April 17, 2022

01

Mature individuals 
are the salvation of the world.

We should make maturity--
not money--
the primary goal of life.

My paternal grandparents
(Sophie and Silas)
were the most mature people I knew
growing up,
and the list hasn't gotten much longer
over the full course of my life.

Everyone seems to be awash
in desire, ambition, fear and anxiety,
wanting this and not wanting that,
drama here, drama there,
drama, drama, everywhere...

Where are the rocks,
the anchors,
the foundations
and still points?

Who can bear well the pain of life?

Who can live without anger
and knee-jerk reactivity?

Where are the deep flowing rivers?
The safe harbors?
The oases,
sanctuaries,
refuges,
asylums,
havens?

We are lucky to have just one in our life.
What does it take to be one?
How do we become one?

It is a perspective shift
leading to a different way of seeing,
of evaluating,
of responding,
of being at one with ourselves
in accord with our original nature,
unmoved and unmovable
through flood,
earthquake,
wind and fire.

And well within our reach
if we are interested 
in making the effort.

We can practice being grown-up every day.

–0–

02

In what ways do you need
help with your life?

Reducing the noise,
complexity,
drama?

Finding the right kind of 
emptiness,
stillness,
silence?

Trusting yourself 
to your original nature
and the virtues that
distinguish you
and live within you
as the stone the builder rejects?

Knowing where to draw the lines?

Following the drift of your life?

Doing what the moment calls for?

Asking the questions that beg to be asked
and saying the things that cry out to be said?

Knowing what you know?

Doing what is yours to do?

How do the people closest to you
help you with these tasks?

How do they interfere with them
and make it difficult for you
to even remember what they are?

–0–