We have been doing some things in the house,
much overdue painting, and such
which leads to necessary cleaning of nooks and crannies
and my eternal vow to reduce
stuff
admittedly I am not a very good housekeeper
this comes in part from having terrible allergies, and once the doctor told me ‘really you should have someone else do the dusting’ and I have held on to this little snippet,
but not yet found a regular volunteer
also, I suppose it comes from my ideal
Not being
the house beautiful motif
but rather a house that looks very much like
a family indeed lives here
mostly I know this comes from my preference for sitting
with a good book
or tapping away at my
laptop
to some days, much else
(might also tell you what kind of shape I’m in!)
I do always aspire to a life lived in
gratitude
emanating peace
and in the constant and very necessary practice of
letting go
recognizing of course, that as a species
we humans do really hold on
to a lot of
stuff
nothing so very wonderful about me
I use the words practice
as I do continue to
try
this morning as I disrobe
to get in the shower
I notice a series of moles on the back of my right calf
six in all
one at the top, to the left
three in a very straight vertical line
evenly spaced
two underneath, horizontal
perfectly balanced
the bottom three forming a rather perfect triangle
I am intrigued by this
although I do have a lot a moles on my skin
and
as a result of a very different kind of sun obsession
in my younger days
have had to have each one observed closely
these
I have never noticed
before
they seem so perfectly placed
on the back of my calf
close to my ankle
in perfect balance
a rather lovely work of art
on my skin
my own little bit of
perfection
I reach down and gently touch each one
with my fingers
another kind of
natural
beauty
may have gone unnoticed
I’m thinking about this, after my shower
as I continue on to get dressed
observing myself in the mirror
(something I do as a practice, in full length)
thinking about things we tend to overlook in ourselves
or rather harshly sometimes prefer to
cover up, change or
not look at
at all
is my face showing age
am I carrying too much weight
is that a blemish, a scar
a flaw
instead of the need for constant perfection
my daily gratitude comes in the simple fact that I
can recognize
myself
I try to be a little bit amazed
even on the days when I might not exactly approve of what I see
I do try to offer myself a smile
from a kinder heart
possibly this too
is a practice of
letting
go
so maybe what I wanted to say
is this
there can be much gratitude,
real beauty
and great peace
in the practice of
clearing
out
in sometimes
being
naked
and looking
in honesty and kindness
with soft eyes
and gentler hearts
maintaining spaces to breathe
and indeed
in a
letting go
of
stuff
today,
as a practice
find some little thing
about
yourself
and be amazed ♥