Make A Clearing
There is a profound stillness and quiet in late August.
I step outside, and I hear the dull buzz of the crickets. The rivers near my home are still; barely a trickle of water is left. Even the grass seems to be still, pausing its summer growth.
The silence of the late summer season runs deep. It gives rise to inner contemplation, reflection, meditation, and a sense of gratitude. It is the balance of the universe to expand and to contract. Life would be incomplete without this brief pause. It is a reminder that we can not express externally what we have not accumulated internally.
When you spend time in this space of pause and connection, uncovering these truths, you will have a better sense of who you are and what you have to offer the world. Each time you remember to come back to your body, to your breath, to your innate creativity, you fill this reservoir. Smile when you need to decide your next step. When you need a break, breathe and become one with yourself. Alternate between smiling and breathing, and your path will become free and clear.
We will need great reserves of internal fortitude in the days to come. We need to nourish ourselves to nurture others. The more each one of us feels centered, nourished, and whole, the more we can bring those qualities to the world.
I think this is beautifully expressed in a poem called "Clearing" by Martha Postlethwaite.
Clearing, by Martha Postlethwaite
Do not try to save
the whole world
or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create
a clearing
in the dense forest
of your life
and wait there
patiently,
until the song
that is your life
falls into your own cupped hands
and you recognize and greet it.
Only then will you know
how to give yourself to this world
so worthy of rescue.
