Softness

Alvin Ailey in Alvin Ailey's Hermit Songs; photo by Jack Mitchell 
www.jack mitchell.com 

Today in our hospice team meeting, I read a passage from what many of you know is one of my favorites; The Book Of Awakening; Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have, by author and cancer survivor Mark Nepo. The passage was a part of his offering titled "Wisdom of the Torn Heart" (p. 337).  In it, Nepo urges us to invite a softness into our selves, reminding us of the image of a flag that is made soft and flowing by the wind that fills it.  He suggests that, though it is difficult to overcome the wounds of our past that may have rendered us stiff and shielded, it is indeed the softening those wounds - that allows us to heal,
to flow with the grace or presence of
being with ourselves as we truly are.

Nepo quotes noted poet Rilke: 
"I want to unfold. I don't want to stay folded anywhere,
because where I am folded, there I am a lie."

The author then goes on to quote Lao-tzu, the Chinese Sage, in his 2,500 year old wisdom:
"The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail..."

So, today, I invite any of you who feel courageous enough to do so, to take a moment and

BREATHE INTO YOUR OWN STIFFNESS

- whether this/these be in the physical, emotional, mental or spiritual aspects of your being - and to see if allowing a softening might afford you a new view, a healing moment, a way through to a richer sense of who you are in your most authentic, honest self.

You can simply use your own breath to bring kindness or curiosity to where you have felt hardened, or if you are so inclined, invite the presence of what is greater than yourself (God, Goddess, Great Mystery, Nature, Awareness. . .) to lift the flag of your being into that billowing softness that may brighten or release you to something larger or safer or more alive than perhaps you thought you were.

Every Blessing upon your SOFTENESS, Dear Humans.
With Love Always,
Maya


PS: Please enjoy these famous images of the magnificent Alvin Ailey and Judith Jameson
(of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which I was privileged to see and take classes with  back in 1980 when they performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY, and both icons were still working members of the company.  And yes, I swoon to recall these precious moments...)
The first photo at the top of this post is my all-time favorite of Ailey.  I had it on my wall for decades until last year it died in a flood at my home. . . this image, and these that follow below, to me, express the incredible grace and power in allowing, inviting, and expressing SOFTNESS. . .  

Judith Jameson; photo by Jack Mitchell 
www.jack mitchell.com 

Judith Jameson; photo by Jack Mitchell 
www.jack mitchell.com 

Alvin Ailey in Alvin Ailey's Hermit Songs; photo by Jack Mitchell 
www.jack mitchell.com 

Alvin Ailey and Judith Jameson; photo by Jack Mitchell 
www.jack mitchell.com