MARCH 30
Possess yourself as much as you possibly can in peace; not
by any effort, but by letting all things fall to the ground
which trouble or excite you. This is no work, but is, as it
were, a setting down a fluid to settle that has become turbid
through agitation.
—MADAME GUYONThis is another way of suggesting that we try to live in the
moment and not let preoccupation with our grief take over
the rest of our life. It is easier said than done—putting our
sadness aside and paying attention only to what is happen-
ing around us now. It is a counsel we will not always be
able to follow, and probably shouldn’t try to. But the image
of letting all things fall to the ground is a good one and a
mental exercise worth trying.
So imagine that you are standing still and straight, and
that by a touch of an inner-control button you let all the
stress and grief in your life slowly start slipping down your
arms and legs, to be absorbed into the ground beneath you.
How much lighter you feel! Your arms could almost rise
into the air—so free are they from the weight of all that re-
membered pain.
Think you have gotten rid of it all? Walk away a few steps
and try the same exercise again.
To some extent it is in my power to decide when I will let grief
take over.