Thank you for joining me.
Today I want to talk about Wendell Berry or a poem of Wendell Berry's.
Wendell Berry passed away at the age of 92 at the time of this recording.
It was just two months ago.
And there's a line from his poem,
The wish to be generous that I'd like to spend a bit of time with.
And that line is a patient,
Willing descent into the grass.
Barry was a farmer and he had the privilege of living on the land and he had the opportunity to watch it change.
As I look out the window right now it's fall and the leaves are changing color and beginning to fall.
We actually have a Japanese maple on our back deck that all of a sudden yesterday it was without all of its leaves and Wendell Barry got to see this and was very close to this Because he was a farmer,
He saw new growth,
He saw things come,
And he saw things pass away.
And here's that line again.
I wonder what sort of feelings it evokes in you.
A patient and willing descent into the grass.
I'm wondering,
Or I'm curious,
What season you're in right now.
Not the calendar season,
But the season of your life.
What's going on?
And maybe you could just spend a moment with this question.
What season are you in right now?
If you're having a hard time coming up with an answer,
I'll provide you with just a few cues and maybe it is a season of new growth and something is unfolding or growing.
Maybe something that you've held dear is coming to an end.
Or maybe it's complicated,
Maybe it's a combination of new growth,
Old growth,
Things coming and things going.
Just let yourself sit with that for a moment.
What season are you in right now?
I don't know about you,
But I spend a lot of time trying to keep things from changing,
A lot of energy trying to keep things from changing.
And even when I know change is coming in particular,
I tend to tighten up.
I want to hold on.
Can you relate to that?
I'm experiencing a bit of grief at the moment.
I had a friend pass away a couple months ago.
And then my mom actually passed away a week ago as I record this.
And Yeah,
There's that feeling or that thought that keeps coming up,
You know,
I can't believe that they're gone.
Have you experienced that?
It's part of this season of grief that you really can't do anything about.
There's so many things in the season of grief that you can't do anything about.
I wonder if you have noticed that too.
Ideally,
We'd like to keep things as they are,
Don't we?
We'd like to keep things from changing most of the time,
Especially when they're going well.
And we don't need to judge ourselves for that.
Let's not judge ourselves for that.
Some things bring real loss,
And sometimes they come before we feel ready,
Or things change before we're ready for them to change.
And it's okay to want things to stay as they are,
As human beings.
We have this natural desire for homeostasis and we feel that especially when things are going well but you know as the buddhists say and as Wendell Berry is saying here there's a patient willing descent things are descending and coming and going all the time and there is a sense of time in that but based on his words that word patient there's the possibility of meeting what's happening gently,
One day at a time,
Or even one moment at a time.
Not by forcing ourselves to be okay with things,
Just gradually turning toward things with patience and kindness and awareness.
Let's picture what happens with a leaf in autumn.
A single leaf loosens from the branch,
It falls,
And it lands among many others on the ground.
And in time,
That fallen leaf becomes part of the soil,
And it transforms into something new.
And I'm just wondering if you might want to consider for a moment.
I want you to just consider for a moment,
What might you be ready to let go of?
Is there something that you're clinging to?
And that your clinging is actually causing you pain.
Or maybe there's more than one thing that you're clinging to.
It's natural.
It's part of being human.
Maybe there's something that you've carried for years,
An expectation that you've held about how life should look.
Expectations can cause us a lot of pain.
Maybe there's a story that you've been telling yourself that you could have prevented something that's already happened.
Just sit with whatever arises for you.
Is there something that you're ready to set down or let go of?
And what do you need?
What do you need that would be helpful to you to have a patient descent,
A patient and willing descent?
This is time for nurturing and self-care.
What might help you.
When things are changing and in a state of change.
Take note of that thing.
And I'll give you a few cues as well,
Provide you with a few cues.
Maybe you might need a person who really listens.
Maybe you just need to go for a walk.
Maybe you could let it go through prayer,
Or ask for help through prayer.
Maybe you can nurture yourself by just feeling yourself supported again on the ground,
Or practicing deep presence,
Just being really aware.
Or it could even be your breath.
Just notice what steadies you.
When the seasons are changing.
And you don't want to let go.
I really love Wendell Berry.
I just think he's such a great example of how to live your life and be a poet and a teacher and a farmer.
You know,
He just kept showing up to his life,
To the land,
To the people around him.
Community was very important to him.
And even as everything changed,
Imagine the change that he must have saw in his life over the past 92 years.
So even as he aged,
He didn't try to escape the seasons.
He experienced them with as much attention and care as possible.
And he encouraged us through his life and his essays and his poetry to do the same.
I think that's the type of patience that he's talking about,
Is just to keep showing up.
Probably with a bit of a measure of caring and tenderness.
Just keep showing up.
As you move back into your day,
You might want to carry this question with you.
I invite you to carry this question with you.
What would help you meet this season of your life with patience?
Ask yourself that and then just be open to an answer.
Maybe a particular situation will arise.
And you might want to ask,
What might help me meet this situation with patience?
So what might help me meet this season of my life with patience?
And what might help me meet this situation with patience.
As you go one day at a time.
And one moment at a time.
Thank you for being here.
I hope this was helpful.
Namaste.
