Balancing Act

Allow yourself nine minutes to be mesmerized.

It's about balance and breath.
It's about focus and intention.
It's a metaphor for life.

Be enlightened!  ~ M

Daily Bread

I felt bored, though I had lots to do. I was cranky, and I wasn’t sure why. Something, I knew not what, was calling me into the world, I knew not where. I rose from my sofa, prepared myself, and headed out. I drove for an hour, maybe two in total, considering the roundtrip. I passed the highway entrance ramp, turned onto side streets instead, and discovered routes I hadn’t known before. I headed for no place in particular.

A balding and bespectacled man in a sandstone Sonata in the lane beside mine be-bopped at a red light. I scanned through the stations on my own stereo searching for what he was listening to. I wanted to feel his joy. I noticed an arrow-shaped sign on a utility pole advertising “Cheap Massages” at a school of natural health. I stopped in for one, but was unimpressed. I discovered a state park situated on the bank of a small river and turned in to sniff the pines. My drive to nowhere brought me, at last, to a chain bookstore. There, I spent several hours.

I perused the memoir section and envisioned a layout for my own. I overheard a senior woman on her cell phone making dinner plans. I observed a young mother teaching her children to respect one another. “Don’t grab the bag of chips from her like that. Ask her if you can have one, and I’m sure she will share,” she told her son. “If you need help carrying those books, just ask your big brother if he’ll take some,” to her little daughter. I wrote in the lined tablet I consistently carry with me. I contemplated what my next career move should be. I prayed for guidance. I kept dry from the sudden rainstorm. I almost hugged the vinyl record display. I felt hungry and headed for the in-house café.

The ham and Gouda looked appetizing, but I was concerned about the freshness of the bread that sandwiched them. “Our bread is delivered daily,” the vendor assured me. Hmmm, mine too, I realized. Give us this day our daily bread.

Daily bread. If I were given the whole loaf today, it would grow stale and moldy. It is best to receive my bread on an as-needed basis.

Daily bread. For today, I have enough. I know not what tomorrow will bring, where I will be led, what I will be given to do. I don’t need to know that today. I will know daily.

Daily bread. I was lonely when I left home this morning. I thought I wanted company. I thought I wanted to talk. God knew that, for today, I needed down time, free time, and solitariness. If I had needed another with me, or conversation, or scheduled activity, it would have been given me, but it was not. My daily bread, whatever that may be, is specially baked and provided for me every day, as it was today.

Be enlightened!  ~ M

Make You Visible

Yesterday, I wept through the first half of a memoir. Not my own, though considering the emotional story behind the situation, it might well have been. Never has a single work scratched at so many of my own scabs simultaneously.

A common activity like reading can become a catharsis when I allow my heart to remain open to the experience. When I read with soulful eyes rather than earthly ones, boundaries disappear. I, as reader, become one with the writer—as if we could ever have been separate. The same is so for oration. When I listen intently, I hear what’s intended, and I relate.

Another’s words can stir my memory, evoking scenes of the past I hadn’t realized I’d forgotten. Sometimes, smiles abound. At others, tears stream. When you share your story with me, I am no longer alone. In the knowing of you, I come to know me better.

Dare to make you visible. Share your story. Others are waiting to know you.

Be enlightened!  ~ M

Grace Is . . .

I asked God this evening, “What is grace?”

With pen poised, I received this answer and jotted it down.

Grace is . . .

mercifulness.

favor unasked for.

the presence of Spirit.

the Divine’s embrace.

what some might call luck.

a signal that I am in the will of God.

a reminder that I am ever attended to.

bestowed as a gift; it cannot be earned.

often manifested through others as instruments.

available to all; there are no victims of circumstance.

given in sufficient doses daily; it cannot be stockpiled.

the cosmic hand that holds mine as I walk through darkness.

not to mean that I am without struggle, but that I have strength to endure.

Be enlightened!  ~ M

Back to Basics

For the past several months, I was blessed with the privilege of working as a teaching assistant with international students. The teens’ home countries range from India to Brazil, Canada to Poland. As this school semester closes, I reflect on what I have learned and taught during my most recent position. Education truly is a mutually beneficial exchange, and I take with me as much as I offered.

I witnessed that students’ dreams and goals are not confined to cultural boundaries—nor are their ideas for humorous antics, but that is fodder for a different post. The visions of American adolescents differ little from those of children from other parts of the world. And at the heart of all of them, I noticed in the classroom, are these basic longings:

-- Someone to greet us with a warm smile when we enter a room.
Notice me.

-- Someone to applaud enthusiastically our accomplishments.
Be proud of me.

-- Someone to encourage us to reach our personal potential.
Believe in me.

-- Someone to give us a second chance when we do something wrong.
Forgive me.

-- Someone to teach us a better way when we make a mistake.
Help me.

-- Someone to miss us when we are gone.
Enjoy me.

What it all boils down to: Love me.

When these basics were tended to, the students’ responses to academics were noticeably positive. Let us recognize that these longings are not confined to adolescence. They are not different from what we, in adulthood, respond positively to. May we return to these basics in our interactions with others. May we love.

Be enlightened!  ~ M