Anu Rudra

Sharing a poem appropriate for the times we live in. I love Rosemerry's poetry as I feel she writes about so many kinds of human sentiments and situation. This one is called 'Please'

PLEASE
by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

If you are one who has practice
meeting the pain of the world,
we need you. Right now we need you
to teach us it is possible to swallow
what is weighty and still be able to rise.

We need you to remind us we can
be furious and scared and near feral
over injustice and still thrill at the taste
of a strawberry, ripe and sweet,
can still meet a stranger and shake
their hand, believing in their humanness.

We need you to show us how
we, too, can fall into the darkest,
unplumbed pit and learn there
a courage and beauty
we could never learn from the light.

If you have drowned in sorrow
and still have somehow found
a way to breathe, please, lead us.
You are the one with the crumbs
we need, the ones we will use to find
our way back to the home of our hearts.

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“I knew that if I allowed fear to overtake me, my journey was doomed. Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story ...... I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing could vanquish me.”
- Cheryl Strayed, from her bestseller, "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail"

During any contemplative practice, such as mindfulness meditation, whenever we feel big emotions and feelings, naming them can be liberating. Finding the exact label for your feeling e.g. nervous, infuriated, restless, overjoyed, fear, etc. can bring clarity because your inner consciousness will respond with an appropriate answer to that feeling. In Cheryl Strayed's quote above, she realized she was feeling fear to hike the Pacific Crest Trail alone, as a woman, without any long distance backpacking experience. She also realized that fear is often born out of our imagination. It is this crucial shift in mindset through self-reflection that helped her backpack through 1,100 miles of the PCT over 94 days.

BECAUSE
- Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

So I can’t save the world—
can’t save even myself,
can’t wrap my arms around
every frightened child, can’t
foster peace among nations,
can’t bring love to all who
feel unlovable.
So I practice opening my heart
right here in this room and being gentle
with my insufficiency. I practice
walking down the street heart first.
And if it is insufficient to share love,
I will practice loving anyway.
I want to converse about truth,
about trust. I want to invite compassion
into every interaction.
One willing heart can’t stop a war.
One willing heart can’t feed all the hungry.
And sometimes, daunted by a task too big,
I tell myself what’s the use of trying?

But today, the invitation is clear:
to be ridiculously courageous in love.
To open the heart like a lilac in May,
knowing freeze is possible
and opening anyway.
To take love seriously.
To give love wildly.
To race up to the world
as if I were a puppy,
adoring and unjaded,
stumbling on my own exuberance.
To feel the shock of indifference,
of anger, of cruelty, of fear,
and stay open.
To love as if it matters,
as if the world depends on it.

My father had once asked me, "Do you know who tried to climb Mt Everest first?" I confidently said, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, because they were the first to successfully ascend the summit. He corrected me, and said, it was actually George Mallory, three decades before the famous duo. Apparently, when George Mallory was asked why he wanted to climb Mt. Everest, he said "Because it is there". He attempted a number of times and is said to have perished on the slopes of Mt Everest.

Today, I got reminded to learn from Mallory's example. The characteristics of not giving up, showing up and attempting, over and over again. The journey of ups and downs, the good weather and bad weather on the 'mountain of life' are not in my control. Often when challenges come my way, I have to learn to face it "because it is there".

We can be also learn to be like the mountain itself; steadfast and majestic, bearing witness to the metaphorical weather, seasons, etc. in our lives and not letting them affect us. Let us remind ourselves who we are at the core and of our inner strength, dignity, confidence and steadfastness.

WISDOM FROM RUMI:
"When I run after what I think I want, my days are a furnace of stress and anxiety; if I sit in my own place of patience, what I need flows to me, and without pain.
From this I understand that what I want also wants me, is looking for me and attracting me. There is a great secret here for anyone who can grasp it."

How it is that water has so many forms?
When it is liquid, it flows towards the path of least resistance, and will go to the extent to where the earth's gravity will take it.
When it freezes, like snow or ice, it sits still, unless the wind or sun chooses to move it or transform it.
When it gets energetic and boils & evaporates, it fills up all the available space it can!

Have you noticed that as humans, we, too exhibit all these forms of water? We, too, have days when we are in the flow of things, moving through our day effortlessly. On some other days, we freeze up, due to stress, grief, anger, or ill health and want to just stay in one place and rest till it passes or till it is transformed. And, on some other days, we are effervescent and cheerful, talkative and energetic because we know we deserve to take up space.

And why not? We are like water; most of the human body and its organs are made up of water. Embrace the water-like qualities in yourself and others.

TODAY is made of finite hours minutes and seconds, and yet made of infinite possibilities of how you choose to spend it. Use it to the best of your abilities and then be done with it.

Someone who is willing to have compassion for you and make time for you, despite what is going on in their own lives, belongs in your innermost circle.

🩷 May you always have at least one such person in your life. 🩷

FIND YOUR “WHY”

Everyone knows the name of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, his sherpa, who conquered Mt Everest in 1953.

But the first attempt for Mt Everest was not a successful one. It was in 1921 by George Mallory’s expedition. It had to be aborted due to raging storms but he had found feasible routes, etc. When asked why he wanted to climb Mt Everest, he is famously quoted to have said “*Because it is there*”. Mallory attempted several times, never gave up and didn’t reach the summit. He died on the mountain, trying.

Edmund Hillary’s WHY for the climb was because he wanted to conquer himself - Hillary's view was that the climb was a *journey of self-discovery* and that the real achievement was *overcoming his own limitations*

Whether you succeed or die trying metaphorically, (with Hillary and Mallory’s examples respectively), there must be a WHY, the reason you’re choosing a path, an adventure, an academic path, etc. It’s the WHY that’ll help you get up every time you fall, feel you’ve failed, feel fatigued, get frightened, see flaws in yourself, etc.

Loved this one.

What else would you add?👇

How you begin your day shapes how you experience it.

Remember, it’s the consistent effort you bring every single day that leads to small, incremental improvements. ✨

Little by little, a little becomes a lot. 🧠

Start strong this Monday morning and set the tone for an incredible week ahead. 💪

SHARE this to remind others too! 🙌

“You should sit in nature for 20 minutes a day…Unless you’re busy, then you should sit for an hour.” - Zen Proverb

(Tree canopy, Mysore Palace grounds, India. Photo: Anu Rudra Jul 2024)

Found this compelling enough to share with you. So simple when it’s something you want of others. But remember to also be that person for others. ♥️