26 May 2017

Have enough courage to trust love one more time.  And always, one more time. ~ Maya Angelou

To begin again is a powerful choice.  It is a discipline that applies to every other discipline, intention, desire.  It is an action that defines and declares what matters to us.

And so, love is a matter of beginning again.   We show up and take notice.  We return with caring.  We build fresh upon the familiar.  We sink into vulnerability again.

In the morning when I kneel down on my yoga mat, the knee that has absorbed the brunt of my escapades and missteps reminds me with its stiffness that it needs me to start at the beginning yet another day.  The discomfort asks for extra tending and attention.  It requests that I once again listen to its hurts with tenderness and patience.

The easy place to go is impatience, is wanting that knee to be different.  I’ve done that.  So I know that fighting the reality of this moment is a no-winner battle.  Acknowledging what is and beginning again —  these actions lead me toward kindness.

Passion is a spontaneous combustion, a vigorous, intoxicating force.  Love is of a different nature, created and sustained by persistent choice.  It is a devotion, a cultivation of caring, a nourishing of intention.  We fail.  Then, we begin again… and again.

We return to the mat.  To the blank page of the day ahead.  To the person sitting beside us.  We return to the persistent application of focus and care, and we create love.