Precision & Kindness

Cultivating focus and concentration by precisely noting what is arising within us – “thinking”, “calmness is here”, “sleepiness is here” – and to do so gently without chiding ourselves for the experiences, taking a decentered view.

A Timbered Choir (excerpt), by Wendell Berry

I go among trees and sit still.
All my stirring becomes quiet
around me like circles on water.
My tasks lie in their places
where I left them, asleep like cattle.

Then what is afraid of me comes
and lives a while in my sight.
What it fears in me leaves me,
and the fear of me leaves it.
It sings, and I hear its song.

Then what I am afraid of comes.
I live for a while in its sight.
What I fear in it leaves it,
and the fear of it leaves me.
It sings, and I hear its song.

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Shantanu Parcharka, Unsplash