Pema Chodron: from her book "When Things Fall Apart."

"Hope and fear come from feeling that we lack something; they come from a sense of poverty. We can't simply relax with ourselves. We hold on to hope, and hope robs us of the present moment. We feel that someone else knows what's going on, but that there's something missing in us, and therefore something is lacking in our world.

"Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not be squeamish about taking a good look. That's the compassionate thing to do. That's the brave thing to do. We could smell that piece of shit. We could feel it; what is it's texture, color, and shape?

"We can explore the nature of that piece of shit. We can know the nature of dislike, shame, and embarrassment and not believe there's something wrong with that. We can drop the fundamental hope that there is a better "me" who one day will emerge. We can't just jump over ourselves as if we were not there. It's better to take a straight look at all our hopes and fears. Then some kind of confidence in our basic sanity arises."

Pema Chodron: from her book "When Things Fall Apart."

Skyward

Yesterday was a stressful day; it didn't go quite as well as I had hoped.

And today I walk out into the pouring rain,

in my best shoes, in my favourite jeans… and I stand there

my arms out wide to the raining sky

my eyes closed, face lifted

and as the rain comes down and beats pure life against my face

I realize

again

that yesterday doesn't matter, today not even important

but right now, the thing that lives in my veins

that pours out from me

when i love and when i receive,

when i give and when i breath.

My heart is the confounds of all that is important

and I have good fortune outside of my actions

outside of my results, outside of that which I produce.

I am here, somehow, somehow.

And massive bulbs of rain splash down on my face;

I can feel them hard now deep within my body.

My happiness isn't reliant on these thing upon which I focus,

but upon my returning to this,

my soul, that which resides deep within me,

the thing that nobody sees.

the thing that nobody receives.

until I remember that it's there 

and share it with whomever…

cares, 

loves, 

appreciates enough to stop with me,

and place all of their life into their hands 

and face them to the sky.

My Breath In A Single Night/Against The Cage

I hold my breath and tighten around the stress that enters into me. I resist and bicker inwardly; I complain. And then I remember that before now I wasn’t feeling much of anything, and that it is my human duty to feel; it’s a blessing.

The realization doesn’t take the heaviness in my head, but I’m comforted in knowing that I am receiving.

I try to open myself and my breath and to raise my eyes from this haze of constriction, which is the true disease. I’m not afflicted with these feelings, I’m restricted by my desire to resist them.

Open your heart to whatever it is you feel: good, hard, heavy, negative, light. It is a gift; you are feeling.

Michael Luckett