Mindful Alternatives

A Poem can say so much and the following one spoke to me. There is so much separation and harm done by declaring someone, or something (within or outside of self) an enemy. "The door to the mind should only open from the heart" is a message embedded in this poem that I invite my own heart to truly hear and act upon. This Morning I Pray for My Enemies Joy Harjo of Mvskoke/Creek Nation... And whom do I call my enemy? An enemy must be worthy of engagement. I turn in the direction of the sun and keep walking. It’s the heart that asks the question, not my furious mind. The heart is the smaller cousin of the sun. It sees and knows everything. It hears the gnashing even as it hears the blessing. The door to the mind should only open from the heart. An enemy who gets in, risks the danger of becoming a friend.

Messenger (Mary Oliver) My work is loving the world. Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird equal seekers of sweetness.... Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums. Here the clam deep in the speckled sand. Are my boots old? Is my coat torn? Am I no longer young, and still half-perfect? Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work, which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished. The phoebe, the delphinium. The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture. Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here, which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart and these body-clothes, a mouth with which to give shouts of joy to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam, telling them all, over and over, how it is that we live forever. See more

Perhaps mindful listening could be likened to listening for the sound between the notes of music. What’s there within the silence, in the pause? When I listen to the words of another, do I truly listen with a felt sense of what’s being shared? Can I listen with compassion to all that’s being said, even between the words? Is there more present than the note being played? More than the word being said? Mindful listening... Listen for the sound between the notes.