it’s for money - offers us meaning and purpose, if we over-identify with it or feel compelled to near-always be working, we risk losing a friendship with our soul. And when this happens, the separation between us and others grows into a chasm of disconnection with the world.
My encouragement to myself and all of us is this:
