Mindfulness

Breathe

10/13/2017 by John Leave a Comment

I pause for a moment and take a breath, bringing into my body the air that sustained the lives of countless other beings before me. I exhale knowing that this same air will nourish the lives of others. Perhaps it will become the leaves of a tree, or be a newborn baby’s first breath. The things that connect us are everywhere, yet we pay more attention to the things that divide us, the separations we spend too much time identifying with and complaining about. We are all made of the same stuff: air, carbon, and water endlessly recycled since before time.

I take another breath and hope that someday we will live the truth that we are far more alike than we are different.

Based on a journal entry from 9.10.13

Radiate

08/25/2017 by John Leave a Comment

This energy burns on. It radiates off the surface of the moon and spills in my window. It emanates from the bulbs ringing the trim of the dining room. This force never dies. It merely changes. Where once we were, a light shall shine.

Based on a journal entry from 4.20.14

Who Are You?

08/04/2017 by John Leave a Comment

We try so hard to define “who” we are when this is not possible. We are always in flux, ever changing, moment to moment. The cells that make up our bodies are constantly being born and dying, meanwhile 50 to 90 percent of those cells are not even human at all. Likewise, research into neuroplasticity has shown that the way we think and even our physiology change based on our everyday actions and thought patterns. We want to be a static thing, because that would be easier to grasp, but the attempt is like trying to grab onto water: you can feel it, but you just can’t hold on to it.

Based on a journal entry from 6.15.12