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SUMMARY:Meditation & Mindfulness Dialogue  1/15/23
DESCRIPTION:  \nOpen Road Meditation & Mindfulness Dialogue \n  \nJanuary 15\, 2022 \n  \nRoshi \n  \nI never really understood \nwhat he said \nbut every now and then \nI find myself \nbarking with the dog \nor bending with the irises \nor helping out \nin other little ways \n  \n—Leonard Cohen \n* \n  \nThis song\, written by Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson\, feels like a meditation song to me: \nLove Itself \n  \nThe light came through the window\, \nStraight from the sun above\, \nAnd so inside my little room \nThere plunged the rays of Love. \n  \nIn streams of light I clearly saw \nThe dust you seldom see\, \nOut of which the Nameless makes \nA Name for one like me. \n  \nI’ll try to say a little more: \nLove went on and on \nUntil it reached an open door— \nThen Love Itself \nLove Itself was gone. \n  \nAll busy in the sunlight \nThe flecks did float and dance\, \nAnd I was tumbled up with them \nIn formless circumstance. \n  \nI’ll try to say a little more: \nLove went on and on \nUntil it reached an open door— \nThen Love Itself \nLove Itself was gone. \n  \nThen I came back from where I’d been. \nMy room\, it looked the same— \nBut there was nothing left between \nThe Nameless and the Name. \n  \nAll busy in the sunlight \nThe flecks did float and dance\, \nAnd I was tumbled up with them \nIn formless circumstance. \n  \nI’ll try to say a little more: \nLove went on and on \nUntil it reached an open door— \nThen Love Itself \nLove Itself was gone. \nLove Itself was gone. \n  \n—Leonard Cohen & Sharon Robinson \n* \nAlex Tretbar sent this poem by Jim Gauer: \n  \nWill This Thought Do? \n  \nSo I don’t think I’ll work today. Today it seems best \nTo let this bench hold my end up. Today \nOf what my part was\, brooding \nOver the sum of things\, there remains \nOnly the sum of things\, and that part \nSeems best. Yes this morning\, whatever is \nWill do nicely in my absence: this sunlight \nLooks fine\, it seems to be holding \nIts own without me; the crowded sidewalk \nIs fully employed\, it appears its task \nHas come to be child’s play; even the trees \nAre doing well\, they seem to be working \nAs well as trees can\, as trees \nThese truly work\, and the things they do \nAre all nicely done. What a relief \nTo be wide awake\, knowing my wakefulness \nDoesn’t need me\, sure that my bench exists. \nNever doubting its existence beneath me\, knowing \nFor sure that it is truly beneath me \nTo sit on a bench that I doubt exists. \nHow sweet to be fully alive\, for just this morning \nTo have nothing to live for\, to think well of my thought\, \nThe way a child thinks of his childhood\, the way that a tree \nMakes do with its boughs\, the way this moment lives \nOn what it’s seized in its hands\, because this morning \nWhat the moment has seized in its hands \nIs sweet and alive\, and this thought will do. \nWill this thought do? It seems it’s already done so. \nWill this thought do? Today there could be no doubt. \nWill this thought do? Today beyond the shadow \nOf a doubt my thought is done with \nAll the light I doubted\, and now \nIts shadow believes it too. \nAt last I know I’m the genius that no one needs to listen to. \nOntologist of a morning that turned out better than he thought. \nThe thinker there on a park bench\, resting his chin \nIn a hand I gave him\, a hand I traded \nFor a day of rest\, for a moment’s peace \nI could have had no hand in\, for an instant \nUnder just this sky that out of the clear blue \nHas come to me\, as silent as I am\, \nFull of birds I did not think up. \nNo I don’t think I’ll work today. Today it sounds best \nTo let the silence work its ends out. Today \nOf what my words were\, sounds \nForming the heart of things\, there remains \nOnly the heart of things\, and this heart \nRings true. \n  \n—Jim Gauer \n* \n  \nFrom an early age I was Mr. Know-It-All. I was a big expert on every topic\, especially the ones of which I was completely ignorant. The older I get\, the less I know. I don’t know who I am or what’s going on here. The world is bigger than my descriptions\, opinions and explanations of the world. I’ve