Christine Stevens has been sharing her most recent mantra with me as we work in her Leucadia home where an Ananda Temple (constructed in Bali, with faux-gold lotus flowers forever unfolding on the ceiling, and then de-constructed and shipped here to southern California) sits in the backyard. "We're practicing extreme gratitude," she says. So, I try to remember this and I attempt to integrate it into my day-to-day. Yet, living is a messy, dirty process and, sometimes, anger and pain are a necessary woe. Please bear with me as I learn to treat my fingertips more gently, as I continue to dive into space around me and as I, in my human-animal ways, seek to capture, shoot and catch these fleeting, ephemeral moments...
Now, back to that extreme gratitude.
Thank you.
For reminding me of the animal in my sexuality.
Thank you.
For illuminating my trapped animus.
For mirroring my own destructive forces and
strong opinions.
Thank you
for embodying
assertiveness, control and thoughtful rationality.
Thank you for the
compassionate strength you inspired in me.
I am awed.
I experienced
love
I tasted its sweet fruit
and I brushed against its sticky scent.
Compassion.
Compassion.
Compassion.
Thank you.
Thank you for your
masked sensitivity.(It's written all over your bed.)
Thank you
for claiming what was ripe and yours for the taking.
Thank you
for diving into my primal, liquid waters.
It was instinctual.
It was pure.
It was a meeting in the middle.
Thank you.
Gracias para
todo.
Gracias para tu.
Gracias.
Gratzi.
Merci.
Danke.
Arrigato.
Salamat.
xièxiè.
Shukran.
Shukran.
Shukran.
It was what I want and have
needed
for almost half a lifetime
half of me rendered obsolete
now
my positive anima
reawakened
and a sweet kiss delivered
I can have this
animal desire
deep intimacy
honest communication
an authentic unfolding
trust
in whatever life brings
and a quiet knowing that
not only does the universe answer
prayers
i can and i do
manifest.
Thank you....
