Finally on my way to yes
I bump into
all the places
where I said no
to my life
all the untended wounds
the red and purple scars
those hieroglyphs of pain
carved into my skin, my bones,
those coded messages
that send me down
the wrong street
again and again
where I find them
the old wounds
the old misdirections
and I lift them
one by one
close to my heart
and I say
holy holy

by Persha Gertler

 

I don’t relate so readily to the word ‘healing’, it’s one of those words that I’ve heard used too often in a shallow or commercial way. But I appreciate the way Seattle’s ‘poet for the people’ Persha Gertler placed it here in the context of ‘finally on my way to yes’. That short phrase captures something important for me – the authentic ‘yes’ that opens my heart and possibilities, that accepts and welcomes, includes. It may not be straightforward, as the ‘finally’ indicates, and it may be a journey, a direction I’m heading in. And the way may be full of seeming obstacles and painful habitual patterns, but the poem speaks of meeting them with what sounds to me like tenderness and care, even gratitude… That surely is a practice!

If you’d like to practice together with others how to recognise and become more free of habitual patterns, there’s an indepth training pathway in mindfulness, compassion and insight which you’re very welcome to join…

Photo by Jordan Heath on Unsplash