met a few of the 8 billion people on the planet\, but the inner lives of even my closest friends are hidden from me. Every night my dreams teach me that my inner world is full of mysterious people and places and events that I can’t remember when I wake up. I don’t know why we humans create so many problems for ourselves and for each other. Why can’t we be kind to ourselves and nice to each other? I don’t have solutions for our problems. I don’t have answers for anyone’s questions. Sitting quietly with a cup of coffee in the morning\, everything I see is beautiful\, miraculous\, impossible\, including the “cup” of “coffee” and whoever it is who is typing this. \n  \n—Johnny Stallings \n\n\n\n  \nHere is Michel’s meditation on a contemplation from For Someone Else by Chana Friedmol Uhlman: \n  \nDecember 3\, 2022 \n  \nPraying As One \n  \nIn communal prayer we come together to stand before God. \nFacing our lives\, facing our existence \nin communal prayer\, I am not alone\, \nI don’t need to hold everything by myself. \nI have partners. A sacred community. \nWe are like a philharmonic orchestra:… \nEach person playing their own part… \nThere are many roles… \nWe are like a single body… \nNot everything rests on my shoulders. \nHere and now\, I am not alone. \nMy existence began before me \nand my friends are here surrounding me \nplaying together \nfocusing together \npraying together \nto the Master of the World. \n  \nCommunity is where everyone thrives\, even hermits. (I think they’re in denial.) When I allow myself to connect with others—and allow others to connect to me—we develop a unity\, a symbiosis\, an interconnected reality where the whole is more\,…everything\, than the sum of its parts. As cliché as this may be\, it’s no less true. Think about your communities; is there health and vibrant vitality\, growth and expansion? Or\, is there dis-ease\, sickness of mind and contention? Or\, like my living community: flu\, cold\, Covid\, RSV\, or other respiratory affliction in ⅓ or more; in addition to all of the above. I particularly like the idea of a healthy community\, as in today’s contemplation. I like this because I don’t need to carry the community on my own; we can all play together as one. Any differences\, and I hope they are myriad and plethoric\, are what make a symphonic event out of a chaotic cacophony—be it life\, love\, music\, prayer\, or meditation. Together we\, all of us\, are more. I am dissatisfied with situations pushing us to be less. Let us come together and be symphonic. \n  \n—Michel Deforge \n* \n  \n                               The Box \n  \nWhen I was a young poet\, I went into schoolrooms  \nto ask children\, “What if you had a treasure box  \nto fill now\, and open when you’re old? \nWhat would you put in it?” \n  \nOh\, they listed their first shoes\, a tree\, a best friend\,  \na crown\, a dog\, “all my stuff I love so much.” \n  \nI made books of their wishes. But now that I’m  \nold myself—what’s in my box? Waking in the night\, \nevery night\, I watch the parade of all I have lost\,  \nbut not lost\, stumble from the dream house \n  \nand become a blessing before the morning’s light. \n  \n—Kim Stafford \n* \n  \nThis Altar of Earth and Sky \n  \nBefore he died \nThe old farmer \nTold his lazy son: \n“I buried \na chest of gold \nIn the field. \nPlow deep \nAnd far \nAnd wide \nAnd you’re \nSure to find it.” \nThe son plowed \nFor a day \nA week \nA month \nA year \nAnd found \nNo gold \nBut the fields \nWell-plowed \nYielded \nA Bountiful \nHarvest \nAnd on his \nAmbits \nHe noticed \nFences \nThat wanted \nMending \nA coop\, a stall \nIn need of repair \nHerds and flocks \nTo water and feed. \nIn time \nA treasure \nAccrued \nFrom his \nDevotion \nTo land \nAnd labor. \n  \nWith my penchant \nFor idleness \nI call to mind \nThat lazy son \nAnd \nPutter \nEndlessly \nIn my \nFront yard \nAnd back \nAmbling from \nGarden \nTo garage \nWorkbench \nTo toolshed \nA path \nWell worn \nOver 18 years \nThrough rituals \nOf planting \nPruning \nConstruction \nAnd repair. \n  \nIn time \nAny practice \nCan become \nA spiritual practice \nAny object \nSacred: \nThis wheelbarrow \nHauling compost \nThat hammer \nSetting a nail. \nIn time \nThe