The Nobility of Retreat

Type A People?
Are you here today?
You know who you are.

Might you be:
Chronically, perhaps 
Compulsively early?

Dedicated to the 
Annihilation,
The eradication
Of your emails,
No matter what?

Getting them DONE.
Getting them GONE.

A master of
Miraculous
Multi-tasking?

More organized
Then organization,
Itself?

Driven?

Like,
Driven
To the completion
Of Stuff?

Capital letter,
Intended.

And onward, 
We could go
To innumerable traits.

You know,
We know
Who
We
Are.

Let’s love ourselves,
Type A-Subgroup.

Let’s remember Richard Schwartz,
“No Bad Parts”.

All good.

My intensity.
My drive.
My capacity
To organize
Life itself,

Have taken me 
So far,
To places
Unimaginably
Productive
And
Pure
And
Perfect.

Type A.
All good.
And…

And…as Swami Kripalu invites us,
Let’s remember today,
The possibility,
The practice,
The gift
Of
The Nobility of Retreat.
~~~
The Nobility of Retreat.

I don’t think he’s talking about
The chocolate croissant
I ate in the car,
Yes, while driving,
Between
Shopping
And
Unpacking
Groceries.

If I am honest,
Truly honest,
That wasn’t so much
A retreat.

No, it was not.

It was more of
An 
Escape 
Hatch

That worked for the 2.4 minutes
It took me
To wolf
It
Down.

Next example:
I don’t think Swami meant
Falling asleep
With the 
Remote control
Bungeed to one’s hand.

Fuzzy and dazed
Awakening to
New characters on one’s iPad screen,
Not seen before,

Where did they come from?
Ohhhhh,
I was asleep…!
While more characters emerged.

Hum.

I can offer several more
Examples of what
retreat
Is
Not,

What retreat
Is not.

Enough said.

Let’s talk about what it is.

The Nobility of Retreat.

What does that mean?

Making a mindful decision
To savor
A hot bath
After
That
Long
Walk
In the snow.

Candle included.
A touch of Epsom salt included.
Perhaps some lavender oil, too.

What else?

A massage!

Making the choice,
Setting an appointment,
Getting there.
Allowing
Each
Moment,
Each touch
To be recognized
As the gift
That
It
Is.  

Me to me.
You to you.

What else?
What are yours?
~~~
Let’s not make our Type-A-Driven-patterns wrong.

While being exactly who we are, 
Let’s practice
Leaning toward body-centered,
Heart-centered 
Slowing down.

Offering ourselves
The
Deliciousness
Of
Non-doing.

What a concept.
~~~
Here is a song to slow down into.
Oh!  This tender and beautiful song.
It fits this cold night,
Dark, so incredibly and ridiculously early,
Dark!

Do I forget from year to year?
The constriction,
Of light, 
The length,
The damn length
Of the dark hours?

This song, written by Warren Zevon, singer/songwriter, at the end of his too-short-life.  Here it is, sung wonderfully by the Canadian international folk group, the Wailin’ Jennys.

We know impermanence.  
We understand we are coming to go, not coming to stay.
 But oh!  When life shakes our hearts open,
When life grabs us and wakes us up
To loss,
Oh.
Oh, dear friends.

Oh.

Here is Keep Me in Your Heart.
See where this song might touch you, dear friends.

The Wailin’ Jennys.
Keep Me in Your Heart for A While.

~~~
Folks,

The days are shortening.
The darkness, expanding

Let’s remember
The inevitability
Of the return
Of
The
Light.

Let’s end this year 
With prayerfulness, 
Remembering
The light.

May we be healthy.
May we be present.
May we
Ride the waves
Of our lives.

May we live in peace
No matter what
We are given.

May all beings
Here, there, everywhere,
Benefit from the words we share.

Peace,
Aruni
~~~

*”The Nobility of Retreat”, quote by Swami Kripalu