To travel beat by beat, breath by breath, and step by step: that is strength and contentment. That is how the path goes. Yet - leap after leap, lunge after lunge, sprint after sprint - that is how the mind goes.
But only, one moment at a time - not crowding this day with tomorrow’s concerns, but very lightly, gently, slowly, as if treading on holy ground, meeting today with all of its troubles.
The day is shy, perhaps even insecure, not quite knowing its own shape or form. Tottering this way and that, tugging at the ends of your pants and playing with some disorganised strands of your hair. It may come across as a mild annoyance or an unnecessary nuisance. But how could it be otherwise - still so young and immature.
Look upon it kindly and invite it in. With your patient attention it may eventually grow up into the old evening. Unlike the morning - rowdy and restless - the evening is still and wise, supple and ready to let go. To let go and let all things melt back into the forgiving embrace of the night, from the bosom of which another cheeky day will spring. But this time it will have a care-taker, ready to sit with it beat by beat, breath by breath and step by step. The heart feels this rhythm and lovingly raises many day-children which fill the world - your world, with memories of a life lived.
The mind is opposite, wanting to single-handedly raise a whole kindergarten of small children in the span of a day. One day-child is not enough for it. And so it pridefully drowns itself into a frenzied sea of restless activity, and in the end forgets the only child under its care - lonely little today.
May the heart look upon the mind as if it were just another child, which it is. A small, naughty, and excessively prideful one, but with the potential to grow up into a fellow care-taker, aiding the heart in child-rearing.
27th May, 2025