druid \nDoffs his robes \nAnd \nDons overalls \nThe monk \nSets down \nHis holy book \nAnd lifts up \nThe common spade \nEven \nThe high priest \nRetires \nFrom the temple \nAnd returns \nTo this altar \nOf earth and sky. \n  \n—Will Hornyak   December 2022 \n* \n  \n#65 Don’t Underestimate Yourself  \n  \n“Don’t underestimate yourself. You have the ability to wake up. You have the ability to be compassionate. You just need a little bit of practice to be able to touch the best that is in you. Enlightenment\, mindfulness\, understanding\, and compassion are in you. Very simple practices—such as meditative walking\, mindful breathing\, or washing dishes mindfully—make it possible for you to leave hell and touch the positive seeds that are within you.” \n–from Your True Home by Thich Nhat Hanh \n  \n“Don’t underestimate yourself. You have the ability to wake up.” Believe me\, if this happened to me it can happen to you. I “woke up” back in March of 1994\, and it came as a bolt out of the blue. I wasn’t expecting it\, or hoping or praying for it. Indeed\, I was not the praying sort at all—more agnostic\, or…simply indifferent to any kind of religion. My father proudly pronounced that he was agnostic on even days and atheist on odd days.  I was like that\, only even less vocal about it.  \n  \nWhat happened? One afternoon I was talking on the phone to an aspiring artist\, helping her with contacts in architecture firms\, encouraging her to call and show her work. I’d been helping her and a dozen other ‘emerging artists\,’ as we called them\, for 6 months or so. Believe me\, it had not been in my nature to be so helpful—I’d sort of been roped into it. I’d been on tv in a segment on artists’ careers\, and the anchorman had done a great job—I was expecting lots of commissions for more work! Instead\, I was deluged with requests for help. Shoot! Not what I had in mind\, but I offered a workshop\, and another\, with a couple dozen artists. I gave handouts\, articles I’d used\, helpful tips on how to present your work\, etc. No sense in making others go through all the junk I had gone through. And I followed up with all of them every few weeks\, just to see how they were doing\, if maybe they were discouraged and thinking of giving up.  \n  \nAnd then this afternoon of March 20\, 1994\, when talking to this one woman\, she asked\, “I don’t get it. Why are you doing this? You have a successful career\, you’re very busy with your own work. What’s in it for you? What do you want from us???” And I said\, “All I ask from you is that you do the same for somebody else some day. Isn’t that what it’s all about?” I don’t think that it was I who said those words. They just came out. And then I started crying\, and crying. Something—everything—just opened up. I simply…understood…everything. The world\, the universe\, God—no\, beyond God\, not limited to God. I understood\, and everything was complete\, whole\, filled with joy\, with light\, overwhelmed with love. These words can’t even express it adequately. I’m crying into the phone. This poor woman asks\, “Are you alright?” I said\, “Oh\, you have no idea how alright I am!! Thank you!” \n  \nAnd that was it. My life changed from that instant. I knew I had to help others\, to keep this alive\, to continue to be imbued with joy. And I had to scramble to understand others\, those not like me\, since I’d had this moment of total understanding. I had to read\, read\, read to find out what this was all about. And I had to be quiet\, and listen\, to feel that beauty\, that light\, that joy. \n  \nThe word that comes to mind is propelled. I was propelled to live my life differently than ever before. It is difficult\, it can be frightening (but I am not afraid). It can be hard work (but I can’t live otherwise). If I’d had this moment of pure understanding\, then I had to follow up with concrete understanding\, of making connections with all those who I didn’t know\, with all those who were not like me.  \n  \nI must understand others. I have dragged my husband to five different states to work with Habitat for Humanity: Meridian\, Mississippi; John’s Island\, South Carolina; Bartlesville\, Oklahoma; Charleston\, West Virginia\, etc.