You Are Here
Orienting Ourselves toward Kindness and Kin
I recently went cross country skiing in a place I hadn’t skied before and, studying the map at the trailhead, discovered the entire trail we intended to take was made invisible, either by fingers tracing it or by the sun fading its ink away or maybe both. So we set out to discover it as we went, one step, one glide at a time.
We are now living in a time when the routes we might wish to take are either worn away or faded. It might feel like no one has ever charted the way through times this chaotic, cruel and dangerous before, but the quickest review of geography and history tells us otherwise. What can guide us now — and what has guided our ancestors before — when maps no longer serve, is compassion. Opening our hearts to the suffering we are experiencing and to the suffering of others as a compass of kindness that orients us to the place where we are and the kin with whom we share it.
This morning I drafted these words, still rough around the edges, exploring the place where I am today.
You Are Here
The star
marking the place
where you are,
rubbed away
on the map
before you.
So many hands
across so many days
have traced it
to name
what the feet
already know.
Here,
from the place
where you stand,
winding paths reach out
like veins across the land
circulating possibilities.
You touch
your finger
to the place
where you are,
read its worn texture
like braille.
You turn away.
Survey
your surroundings.
Feel the sun on your face
and the wind
carrying scents of spring
not yet underfoot.
You are here,
now. Your heart
takes the first steps.
If you would like to join an online exploration of engaging kindness as a compass in chaotic times, please consider the three-part conversation starting tomorrow titled: “Compassionate Wayfinding: orienting ourselves toward kindness in times of chaos.”
We’ll begin tomorrow night, February 26, by considering where we are now — each of us naming or describing our location on the metaphorical map of our times, and sharing our practices and challenges in using kindness as our compass. Next month, on March 26, we’ll ask who we are and who we are becoming. And on April 30, we’ll consider what might be our next step into the unknown.
These one-hour conversations are lightly facilitated, beginning with an embodied practice and a focus question and then opening time for listening to and learning from one another. They are invitations to share the truths of our own heart and to hear the truths shared by others. Compassion is our practice and our guide.
Participation is a benefit for paid subscribers to Threshold Times, who will find a registration link at the bottom of this email. If you wish to join the conversation, but a paid subscription is not for you at this time, reply to this email asking to participate.