We must look wider than what hurts

Posted on by Live & Learn

yellow throat,bird,

“We begin so aware and grateful. The sun somehow hangs there in the sky. The little bird sings. The miracle of life just happens. Then we stub our toe, and in that moment of pain, the whole world is reduced to our poor little toe. Now, for a day or two, it is difficult to walk. With every step, we are reminded of our poor little toe.

Our vigilance becomes: Which defines our day – the pinch we feel in walking on a bruised toe, or the miracle still happening?

It is the giving over to smallness that opens us to misery. In truth, we begin taking nothing for granted, grateful that we have enough to eat, that we are well enough to eat. But somehow, through the living of our days, our focus narrows like a camera that shutters down, cropping out the horizon, and one day we’re miffed at a diner because the eggs are runny or the hash isn’t seasoned just the way we like.

When we narrow our focus, the problem seems everything. We forget when we were lonely, dreaming of a partner. We forget first beholding the beauty of another. We forget the comfort of first being seen and held and heard. When our view shuts down, we’re up in the night annoyed by the way our lover pulls the covers or leaves the dishes in the sink without soaking them first.

In actuality, misery is a moment of suffering allowed to become everything. So, when feeling miserable, we must look wider than what hurts. When feeling a splinter, we must, while trying to remove it, remember there is a body that is not splinter, and a spirit that is not splinter, and a world that is not splinter.”

~ Mark Nepo

Quote Source: Whiskeyriver. Image credit of Common Yellow Throat

39 thoughts on “We must look wider than what hurts”

  6. Wow, just wow. I love the analogies. And Mimi’s right (as she always is), spot on, but so tough to do… This one will have me ruminating for a bit…

  9. I have read this over and over and over. It’s true. All of it. Remembering the big picture is not always easy.

  11. What a fantastic perspective to be challenged to take, from adolescence on – we get so easily *snarked* (yes, I just turned snarky into a verb…hmmm?) and focus on the negatives. Eloquent reminder..wow!

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