Start close in,
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first thing close in,
the step
you don’t want to take…
Do I have a first step I don’t want to take? …
What would it be, this step I don’t want to take?
— Jillian Horton, We Are All Perfectly Fine: A Memoir of Love, Medicine and Healing. Poem by David Whyte: “Start Close In”
Image: Carolina Pimenta, Arts Center, Riberia Grande, Portugal (via Unsplash)
Waking up in the morning
I vow with all beings
to be ready for sparks…
I vow with all beings
to let the pain and surprise
slow me down to this step,
this step.
~Robert Aitken, from “Zen Vows for Daily Life”
Notes:
“All great masters are chiefly distinguished by the power of adding a second, a third, and perhaps a fourth step in a continuous line. Many a man has taken the first step. With every additional step you enhance immensely the value of your first.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
Image: Laura B. Fernandez photograph titled “The Next Step Will Lead Our Lives.” Quote: whiskeyriver.blogspot.com
Live & Learn 