Center of the Circle

Desert Willow (chilopsis linearis)
photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

"Do you want to improve the world?
I don't think it can be done.
The world is sacred.
It can't be improved.
If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it.
If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it.
. . . 
The Master sees things as they are,
without trying to control them.
She lets them go their own way,
and resides at the center of the circle."


~ Tao Te Ching #29, Stephen Mitchell


      I knew when I woke yesterday morning that it would be a day of respite . . .

soft and gray

mist at play

soothing senses deep

calm the day

Her gentle ways

bring rest and silent sleep

     The muffled sounds wrapped around me like a fleecy blanket that cocooned me from the world and my own anxieties, easing me into a space of stillness where could rejuvenate . . . slowly, easily, quietly. Yesterday, not even any music playing, only the breath of life, the sighs of contentment, the exquisite sense of slumbering senses as muscles relaxed, tension waned, release came and a curtain of pure peace was draped upon my soul. Without pushing myself, I spent most of the day writing, reading and snuggling with the animals.

     The final essence I read about as dusk eased into the house was Desert Willow and the flower's image enthralled me even before I read of its healing energies; it's "harmonizing qualities are those of being flexible, feeling respite and 'in the flow' of life, moving to the perspective of comfort and ease no matter what the situation" (Desert Alchemy Flower Essences). I paused to meditate upon this beautiful, gentle plant and Her spirit, feeling Her resonance. 

     Then, before falling asleep, I opened the Tao to where I had left off reading many weeks ago, and the passage quoted above was the one revealed. I repeated the last two sentences of it over and over, in meditation, and felt the 'three control issues' I'd been struggling with this week simply melt away.