I am a fountain,
You are my water.
I flow from You to You.
I am an eye,
You are my light,
I look from You to You.
You are neither my right nor my left.
You are my foot and my arm as well.
I am a traveler,
You are my road.
I go from You to You.
Zeynep Hatun
Our local neighborhood newsletter has a somewhat surprising addition. Along with the usual listings of missing pets and discarded items is an enthusiastic lauding of late afternoon and early evening skies. Comments by others responding to that seem to pile on top of one another in a way that feels like a sea of waving hands, all attesting to the spectacular beauty overhead.
It feels good to be dazzled and captivated by the sheer grace of light. As the sun slips below the horizon, it offers an elegant reminder of its continued presence. The golden roundness may be invisible, but its radiant essence spreads across the sky with colorful, warm, soothing messages of hope and eternal love.
The light is always there. It seems to endlessly play hide and seek, appearing and disappearing at the beginning and end of the day. Yet it is our earthly nature to move around, in and away from the steady center of luminosity. Whether it is the macrocosm of our planetary solar center or the microcosm of the heart of our being, the light never dims. It gets overshadowed by our constant movement.
The glorious embrace of sunset allows me to remember this: light holds and nourishes every manifestation in this world – human and non-human. Boulders, reptiles, insects, trees, plants, mammals, birds, all lands, all peoples. Its splendor knows no boundaries or fences. It offers forgiveness in the highest form, reassuring me of my worth and strength to let go of those sufferings that I bring upon myself and perhaps to others. It invites me to return again and again until the ultimate sunset of this lifetime. Within the shoulder of nighttime, love shines and brightens the path home.
Please join me in taking a pause with sunset, and finding your own reflections and insights.
Practice
This practice offers a simple gesture of letting go and forgiveness.
Prepare—
- Find a comfortable seated position, e.g., on a chair, the floor.
- If on a chair, allow the soles of your feet to rest on the surface beneath you.
- Gently squeeze one hand in the other
- Slowly make and fist and then stretch evenly through your fingers.
- Shake out through your hands and wrists, relaxing your forearms.
- Sigh a few times, letting go through your breath. Then, sit quietly for a few moments, allowing your breath to be free and easy.
Practice—
- Seated, rest your right hand wherever it is comfortable, e.g., on your thigh, and keep it relaxed throughout the rest of the practice.
- Allow the back of your left forearm to rest on your left thigh. Your left palm is relaxed and open toward the sky. Invite your entire left shoulder, arm, hand, and fingers to relax and soften. Breathe a few breaths.
- Slowly guide your left forearm forward on your thigh, so that your hand relaxes with the palm open and fingers relaxing downward toward the earth. Again, release tension throughout your left side. If needed, adjust your seated position to support the sense of relaxation and softness throughout your left arm and open hands.
- Invite a sense of letting go of non-beneficial habits, feelings, or ideas you might be clinging to. Imagine as though the earth’s natural intelligence and capacity is able to receive and slowly compost whatever you release. Breathe with an open hand for as long as is comfortable for you.
- Invite in a sense of being supported by love from the earth beneath you, from the space around and above your, and from the inner and outer sun. Imagine you are being embraced and enfolded in love. Allow your open hand to receive this love. And, as you do so, allow it to seep into every pore of your palm, into the tissues of your palm, and then travel upward into your left wrist, arm, shoulder into your heart. Breathe freely receiving love and allowing love to settle into the spaces you created by letting go.
- If you wish, repeat this with a focus on your right palm, forearm and right side. Otherwise, continue.
- After a few breaths, gently give yourself a hug. Perhaps offer a silent prayer of self-forgiveness.
- (Note: this practice is for the normal everyday ways we are hard on ourselves. It is not designed as substitute for professional support in working through deeper hurts and wounds.)
Transition Back into Your Day—
- Sit quietly for a few moments, with the eyes and ears tuned inward.
Place your hands over your heart and pause for a moment. - When you are ready, return to your day.
This poem appears in Mala of the Love: 108 Luminous Poems, page 95, edited by Ravi Nathwani and Kate Vogt and published by New World Library. This photo was taken in Tribune, KS on the eve of my brother Michael Vogt’s funeral. HEARTH is posted each new and full moon. KateVogt©2022.
