Rather than having a panic attack over the very real possibility of putting the nuclear button in the hand of a political novice who never ran for office, practiced law or served in the military, let’s take a deep breadth and look at the other ways to put experienced professionals where they belong. In the unemployment line!
I’ve always been a little mulish about practical things. Identified with the grasshopper instead of the ants. Maybe using this wood stove is my better self’s method of reminding me to grow up. (Better late than never. . .) Jack Kornfield titled one of his Zen books, "After the Ecstasy, the Laundry." In my case it’s "After Insomnia, the Woodpile."
I don’t have any coaching clients today, nor writing deadlines, edits due, blog posts to think up. It’s just me, January, and rain. I could and possibly should write a poem about this. Or I could build a fire instead, eat some soup, and take a nap, thereby bowing at the altar of my inner California black bear (Ursus americanus californiensis).
As the old song goes, “make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver and the other is gold.” I’m reminded of this song often, as I navigate my new life (three months in) Down Under.
It makes sense to me to practice love, to acknowledge it out loud, in the same way that people work their muscles through exercise, or flex their brains by reading and thinking.