Tag: change

I Said to My Soul, be Still

“I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.”
–T.S. Eliot, from “East Coker”

How do you still your soul when you are impatient for change?

Swinging High

When was the last time you were on a swing? Can you feel in your body the sensation of flying, of leaning back and pumping your legs until you hit the very highest arc of the swing? The rush forward and backward is a joy, but the best part is that brief suspended moment at the top of the arc, the flash of weightlessness before you inevitably come down again.

What allows you moments in which you pause, however briefly, outside the regular parameters of your life?

Buddies

There’s nothing like the support of friends, knowing that there are people who will stand by your side, to get you through. But what happens when you see things differently than your friends, when you are pulled towards an idea, a belief, an interest that is foreign to those who are closest to you? Sometimes friendships are broken by this tug in a new direction, but the deepest connections contain enough elasticity to allow differences not to be divisions.

Who are you bound to with an elastic bond that keeps you connected through all the changes of your life?

Muslim New Year

Today marks the first day of Muharram, the month of the New Year for Muslims. It is a time, not of partying and celebration, but of fasting. Every cycle brings something new and takes something away, and although various traditions mark the New Year at various times, in reality each day marks the beginning and the end of something.

What is new for you today? Does this new thing feel more like a gift or a loss?