… I have mentored at-risk teenagers (still\, and now in their forties); worked in homeless shelters; supported a Native American woman and her family for 18 years; tutored dyslexic teenagers and adults; tutored Hispanic adults; given art workshops to homeless teens…and\, of course\, the most wonderful and joyful (and stressful) of all\, being a friend and supporter to inmates at Two Rivers Correctional Institution for the last six years.  \n  \nWorking my way to understanding (and loving!) others. After all of this litany\, my point is that this just happened to me; I didn’t work to make it happen. And if I experienced this\, so can we all. We can awaken. It is a life of joy. It is also sadness and grief and work\, but that is all part of the beauty and the joy. \n  \n—Jude Russell \n* \n  \n\n It’s still the beginning of a new year and there is a practice from the Buddhas’s time called “Beginning Anew.” It is a practice for keeping the community healthy with kindness and openness. \n\n  \nThay writes\, “Beginning Anew is not to ask for forgiveness. Beginning Anew is to change your mind and heart\, to transform the ignorance that brought about wrong actions of body\, speech\, and mind\, and to help you cultivate your mind of love. Your shame and guilt will disappear\, and you will begin to experience the joy of being alive. All wrongdoings arise in the mind. It is through the mind that wrongdoings can disappear.” \n  \nAt Plum Village\, they practice the ceremony of Beginning Anew every week. Everyone sits in a circle with a vase of fresh flowers in the center. The ceremony has three parts: flower watering\, expressing regrets\, and expressing hurts and difficulties. This practice can prevent feelings of hurt from building up over the weeks and helps make the situation safe for everyone in the community. \n  \nThey begin with flower watering. They take the vase of flowers in their hands to reflect the freshness and beauty of the flower. During flower watering\, each person acknowledges the wholesome\, wonderful qualities of the others. It is not flattery; it is to speak the truth. Everyone has some strong points that can be seen with awareness.  \n  \nAt my Thursday night sangha\, one woman told us that she does this practice with and for herself at home. Although it is meant for a group or a family\, she sees how valuable it is for herself living alone. One way she found to do it is to write herself a love letter. Inspired by how Thich Nhat Hanh would write love letters to world leaders that he disagreed with.    \n  \nSo this is an INVITATION!:  \n  \n WRITE a love letter to yourself. You might acknowledge whatever you feel good about that you did this past year to nurture yourself or another\, or how you may have helped someone\, or how you learned something. How was your practice and your communication with others? How did you keep your heart open and yourself well? You may have regrets that you have dwelled on; acknowledge them but let them go with compassion for yourself. Maybe end with compassion for another that has done you a wrong. This is a practice like others – be a good listener to yourself\, speak/write from the heart\, and bear witness for deep understanding.   \n  \nThe second INVITATION!!  \n  \nWRITE a love letter to Thay.  Dear Thay! Thank him for what he has taught you this past year. Was there a special meditation you read and responded to from Your True Home?Is there a difference in the way you breathe or walk? Do you take more time to listen and notice what you are noticing?   \n  \nDebbie Buchanan passed on an Ode written by Joe Lamb—a veteran\, a writer\, a meditator\, an arborist—published in Nostos\, a magazine of Poerty and Art.  It is titled :   “A Letter to Thich Nhat Hanh.”  Here’s a little  excerpt: \n  \nDear Thich Nhat Hanh\,  \n  \nThank you for teaching me walking meditation. Walking exceptionally slowly through forests\, feeling the earth with each step\, slowing down to notice the shapes of leaves\, the smell of bark\, the sound of my own breath.  \n  \nThank you for the reminder that microaggressions build up in the unconscious where they can radiate out into the world. More importantly\, I want to thank you\, for the many reminders that micro kindnesses also build up and radiate out into the world\, that micro acts of compassion can heal and nourish people we may never even meet…. \n  \nIt’s misleading to say you taught me. We were never introduced. (He knows him from “a couple of lectures” and from a writing workshop with a two of  Thay’s other students\, Maxine and Therese.) \n  \nWas it you who taught our sangha to walk slowly\,  counting our breaths\, feeling our presence on the earth? Or was it Maxine and Therese? Where does the self stop and the other begin? Where does the teacher stop and the student begin? You complicated this confusion when you said that you are not only the man we see wearing a monk’s robe\, you are also a cloud\, a river\, a forest. \n  \nYou said this was not religion or philosophy\, but rather just an observation about biology\, about the earth itself.  Thank you for that marvelous confusion…. \n  \nYes\, of course\, we are water…. \n  \nYes of course I am forest…. \n  \nSo thank you for that great gift of reminding my anxious brain – always fussing with imaginary futures\, always trying to heal the wounded past – that right here\, right now\, I am in the world\, an astoundingly beautiful world\, and the world is in me. \n  \n—from Joe Lamb’s “Letter to Thich Nhat Hanh” \n  \nThe letter reminds me how lucky we have been to have a great wisdom teacher alive while we are here too. And how Thay and the monks and nuns would say to us\, “We are here because you are here.”   \n  \nThank you all for your reading\, responding\, and your practice. Feel free to share your letters.    \n  \nHappy New Year!   \n  \n–Katie Radditz
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/meditation-mindfulness-dialogue-1-15-23/
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SUMMARY:peace\, love\, happiness & understanding  2/2/23
DESCRIPTION:poster by Rick Bartow \n  \nTHE OPEN ROAD \npeace\, love\, happiness & understanding \n  \nFebruary 2\, 2023 \n  \nI invited some friends to… \n…send me a short work in prose or poetry about an experience\, a person\, a conversation\, a book\, or an inspiration that changed the way you see\, experience or understand yourself and/or the world. Here’s what people sent: \n  \n  \nIn Memory of \nMy Literary Godmother \n  \nHer name was \n Miriam Soomil \n Of Russian-Jewish descent \nAnd the editor of \nThe Belmont Courier-Bulletin \nA small-town \nWeekly newspaper \nWhere I interned \nOne summer. \n  \nShe smoked \nPall Malls \nDrank black coffee \nDevoured the \nSan Francisco Chronicle \nLoved politics \nHad opinions \nQuoted Keats \nKnew history \nAdored anything \nWell-written. \n  \nI’d never \nMet anyone \nLike her. \nShe was  \nGritty\, smart \nFunny\, flawed \nBig-hearted \nAnd tough \nLike a \nThick slice \nOf dark rye    \nIn my \nWhite bread \nOzzie and Harriet \nWorld. \n  \nWe shared \nAn office \nPounded out \nNews stories \nOn massive \nUnderwood typewriters \nEdited copy \n With pencils \nCut and pasted \nWith scissors \nAnd glue pots \nBeat deadlines \nLogged \nLate nights \nAt the printer.   \n  \nShe didn’t \nSo much \nTeach me \nAs infect me \nWith language \nThe names \nOf poets \nWriters\, books \nIdeas \nAnd \nA care \nUncompromising \nFor words. \n  \nWe became friends \nAnd remained so \nFor years after. \nI visited her \nIn the cabin \nWhere she lived \nIn a grove \nOf Oak trees \nBehind Stanford University \n(Erased by bulldozers \nDecades ago.) \nHer walls \nLined with books \nHer home patrolled \nBy an enormous \nSiamese cat \nHer garden \nThick with basil \nTomatoes\, rosemary. \nWhen I became \nA working reporter \nI sent her clippings. \n  \nSometimes \nI drink \nRed jug wine \nLike I used to \nWith Miriam \nAnd raise \nA toast \nTo her \nA Mensch \nOf this world \nGenerous \nBeyond measure \nIndelibly imprinted \nUpon \nMy own \nSoul’s page. \n  \nIn whatever \nLanguage you \nNow speak \nDear friend \nMay you know \nThe eloquence \nAnd intelligence \nYou bestowed \nUpon us all. \n  \n—Will Hornyak   January 2023 \n* \n  \n                   Coincidence \n  \nFor years I tried right place\, wrong time\, \nthen right time\, but I was somewhere else \nplodding a dark street wondering where \nmy luck had gone. What are the odds \nfor happiness? Could I help chance\, \nassist