Staying Still

You promised yourself that you would remain calm today.

You told yourself that when the clock hit its middle hours,

a span when you cannot seem to stay focused,

a time when you aren’t sure what to do with yourself,

you would just stop.

You would focus on

your breath

coming

in and out.

You would sit with the uncertainty, as if it were a rambunctious puppy.

You would feel the weight of the puppy and watch it squirm.

There now, see how easy it is just to

STOP

and

breathe

in

and

out

and

stay

put?

If you do anything,

go into the Sounds True app on your phone

and listen to spritual teacher Eckert Tolle talk about the

the “Power of Now,” or listen to

Buddhist nun Pema Chodron discuss

“Learning to Stay Present.”

Or tune in to teacher Jack Kornfield lecture on

“The Power of Meditation.”

In the end, they are all talking

about doing the same thing: holding steady

in the only moment we ever have,

this one,

when the sun is eclipsed by milky grey

clouds and flowers are looking slightly wilted

and the lawn is burned in places to a brown crisp.

That moment is gone and now a new one is

Here: that puppy is now five years old and she is

lying so comfortably on the carpet at your feet.