| Hello! Is there something that you do that, while you’re engaged in the activity, it’s as though you’re on automatic pilot…so natural is the fit between you and the activity? In fact it can be so natural that, like the draftsman in Chuang Tzu’s poem, there are no obstacles… the activity (what is done) and you (the doer) are one. It may be easy to take these kinds of activities for granted, because they are so deeply entrenched within us. Given this period when many of us have more time on our hands, we have the opportunity to more closely examine a plethora of aspects in our lives, including things such as the ability to draw circles perfectly while being completely free of concerns in those moments of drawing. Or perhaps for you it is playing the flute, drumming, baking blueberry pie, tending to your rose garden, singing Hank Williams songs, or wood working. Whatever it is, I invite you to try to do it with intentionality in the next couple of days. This is not to bring concern and pressure to that which defies such burdens. Instead it’s an invitation to bring the sacredness of this activity to the fore, an opportunity to experience gratitude for aptitude and mindfulness to this blessing which enriches the landscape of your life. And then, as the poet suggests, let your purposeful attention to it go, like a leaf floating downstream, allowing the ease and rightness of this part of you to simply be enough. Sending love, Lori |
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| When the Shoe Fits Ch’ui the draftsman Could draw more perfect circles freehand Than with a compass. His fingers brought forth Spontaneous forms from nowhere. His mind Was meanwhile free and without concern With what he was doing. No application was needed His mind was perfectly simple And knew no obstacle. So, when the shoe fits The foot is forgotten, When the belt fits The belly is forgotten, When the heart is right “For” and “against” are forgotten. No drives no compulsions, No needs, no attractions: Then your affairs Are under control. You are a free man. Easy is right..Begin right And you are easy. Continue easy and you are right. The right way to go easy Is to forget the right way And forget that the going is easy. ~ Chuang Tzu ~ |