Quote – Rumi

"Before death takes away what you are given, give away what there is to give." – Rumi 

In between

 I am enjoying a moment where almost everything important is in motion and needing very little from me. The right things have been started at work, at home, at church. Relationships are stable (I think). Life generally has balance. (I could use a little more exercise, but ... all things never being equal, it's okay.)

And so, I am breathing. Shaking my shoulders down. Letting breath get to my belly. Using my "floodlight" mindfulness (*) to absorb my surroundings just as they are, accept my internal landscape just as it is. And feeling grateful. Thankful. Full. 

And for everyone I am failing by not knowing how I'm falling short of your expectations, I say sorry and ask for your grace. Speak up! My cup is full; I can give more. 

* So I remember later: Peak Mind by Dr. Amishi Jha

The Three Systems of Attention

• The Flashlight (Focused Attention / Orienting System):
  • Narrows your mental energy to highlight a specific object, thought, or location (like a beam in a dark room).
  • Used when reading, looking for your keys, or tracking a single sensation like your breath.
• The Floodlight (Open Monitoring / Alerting System):
  • Provides a broad, open, and receptive state of awareness to the present moment without focusing on anything in particular.
  • Used when scanning your environment for hazards while driving or noticing background sounds.
• The Juggler (Executive Control / Goal-Directed System):
  • Directs and manages your behavior, keeping your long-term goals in mind while coordinating actions and resisting distractions.
  • Used to stay on task or adjust your behavior when plans change.

Chestnut (poem) by Rebecca Baggett

I touched a chestnut sapling
in the Georgia mountains.
My friend writes of the great trees and their vanishing,
but I have seen a young chestnut,
tender and green,
rising from its ashes.
I, too, write of loss and grief,
the hollow they carve in the chest,
but that hollow may shelter some new thing,
a life I could not have imagined or wished,
a life I would never have chosen.
I have seen the chestnut rising,
luminous,
from its own bones,
from the ashes of its first life.

Joint Custody (poem) by Ada Limón

Why did I never see it for what it was: abundance.
Two families, two different kitchen tables,
two sets of rules, two creeks, two highways,
two stepparents with their fish tanks or eight tracks
or cigarette smoke or expertise in recipes or reading skills.
I cannot reverse it, the record scratched and stopping
to that original chaotic track.
But let me say, I was taken back and forth
on Sundays and it was not easy
but I was loved in each place.
And so I have two brains now.
Two entirely different brains.
The one that always misses where I'm not,
the one that is so relieved to finally be home.