While I am certainly no angel, I was reading poetry one afternoon as a sort of anti-anxiety treatment, and came across this by Hafiz (Daniel Ladinsky, translator):

Integrity

Few
have the strength
to be a real
Hero —

That rare
man or woman
who always keeps
their
word.

Even an angel needs rest.
Integrity creates a body so vast

A thousand winged ones will
plead,

“May I lay my cheek
against
you?”

Well, integrity. We don’t know exactly what is to come, as ever. But there will be time to exercise our integrity, our ethics, in all new and probably unpleasant conditions. Poetry is a place, still, to work things out, work things through. I’m going to share some favourites from Rumi, translated also by Daniel Ladinsky.

This one used to be a favourite, and something I tried very hard to embody. I’m not so sure I pull this off any more, but goals! amiright?

“It is a person’s duty to get oneself into a position
where one can be generous with their time
and silver.

Whenever you gather with friends or are in a crowd,
try to be the one least in need. For simply doing that
is giving.”

“A voice that calms, movements that calm,
eyes that quiet — dreams that also do the
same, and enliven too…

Be a precious donor of peace and hope.
Give love to all you meet,

for so many in this world are being torn
apart.”

“Things are such, that someone lifting a cup,
or watching the rain, petting a dog,

or singing, just singing — could be doing as
much for this universe as anyone.”

Next, have you read Ledger by Jane Hirshfield? If not, I highly recommend it. In fact, I did recommend it, on a recent CBC Edmonton radio program. You can click here to listen. (Alternatively you can watch me recommend another book of poetry on the CBC Ed news at 6. Just scroll to about the 28 minute mark here.

One poem in Ledger by JH begins, “All day wondering / if I’ve become useless.” And this speaks to me right now. Lord I do feel quite useless.

That said, let me share some of things that I’ve been reading, watching, listening to, as a means of keeping my sh*t together, and to prevent me from watching the news 24/7.

I couldn’t resist showing off my book blurb again for Everything Affects Everyone, which you can read on the back cover if you have a copy and so in the name of shameless self-promotion, I made a small IG post. I figure the fact that Pieces of Her starring Bella Heathcote being number 1 on Netflix in Canada was worth pointing out. You can watch the trailer here.

Listening: On Being podcasts. If you’ve never listened before, maybe start with the one with John O’Donohue. His and Krista’s voices are so reassuring though I admit to wanting to weep a little knowing he’s no longer with us. It’s an amazing conversation, and a great accompaniment to his books. I listened to it when it first came out and was surprised to find how it was even more reassuring and enlightening and energizing and hopeful than I had remembered. But this is the way with all of the On Being podcasts.

Reading. You might enjoy this last one. It’s an article titled, “I Can't Self-Care My Way Into Feeling Better Anymore.” I read it after an article on Ina Garten responding to Reese Witherspoon (love her but still lol): “To quote @reesewitherspoon - that sounds great but I’m probably not doing any of those things! LOL!!” Garten wrote in a comment on Witherspoon’s post. “My formula is easier to follow: 1. Drink more large cosmos 2. Stay up late watching addictive streaming series, 3. Stay in bed in the morning playing Sudoku instead of reading a good book. 4. Spend more time (safely) with people you love.”

And then from the article about self-care:

“I can’t journal away 800,000-plus COVID deaths. I can’t meditate away the endless uncertainty. I can’t exercise away the anti-vaxxers and misinformation putting all of us at risk. There comes a point where the methods we’ve been told to rely on feel more insulting than helpful.”

The author says that experts she consulted advised things like wallowing and punching or breaking something. And you know, this all sort of hits about right for me. But read the full article to see if the advice makes sense for you.

March 8, 2022