Most mornings, I watch the sun come up with what I call my “Quiet Time” readings—an assortment of books I’ve read (more than once) that refresh me, ground me, or stimulate me to think in a different way. So my Thought for this Thursday comes via Mark Nepo, poet, writer, and one of the deepest thinkers (other than my father, of course) that I’ve ever read.
Routinely, he inspires me. Routinely he confounds me. The good news that I’m always hopeful that next year I’ll understand the reading a little better, since, well, I’ll be at a different place in my life.
Spiral living, I call it, where time–so predictable, meets circumstance—so unpredictable. And with luck, I’ve grown and am more receptive to his wise words.
One story he told a few days ago stuck with me, so perfect for this time of year for transitions. From “Outlasting the Fog,” in The Book of Awakening:
“. . It reminds me of a man who built a home on a cliff by the sea, only to have a month-long fog roll in.He cursed the place and moved away, but a week after he’d gone, the fog cleared.”
Yep, this guy knows how to make you think, right?
Indeed, fall is the time for fog—for changes, chaos, and uncertainty. Perhaps it’s also a time for patience, for a little extra tolerance at both the lack of clarity we feel and also for those we keep bumping into who may be in their own fogs.
It’s true. Summer’s sunny pace has gone and we are waiting for the structure of fall’s routines to gel, to shape us, to remind us what’s important as we begin a new season.
Perhaps we need to simply “outlast the fog.”
Confession here, I’ve been a bit in my own fog lately. Re-entry after my twelve-day trip was a little bumpy. Still have unread mail, magazines, and newspapers—but at least they are in stacks now. And I found all the bills. (Smile) I just can’t quite get a rhythm going yet. But, I’ve decided to be patient with myself. Underneath all those stacks is a routine, a structure, a pattern just waiting for me to discover.
I’ve just got to outlast this dang fog.
How about you? What fogs have rolled in for you this fall?
My best—always,
Becky
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