Caitlin Breedlove writes, “If we drain ourselves…, we don’t have what that takes [to create]. If we drain other[s]… of time and energy… we should not be surprised when they don’t have the power to create.
How do you refill your energy to create? How do you keep yourselves from being drained?
“Ancient Hebrew tradition says that before the Earth was created, the world was a wild ocean full of dangerous sea monsters. Our world may sometimes feel like a wild ocean. We may feel like we are fighting against impossibly strong sea monsters.
“But the waters are as mighty and powerful as the sea monsters, and that power runs in and through us, with each breath…in and out.
“As we breathe, may we feel the rhythm of our breath, like the powerful waves crashing on the shores, turning and tumbling the largest boulders into the tiniest grains of sand.” -Rev. Israel Buffardi
Breathe in, breathe out. Harness the mighty power of the ocean to face the day.
Where will you pause to touch the Earth? Where will you marvel at the hints that lie scattered around you in the grass? Where will you discard what you previously thought was true, and try on a new belief for size? Where will you stop for directions, for advice, for a conversation with another, for a relationship, for a moment of grace brought to you by the mind of a child?
What does it mean to you to persist through difficult times on your journey?
We each bring to our various relationships a tendency to see what we know, or maybe what we want. And that doesn’t serve anyone particularly well.
And so, Karen Armstrong counsels us to come to terms with how little we know if we have any shot at living a compassionate life.
There’s a lot I don’t know. And in order to truly develop compassion, I need to make peace with that, and to start finding out what others know that I don’t.
Make a list of a few of the things you don’t know. Be OK with it.
“Listening is not an act of the ear, listening is an act of the heart.” – Rev. Leslie Takahashi
To what is your heart listening today? To what does your heart need to listen today?
