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A Mother’s Day Poem by Adrienne Rich
I know you are reading this poem as you pace beside the stove warming milk, a crying child on your shoulder, a book in your hand because life is short and you too are thirsty. I know you are reading this poem which is not in your language guessing at some words while others keep you reading and I want to know which words they are. I know you are reading this poem listening for something, torn between bitterness and hope turning back once again to the task you cannot refuse. I know you are reading this poem because there is nothing else left to read there where you have landed,…
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Reflections :: Concerning the Topic of Love
On the Topic of Love: When I was approached to write for this site it was concerning the topic of love. Not romantic love. Rather, how to be loving. In a practical, real-life, day after day way. A standing in a non-moving line in the grocery store, getting cut-off on the freeway, or coming home to find out yet again that the internet is down kind-of-way. There is a fundamental ancient meditation practice from India known as Vipassana. It teaches a person to steadily witness from within this moment. A primary principle of Vipassana is a Sanskrit word, Anicha. Western translation of Anicha means changing. Anicha is taught as…
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Love :: To Treat Ourselves with Gentle, Tender Love
I am in a program to get a masters degree in counseling psychology. The eventual result will be licensure as a marriage family therapist. It’s exciting, and painful work! I am blessed in that the school I attend is one that takes an in-depth perspective towards wellness. For example, this past weekend our psychopathology class, in which clinical mental illnesses are studied, looked at factors that focus on family dynamics and emotional, and physical health, as well as what might be called spiritual factors. It is for this reason that I chose to go back to school–to receive an education that is counter to the way that wellness is commonly practiced…
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Reflections: The Need to Understand
The Art of Communicating Well: As always is the case, writing a reflections piece for this site with a theme of love or relationships comes out of my personal experience. I teach, and teaching is how I learn. Similar to this reciprocal exchange, writing has long been the tool that I use to teach myself. Today’s idea has been floating around for a while, and I will address it today as means of pinning it down to explore it a little better. Last month I had an ugly breakdown in communication with someone that I respect a great deal. I can count on one hand the amount of times that something like…
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To Ponder Love
Most mornings I begin with meditation. Like so many words associated with the inner-life, or that potentially eek towards the edge of spirituality or even religion, it seems to me that maybe these days there ought to be a glossary attached when a person writes or speaks. Therefor, in the interest of context, let me just say that I use that word to equate my personal period of quiet and introspection in the morning. It is, to be clear, the period of time that counts and not at all the actual practice. I am a big advocate of learning and using tools such as breathing and present-centeredness that help…
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Reflections: Dropping the Stones
On a soul level there is an inner reckoning that takes place during the holidays. Regardless of whether or not we honor the process, the season grants a pause of contemplation in which we take stock. Specific to this is a measure of our year’s gains, and too a more sullen depth awareness of losses or sacrifices that may have been at stake. We quietly account, if we take the pause to consider within. This is part of the human rhythm which inter-webs us all, and natural as the flux of the seasons or regularity of the here-then-gone-again moon. This year’s reflection seemed to have repeated expression, or in other words, a…
