Find a comfortable seat.
Pay light attention to the breath.
On the next exhale,
See if you can completely empty the lungs.
And maybe that makes space for a slightly deeper inhale.
Imagine that you're breathing in the clean,
Fresh air of the forest.
Maybe you hear the distant sound of a river and smell the earth damp from light rain.
And now you see a tree.
A huge,
Leafy tree.
With green leaves made translucent by the morning sun.
And the leaves are dancing in the breeze.
And safe in the nook of one of the branches is a little nest.
And the nest is made of twigs and leaves and feathers.
It's a special nest that wasn't made by one bird or two birds.
Every single twig.
Every little leaf,
Every little feather that's woven in to make this nest.
Every single one was brought by a different being with their whole heart.
And they brought a twig of suffering,
A little leaf of joy,
A little piece of grief,
A little piece of heartbreak,
A little piece of love.
Each offering was brought by beings who have come at their different times,
Sometimes together,
Sometimes separately.
Sometimes in the day,
Sometimes in the night.
They've brought their little twigs of comfort to make this nest of compassion.
And then when one of them suffers,
In their suffering when they are a bird that cannot fly,
They are welcomed into the nest,
And the nest will hold them.
In some teachings,
Love is described as having two wings,
Wisdom and compassion.
And if either is broken,
The bird can't fly.
So if we use only the wisdom of our minds without the compassion of our hearts,
Then we can be called and detached.
And if we use the heart without our wisdom,
Then we maybe don't have our own strong boundaries,
Or we don't learn the lessons from our life experiences.
But there are times in our lives when we're broken,
When we're a bird who cannot fly.
And sometimes it's felt like we just have to hide,
We're ashamed,
We feel at such a great loss.
We don't know who to turn to,
We don't know that it's okay to turn to anyone.
The suffering is overwhelming,
And we're broken.
But one day,
One day you reached out,
One day you made a different choice,
And there was a tiny opening.
Instead of looking on the ground or underground,
You looked up,
And you saw something in the branches.
And somehow you knew,
Something in you knew,
Your heart wisdom knew.
There was a place for you in your suffering.
You didn't have to hide,
You didn't have to pretend.
There was a place you could lay down with your broken wings,
And all the broken souls who had come before you had made a nest for you.
And you could lie down in the nest,
And it was perfectly safe.
And your wings would be healed in their own time,
In their own way.
And you would stay there as long as you needed to.
Healing takes time.
Let's take a few breaths.
Resting in the nest.
Surrendering to the healing.
Letting the love of the nest heal your wings,
Heal your wounded heart.
Heal your fractured mind.
Gently coming back.
As we bring this meditation to a close,
Maybe you can feel that there is a place where you can just be.
When you feel broken.
And your wisdom will slowly return.
And your compassion will shine.
And one day,
You'll find you're standing at the edge of the nest.
And you will thank it for being the place where you could heal.
And the sun will shine down through the leaves.
And you'll know there's a blue sky above,
And you will fly again.
You will have left your little twig,
Your little feather,
For the next broken soul to rest in the nest and heal.
Thank you for your practice.
Namaste.