coincidence\, gamble with verve? \n  \nThe first bird of dawn began to sing \nand I woke to see life on Earth as one \nbig coincidence\, this swirl of stone\, water\, \ncell\, sun\, and in good time all the rest— \nand suddenly\, there you were \ntelling me your name. \n  \n—Kim Stafford \n* \n  \nA long time ago when I was visiting Johnny in Portland\, he got a phone call from our friend Sam. \nHe was dying of cancer—finally—after ten years or more of fighting it\, and he invited us down to Houston to attend his passing. \nIn those days it was easy to travel by air. We just went to the airport\, bought tickets\, and flew down to Houston. \nIn his last years\, after an adventurous checkered business career\, Sam had reinvented himself as an academic. \nAfter a few years\, he left Berkeley and got a job in a Texas border town\, teaching social science in a small community college. The students were all Latin American—second generation children of Mexican immigrants—newly citizened Americans hoping to realize the American Dream. \nSam was a man of the world. He gave his students\, not the usual politically correct canned curriculum\, but his best practical wisdom—like an uncle—speaking what usually remains unsaid about what it takes to get by\, to get ahead\, to simply survive\, in racist America. \nHis students adored him. \nSam met Johnny and me in the waiting room of the cancer ward\, and made us feel at home. \nIt was a Friday evening. The head hospice nurse was a friend of Sam’s.  \nShe said she was taking the weekend off to deal with family. \n“This is goodbye\, Sam. We won’t be seeing each other again.” \nSo they parted. \nSam said goodbye to Johnny and me. \nThe nurses took him away. \nVisitors were not allowed\, usually. \nBut they allowed one of his students\, a young woman with whom he was deeply bonded\, to be with him. \nShe cradled his head and gazed into his eyes as he died. \nJohnny and I were reading in the waiting room. The attendants pushed the remains of Sam on a gurney past us through the waiting room and out into the corridor\, heading for parts unknown. \nWe could see that Sam wasn’t there anymore. \n  \n—Charles Erickson \n* \n  \nLooking back on my life\, the text that changed\, and continues to change\, the way I see\, experience and understand myself in the world and as the world is Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself.” Among many other things\, he says: “All truths wait in all things.” And: “a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels.” And: \n  \nWhy should I wish to see God better than this day? \nI see something of God each hour of the twenty-four\, and each moment then\, \nIn the faces of men and women I see God\, and in my own face in the glass… \n  \n—Johnny Stallings \n* \n  \nI have had many dark spots in my life & have always pulled through. There are 3 people in my life that have been my guiding lights for many years. Due to my incarceration I can not do the things for them like I want to or that they deserve. Things like paint the house or fix their car or be there when they need me. To cook them dinner to just show them how much I love them\, with a hug and a smile. Or to bring them my appreciation\, my love\, my joy. The joy they showed me that lives in me. \n  \nOne of them was with me full when I was in a very dark place in life. Yes\, darker than prison. A prison within a prison. I was forced to face my demons\, there would be no running this time and I had never felt so close to death. I was able to completely divulge my life and all its damage. Not judged\, not disciplined\, just accepted and loved and made to feel like all should feel. HUMAN. We are all so beautiful and amazing and shattered and broken just right. \n  \nWe are the beautifully broken. In my life I have people that mean more to me than life itself. And lately being away from them is suffering in itself. They are my family\, family I choose to be family. I wish to be able to show you all how much I love you by Being there in life with you. Like a son should be. \n  \nJohnny\, Nancy\, Howard! You always and forever will be not in my heart but a big piece of my heart\, mind and soul. Love Rocky. \n  \n—Rocky Hutchinson \n* \n  \nFive