NOVEMBER 7
Open your eyes and see those things which are around us
at this hour.
—RICHARD JEFFRIESOne of our temptations when our lives are shaken by grief
is to live—nostalgically or regretfully—in the past.
Another is to live—in mournful projection—in the future.
It is sometimes said of “feeling types” (as opposed to
“thinking types”) that they have to be dragged “kicking and
screaming” into the present moment.
When we are grieving the loss of a loved one, we are most
apt to be in a “feeling type” mode. We may need to take
ourselves in hand—putting blinders on our inner eye so we
look only at what is present to us now. There is no fear that
we will lose our memory of the past or our sense of the fu-
ture. Each will be there, ready for our regret, our yearning,
our hovering attention.
But for now, for this hour—or even for this fifteen
minutes—let’s open our eyes, wherever we are, turn very
slowly in a full circle, and see what there is to see!
For this moment, the place where I am is my world.