May
the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
After a day of
activity, our bodies naturally need to slow down. We
yawn, our muscles stiffen, our eyes want to close.
Yet our
minds can be racing at top speed. How do we learn to
slow down our thoughts and relax?
We first
need to realize we don't have to do it all
ourselves. We can ask for help from a book, a
relaxation tape, a class or workshop, a movie, or
music.
And we
can learn how to unwind from others.
For most of our lives, we learned how to be tense.
Now we need to learn how to relax.
Just as
we didn't learn our tension in one night, we also
won't learn relaxation in one night. But we can
begin tonight to find some methods that will work
for us.
We can
try, a little bit at a time, to become familiar with
how it feels to have a more relaxed mind. Tonight
can be a beginning.
Strange
feelings ... Just a sort of unexplained sadness
that
comes each afternoon
when the new day is gone forever and
there's nothing ahead
but increasing darkness.
-- Robert M. Pirsig
Just as each day is a new
beginning, so is each night also a new start. Each
night can be a chance to recharge ourselves after
our day's batteries have run down.
Each night can be a
chance to start anew on our goals, our growth, our
good thoughts.
Instead of reflecting on the past events of the day,
we can look forward to the moments to come. We can
be unafraid of the darkness of the night as we
prepare for tomorrow by using positive energy.
Although the day is done, tomorrow is yet to come.
There are plans to make, places to go, people to
see, and projects to do.
Tomorrow can begin
with hope and strength and energy directed to all
our forthcoming events.
But
where was I to start? The world is so vast, I
shall start
with
the country I knew best, my own. But my country
is so
very large. I had better start with my town. But
my town, too,
is large. I had best start with my street. No,
my home. No,
my family.
Never
mind, I shall start with myself.
--
Elie Wiesel
How many times
have we tried to change things outside of ourselves,
like a
parent, a loved one, a drinking or drug-using
pattern, or a boss?
Perhaps
we felt if we changed someone or something, we would
be better off.
But we
soon discovered we were powerless to change people,
places, or things.
All we can change is ourselves. Yet we can't do that
by five-minute overhauls.
Nor can
we go to bed at night and expect to wake up the next
day as the person we always wanted to be.
We need to keep it simple as we change ourselves. We
need to start slowly.
If we
imagine ourselves as a big puzzle with many pieces,
we may understand we can only see our whole selves
by joining together one piece at a time.
Well
I woke up Sunday morning with no way to hold my head
that didn't hurt
and the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad so I had
one more for dessert
Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes and
found my cleanest dirty shirt
and I shaved my face and combed my hair and stumbled
down the stairs to meet the day
I'd smoked my brain the night before with cigarettes
and songs that I've been pickin'
but I lit my first and watched a small kid cussin' at
a can that he was kickin'
Then I crossed the empty street and caught the Sunday
smell of someone fryin' chicken
and it took me back to something that I'd lost somehow
somewhere along the way
On the Sunday morning sidewalk wishing Lord that I was
stoned
'cause there's something in a Sunday that makes a body
feel alone
and there's nothing short of dying half as lonesome as
the sound on the sleeping city sidewalk
Sunday morning coming down
In the park I saw a daddy with a laughing little girl
he was swingin'
and I stopped beside the Sunday school and listened to
the song that they were singing
Then I headed back for home and somewhere far away a
lonely bell was ringing
and it echoed through the canyon like the disappearing
dreams of yesterday
On the Sunday morning sidewalk wishing Lord that I was
stoned
'cause there's something in a Sunday that makes a body
feel alone
and there's nothing short of dying half as lonesome as
the sound on the sleeping city sidewalk
Sunday morning coming down
