Getting Through This First

Then Getting To The Rest

As I’m writing this, we know nothing. Nothing is yet decided.

Perhaps by the time you’re reading this, things will be clearer. Perhaps not.

But I have the morning off. I plan on having breakfast and coffee with my family. I’m going to finish off some paperwork, pay some bills and then maybe get around to answering some emails I’ve been neglecting.

I have some loose ends I need to tie up on the upcoming fire tower book.

Yes, I’m going to unload the dishwasher. In fact, from where I’m sitting, I can hear it cycling through a load. It won’t be done in time for me to unload it tonight. So, as you’re reading this I might be putting away dishes.

Many of you in this community know me personally, or know my family. You know me well enough that you know how I’m feeling right about now.

Which is why, maybe, unloading those dishes is the best thing right now Maybe it’s the best thing for a lot of us. There can be comfort in the mundane, a re-centering.

I’m going to leave you all today with a quote from one of my favorite writers, the monk Thich Nhat Hanh, who wrote extensively about everyday life and living. He wrote:

If while washing dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not ‘washing the dishes to wash the dishes.’ What’s more, we are not alive during the time we are washing the dishes. In fact we are completely incapable of realizing the miracle of life while standing at the sink. If we can’t wash the dishes, the chances are we won’t be able to drink our tea either. While drinking the cup of tea, we will only be thinking of other things, barely aware of the cup in our hands. Thus we are sucked away into the future—and we are incapable of actually living one minute of life.

So listen, whatever happened, however you’re feeling this morning, you (we) can face it. We can deal with it. I’m not saying it will be easy, or not painful. But you can do it. You can do it in small steps, aware of where and who you are right in this moment, then another step, then another.

You can’t get THERE, without getting through HERE first. Let’s get through here together, okay? Comments are open. Kindness is key and I won’t tolerate divisiveness. But share if you like. You know my text or email. Use it. First, this morning. Then the rest. Got it? Let’s go.