January sky,
spin around blue,
open up bright
over the children of war,
dispel disappointment,
cheer aching hearts.
A gatha is a mindfulness poem-prayer practice. The goal in writing a gatha is not to sound like what I think a poet sounds like, it simply brings to mindfulness this moment. The past is gone and the future is not here yet. There is only this present moment which is a gift to you - to me.
A gatha gently invites me back from the margins where anger, anxiety, projecting and rehearsing about the past and future can swallow me up. It can be about any moment easily wasted as I roam around in regrets or fantasies about things that likely won't happen anyway: washing the dishes, folding laundry, sitting with my dog, chopping vegetables, brushing my teeth, mowing the lawn, raking leaves (does anyone do that anymore?) ironing a shirt, planting seeds. As I do these things (and hundreds of other everyday activities) I become totally present to being there and not "a million miles away." Then see where your mind goes being locked on to a present un-repeatable moment.
A gatha gently invites me back from the margins where anger, anxiety, projecting and rehearsing about the past and future can swallow me up. It can be about any moment easily wasted as I roam around in regrets or fantasies about things that likely won't happen anyway: washing the dishes, folding laundry, sitting with my dog, chopping vegetables, brushing my teeth, mowing the lawn, raking leaves (does anyone do that anymore?) ironing a shirt, planting seeds. As I do these things (and hundreds of other everyday activities) I become totally present to being there and not "a million miles away." Then see where your mind goes being locked on to a present un-repeatable moment.
