When you have a big list of todos, sometimes you can't get them all todone and you have to just go with the flow. I was doing really well on my enormous checklist this week when two illnesses took me down on two separate days. Flexibility…it's what keeps us in the game of unpredictability! Not the same thing as giving in exactly, but a regrouping!
The picture top is of poet May Sarton in her office. I really love the look of a cluttered office! All that beautiful paper in toppling towers. So much work to do! How fun! Just this week I published a poem of hers online that pertains tangentially to the political situation in 2020. I have a page that's getting a lot of visits right now, an anthology of poems about dictators and political struggle. This week I posted her poem "An Observation" which is very similar to our quote this week (how serendipitous!) but where this quote says be soft to be tough, her poem talks about an individual toughness needed for a gentle world.
The Prompt: What is Strength?
This week's prompt:
"Only when you can be extremely pliable and soft, can you be extremely hard and strong."
– Zen Proverb
First task is to sit for a meditation on that for 5-10 minutes or however long you feel is good to you.
The Drawing
My Haiku
…inspired by my drawing:
Roots and stem, then wind.
All across the valley floor
the tough plans disperse.
The Reflection
I love the Zen proverbs that are paradoxes, that ask you to accept the absurd contractions. And isn't that the magic of it all?
Go and get 'er done!
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