Sunday, August 8, 2010

graceful exits




hello friends. 

last week i mentioned that i'm not so good at asking and set about to make a month of practice, of prayer.  my instinct told me, "be careful what you ask for" and "others need more than you" (i.e. "you don't deserve what you want").   but i believed i could overcome years of conditioning and learn to trust that i was in a place of safety, a place where risk and dreams and prayer cohabitated nicely.

clearly, i am a beginner, a prayer novice.  eight days has yielded more than enough material for me to sort through.  so i'm taking a break from the august break.  i love visiting your blogs and seeing your augusts unfold and will continue to do so.  thank you for coming here and leaving nice comments that always make me smile.  my break will be temporary.

my camera is a happy extrovert, a celebrator of life and beauty and love.  she is not at all interested in the grunt work it requires to help those things manifest.  there is a need right now for me to cocoon and protect and (let's be honest) wallow in the grunt work, so my camera has to take a break from me.

impermanence becomes vivid in the present moment; so do compassion and wonder and courage. and so does fear. in fact, anyone who stands on the edge of the unknown, fully in the present without reference point, experiences groundlessness. that’s when our understanding goes deeper, when we find that the present moment is a pretty vulnerable place and that this can be completely unnerving and completely tender at the same time.

-pema chodron