Tanka Written Upon Spending the Night in a New Apartment \n  \n1. \nI mop the floor with \napple cider vinegar\, \nnote the orange leaves \nthat are somehow still hanging \nin January. \n  \n2. \nCan you hear me up \nhere? Sorry I’m so noisy! \nMy boots\, my loud soul… \nI’m setting up my new bed. \nI’ve slept on too many floors. \n  \n3. \nO lovely cooking \naromas wafting through wood! \nMy unpacked dishes… \nA sharp red curry down there \ncalls to my empty white bowl. \n  \n4. \nAround ten p.m. \nI begin to unravel \nmy crisp new mattress. \nAlone\, I read directions: \nThis requires two people. \n  \n5. \nIt is a good thing \nthat I moved in yesterday. \nVery cold today\, \nand brother turned his ankle. \nOn my own again. \n  \n—Alex Tretbar \n* \n  \nLeftover Rainwater \n  \nOver the years I have been having a series of surgeries to correct a not ideal situation I was born with in my mouth. I found a good surgeon\, a practicing Sikh\, who periodically fixes something and the other day I was getting some stitches out and his assistant said\, “Oh yeah\, the doctor is a leftie”. And I had this little shock. \n  \nAll these years and I never noticed he was working on me primarily with his left hand. \n  \nNot that it matters. \n  \nExcept that I never noticed. I was a rebellious kid and my father used to regularly admonish me to pay attention. \n  \nOff in my own world I would think\, fine\, sure\, I’ll get right on that. Not. My own world was much more interesting\, intoxicating even\, the collage I was making taking up the whole bedroom wall\, the easy chairs with a tail and wings I was drawing everywhere\, all the stories I was reading. I was busy. \n  \nLater as a teenager out in the world with only loose tethers to authority\, I had to learn to pay attention. At least in a certain\, hyper-vigilant\, oh man this place is dangerous way. Is that car following me\, are those gunshots\, might there be drugs in that drink you just offered to share with me. \n  \nAnd then in my work life. Numbers. Nice safe numbers that need to be in certain places at certain times.  Very important to pay attention then. \n  \nThen one day a girlfriend of a work colleague asked me to go to a yoga class with her. It was at a gym. The teacher was an older man\, I had heard somewhere\, I think he told us\, he had been teaching Kung Fu and then there was an accident and he had to figure out how to make his body functional again. \n  \nWhy him? Why then?  He was weird. I often have an affinity for weird people\, at least his kind. One class we would focus on our feet\, one on our necks\, and the girlfriend never came back but I did. He taught us this one posture that made us look like turtles that I still practice today. He only taught for 4 months or so\, but somewhere in there I learned how to truly pay attention. \n  \nThen one day he was gone\, retired they said. \n  \nAnother teacher took his place\, and she became my teacher. I followed her around from gym to studio to rented spaces to finally her own studio. By then I was paying a lot of attention to a wide range of things. And learned to teach the practices to others.   \n  \nAlways though with a memory of the slightly amused look my original teacher would get on his face…this how did I find myself here with the weights clanging and the grunting in the background with all these relatively normal people? \n  \nThe other day\, working with my own students and encouraging them to notice this or be aware of that or to bring their attention somewhere or to let it go\, I could hear my father’s voice. \n  \nThe irony of me now gently admonishing others to be in the moment\, feel what they are feeling and notice things… \n  \nAnd the work I still have left to do. Every day there are so many new things to notice. \n  \nPerhaps a wild chickadee is taking a bath in leftover rainwater out back. \n  \n—Elizabeth Domike \n* \n  \nDear Reader \n  \nFor the March issue of peace\, love\, happiness & understanding (3/2/23) you are invited to send me a short writing in prose or poetry about something or someone you love. \n  \n—Johnny
URL:https://openroadpdx.com/event/peace-love-happiness-understanding-2-2-23/
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