Listening to the Heart

Weekly wisdom to level up your creative life in 3 minutes, for free.

A SHORT STORY

I’m traveling this week, which always brings me back to myself.

There is something about flying 30,000 feet in the air, away from distractions, that has always brought clarity to my mind and heart.

Especially in the midst of so much chaos in the world.

This week I kept returning to the words of the great Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield, who recently shared a practice that brought me a lot of comfort as I sat on the plane contemplating all that lay before me.

Perhaps you and I can try it now.

He said:

I hope that brings you a little peace, as it did for me on my recent journey.

A POEM

“Tear it Down” by Jack Gilbert

We find out the heart only by dismantling what
the heart knows. By redefining the morning,
we find a morning that comes just after darkness.
We can break through marriage into marriage.
By insisting on love we spoil it, get beyond
affection and wade mouth-deep into love.
We must unlearn the constellations to see the stars.
But going back toward childhood will not help.
The village is not better than Pittsburgh.
Only Pittsburgh is more than Pittsburgh.
Rome is better than Rome in the same way the sound
of racoon tongues licking the inside walls
of the garbage tub is more than the stir
of them in the muck of the garbage. Love is not
enough. We die and are put into the earth forever.
We should insist while there is still time. We must
eat through the wildness of her sweet body already
in our bed to reach the body within the body.

Grateful,

Michael