Because tomorrow ain’t here yet, so slow down, slow down. Breathe .

Posted on by Live & Learn

I’m going to ask you all to participate with me in this piece. This is going to be a communal meditation.

The poem ritual is about meditation. It’s about breathing. And it’s about seizing the day rather than worrying about tomorrow.

Today, you will. Today you choose. Today is yours. Today is only today, tomorrow ain’t here yet, so slow down.

I was interested in creating ritual because I live in Brooklyn, New York. And I rarely found a space quiet enough to meditate. And so this poem became a part of my meditation practice. And now it’s something that I do every day.

Breathe, for the homies that ain’t you, breathe, for the kin, that is. Breathe, for your own good skin, your skin, your smile, your you, you, you.

As someone who’s aware of her anxiety, the ritual became very crucial for me to just find a place to have deep breaths. And I think that it will offer that to the listeners as well.

Now come back. Come back. Come back to yourself.

I do say poetry is a transformative tool because I believe it allows us to use poetry as a mirror. And we can look very deeply and intently. We can study it without judgment and we can allow ourselves to grow from the things that we see versus the things that we thought we were seeing. Poetry allows us a step back, some distancing, and a lot of compassion.

Miraculous dark days, most fortunate sky be, beyond brilliant and be your resilience. But you do that already. Who told you any different, you tell them today you live and today you choose. Because tomorrow ain’t here yet, so slow down, slow down. Breathe .

— Mahogany L. Browne, “A Brief But Spectacular take on poetry as ritual” (PBS · Moe Sattar · September 30, 2023) Mahogany Browne is a poet, writer, organizer and educator. Recently, she became the first-ever poet-in-residence at the Lincoln Center in New York City. She shares her Brief But Spectacular take on poetry as ritual.

35 thoughts on “Because tomorrow ain’t here yet, so slow down, slow down. Breathe .”

  2. I’m breathing deeply. In and out…. and I love my quiet time.
    But now off to my weekly Nordic Walking! Not so quiet. But good for body. And good for keeping social contacts. And listening to those who have nobody who’s listening to them.

  3. This post reminds me of the three years (approximately) that I did simple five minute meditations (sometimes up to 20 minutes, but rarely) every day. Didn’t miss a day, and I have a photo of the Headspace “counter“ page to prove it :-). (I like Headspace by the way…recommended if you’re interested.

    Unfortunately I fell off the “meditation wagon“ a few years ago. (Why is it that we have so much trouble doing things that are good for us?)

    I was just pondering this post as I sit here, unable to sleep at 2 AM: If everyone in the world stopped (even those on the front lines at war), and quietly breathed/meditated for five minutes (you can calm yourself down a surprising amount in five minutes)… I wonder…how much good could that do in the world?

    ———

    (Apologies for my writing style. I am the master of the “run-on sentence“.)

    PS: Request for poetry recommendations, if you are so inclined. I have never read poetry and I would be grateful for some guidance. I suspect I would find the right kind of poetry to be calming, healing, and uplifting. If anyone can recommend a book (or books) of poetry that promote positive thinking, peace of mind, and optimism/hope, I would love to hear from you. I love audiobooks, so that would be even better (maybe?). Perhaps it is better to have the poems on paper so I can reread and contemplate.

    PPS: If you took the time to listen to the video in this post, I just wanted to share that I find, listening to calming “solo bass or cello“ music to be incredibly healing and peaceful.

    Thanks for reading this!
    Apologies for any errors in my writing… I might actually be calm enough to sleep now!

    Wishing you all a calm, peaceful, and uplifting day!

    Blessings,
    Paul

    1. How about Mary Oliver? My dad was a poem lover. He recited anything he ever read; he knew the whole works of Wilhelm Busch by heart.
      I play Cello (v.badly), and I can recommend you listen to YouTube classic channels like I do. My playing however would be a great wake-up screetch; when I listen to Cello music, I nearly instantly feel like dreaming….
      And meditation isn’t for me. My mind has a mind of its own. I cannot switch my brain off (hence always too little sleep). I wish I could….

      1. DAvid Whyte. Mark Nepo. John O’Donaghue as well as Kiki’s suggestion of Mary Oliver — David Whyte offers beautiful, soul-enriching online poetry writing courses.

    2. Hi Paul, I read Danna Faulds poetry at the end of my yoga classes. I have shared some in my blog as well. She really resonates with me. Enjoy the exploration. Val x

    4. Hi Paul. It’s Wally here. Dad said the ladies recommendations are all very good. He has nothing to add to the list. As to meditation, Dad said he has no competency in this area. And for you to have done it for 3 years, Dad says you are like a Monk. Dad also suggests that if all else fails on meditation front, tape your eyes, ears, hands and feet with black hockey tape and see if that works.

      Finally, Dad said your comments remind him of this passage:

      The difficulty with waiting, Rosalie thought, is that one can rarely wait in absolute stillness. Absolute stillness?—that part of herself in the habit of questioning her own thoughts as they occurred raised a mental eyebrow. No one waits in absolute stillness.

      — Yiyun Li, Wednesday’s Child: Stories (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, September 5, 2023)

      1. (Laughing out loud!)
        Thanks Wally and dad!!
        Monk… no… Obsessive? Absolutely!

        For the record, any meditation I have studied does not expect the mind to be completely quiet. Quite the opposite… intrusive thoughts are normal… the skill is to recognize when your mind has “strayed“, and gently bring your mind back to the meditation process.

        Re: hockey tape…EXCELLENT IDEA!!
        I AM HEADED OUT TO BUY SOME HOCKEY TAPE RIGHT NOW!!

        Thanks Dave for your additional poetry recommendations!

  6. I find much to admire and aspire to in this post, but sadly have been an epic fail at meditation (though I know, rationally, that it would likely be beneficial). I go for walks in nature to rest my mind. ☺️

    And Paul, for poetry I recommend Stephen Dunn? This collection is a favorite….

    New and Selected Poems 1974-1994 https://a.co/d/gJmjbP0

  8. I begin my day with meditation, have for years, but as Paul mentioned, I am prone to fall off the wagon — or at least, to shorten my time spent in the silence when my life overtakes my knowing of how best to live with each heartbest connecting me to each moment.

    Right now, as I savour the quiet of a tiny cottage in the west of Ireland where I’ve come to write and meditate, breathing comes easy.

    What a beautiful post DK. Thank you.

  10. I while ago I wrote something about what the need for a poem feels like to me. The need feels like thirst, hunger, a basic human need, intense desire. Something at the vert base of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. If it’s met/satisfied, then maybe I can achieve a meditative state.
    That being said, I don’t meditate.

      1. Smiling…
        True, very true.
        We just don’t stop to do it. We do it on the go.
        And it’s beautiful.

  12. AMEN!

    Do Not Worry
    25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink,[j] or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?[k] 28And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But strive first for the kingdom of God[l] and his[m] righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

    34“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today. – Matthew 6: 25-34
    -Alan

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