ON THE TOOLS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

... to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you've held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you, its tropical heat
thickening the air, heavy as water
more fit for gills than lungs;
when grief weights you like your own flesh
only more of it, an obesity of grief,
you think, "How can a body withstand this?"
Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, "Yes, I will take you
I will love you, again."

– Ellen Bass

Poem copyright ©2002 Ellen Bass, "The Thing Is", from Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems, (Grayson Books, 2017).

Both gratitude and non-attachment become easier when we are able to appreciate that…

𑁍 The one who disputes you is as much a tool of Consciousness as the one who agrees with you.

𑁍 Light is as much a tool of Consciousness as shadow.

𑁍 The one who betrays you is as much a tool of Consciousness as the one who is loyal to you.

𑁍 Loneliness is as much a tool of Consciousness as fellowship.

𑁍 The one who curses you is as much a tool of Consciousness as the one who blesses you.

𑁍 Pain is as much a tool of Consciousness as pleasure.

𑁍 The one who maligns you is as much a tool of Consciousness as the one who praises you.

𑁍 Failure is as much a tool of Consciousness as success.

𑁍 The one who hinders you is as much a tool of Consciousness as the one who assists you.

𑁍 Constraint is as much a tool of Consciousness as freedom.

♥︎ Patsy

photo by Jason Leung/Unsplash