I was looking at an age spot on my forearm the other day and wondered whether I should get a tattoo to cover or incorporate it. “Something small and modest, but with meaning,” I thought. “Something that would not admit to the original reason. Perhaps a realistic version of the smallest of butterflies.” Then I thought without any apparent trigger, “what about a firefly?” When they are not lit up, they look like the kind of bug we would swat at or try to avoid, but at night, when the firefly glows, it is magic.
How many things are there that seem ordinary or even distasteful until we open our eyes, our minds, and our hearts to see their full and true essence?
I do not know whether I will get the tattoo. But I hope that those that can (those with backyards) will take a few simple steps to make a home for some fireflies.
Just because I don’t write about asana often, doesn’t mean I am not practicing. The storm was just beginning. Longtime student and friend A came over to practice. We did hot water bottle restoratives, inviting ourselves to return our attention to the warmth whenever our minds got too busy.
In which Maitri explains that I am supposed to be doing the pet the cat meditation, not the gently placing the attention on the breath meditation.
I was sitting at the kitchen table editing a document and drinking hot tea, when I heard a beating of wings against the window. It was in the inside, not the outside. A cabbage butterfly. I do not know how it got inside or where it found a place to grow and open in the house, but here it is in the middle of winter. It soon gave up beating its wings against the window and found the orchids that were blooming and rested there. What a lovely surprise.
