Good morning, sweet ones, hope you're enjoying this week of sunshine and warm weather as a much appreciated break from winter cold. The month of February finds us exploring the theme of "insight."* A few things come to mind when I think of insight, one is a formula Thich Nhat Hanh speaks of at length:
Mindfulness + Concentration = Insight
Mindfulness is the ability to be aware, and when we are aware our point of focus becomes concentrated. When we are concentrated (on what we wish to be concentrated on), insight often comes as a result.
For me, one of the best ways to practice mindfulness-concentration-insight is through writing. I'm not much for lengthy, wordy pieces. Perhaps I'm like one of my favorite teachers, Pooh Bear, who says, "When speaking to a Bear of Very Little Brain, remember that long words may bother him." Poetry tends to be my heart language, that sweet process of distilling life into nourishing nectar.
This week my practice took me out into the beautiful sunshine. I sat still, soaked up the warmth and wrote an offering. The title "Hush Tali," is a sacred name for the sun, who as the Choctaw people teach, formed first man and woman from clay and placed them inside the earth to bake. When they were perfected, he brought them out to dry in the warmth of his light....
Hush Tali
Grandfather Sun,
your light thaws
cold places.
Warmth soaks in,
encourages everything to
turn
toward what is true,
Eternal.
Sun, my heart,
beats life
into open veins.
Because of you,
I am here.
Thank you.
Sun is often a metaphor for mindfulness--it shines on everything, no discrimination between a beautiful flower or lowly ant. Mindfulness is the magnifying glass, directing a point of light to shine on what needs tended, warming it to perfection. May you have a week of gentle warming, and in turn, warm others.
