“Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside, you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.” ~Naomi Shihab Nye
I knew that it was about that time. When I opened my eyes, it was pitch black outside and I couldn’t yet hear the chickens in the distance waking up. Once again, it was 4 a.m.
In the past few days, I have loved this gift of jet lag; transitioning to a thirteen-hour time change has afforded me this dark, mysterious quiet that has woken up inside of me the place from which I write—a place that spontaneously arises when the conditions are such that something flows through me.
My daughter, however, slept peacefully next to me. I lay there, paying attention to and feeling my body breathe, sensations arising and falling, and thinking about life—the past, present, and future.
I was lying there and I could feel the cool air of the fan ebbing and flowing over my warm, rested body.
On this particular morning I felt my stomach rumbling, and my heart tensing. I noticed when I put my hands on my body.
It was a moment of peace, calm and gratitude. Yet, it is there wherever you are. However far I…
