All Our Pieces. All Together.

The sun is shining this morning. Gloriously bright and warming my body and spirit as I sit at the kitchen table with my laptop.

The trees are skeletons once again. Their naked bones rise up between me and that fiery ball in the sky, casting sketchy shadows across the lawn and cement.

I’ve been struggling over what to write. I have quite a bit in my head- too much, in fact. That’s pretty common for me. Thoughts, ideas and stories spin through my mind almost continuously. Right now, I can’t seem to piece together a full tale. So, I decided to step back for a minute and simply note my surroundings. It’s quiet. The cats are sleeping. My coffee's cold. But again, that sun is shining down on me.

I need to write. I need to run. I need to call people. I need to clean and later, I need to cook.

I sigh and close my eyes. (Yes, I can type still. Those typing classes in middle school were probably some of the best ones I could have taken.) The furnace kicks on and I return to my task here.

I’m being pulled in many directions. Physical and mental needs and demands are pressing hard, and yet, there’s that other force bringing me back to the inviting sun and the moment which is now. It’s my spirit. It’s asking for some of my attention. To be acknowledged and affirmed.

We all have these parts: body, mind and spirit. What if we don’t pay heed to them all? In a word: chaos.

I am adamant in my assertion that we all need to work on all 3 parts. I dislike exercise, but a weak body does my mind a great disservice. If I try to isolate myself from others, my spiritual self is shorted but my physical and mental worlds are as well. In addition, those who could benefit from my presence lose what I can offer them. It’s a two-way street.

Oh, but it can be so, so so much easier to narrow our vision and forge ahead with just the basics. Or, we may feel there’s simply no other way to exist. We can be so damaged today from a lifetime (or generations) of dealing with people who have neglected or abused their parts that we don’t see the point or possibility of anything but simple survival.

We can always get and do better.

There are so many things we can list that worry us, anger us or depress us. It doesn’t matter who you are. We all know of things we’d like to change about ourselves, our immediate surroundings or our world at large.

We can. We can because it’s not all planned out in advance. We can make choices. We can reach out to others. We can help and be helped. We can crawl, then walk, then run and then maybe even fly. We may find ourselves on a path through a murky wood that fills us with blinding fear today, but we can try to cut a new course.

We can find that sun. We can embrace that warmth. We can find a peace inside that lets us pick up our work once again. As whole people. Together.

My book, Dear Teachers, can be a light in your life or in that of a teacher you hold close to your heart. Please consider it as a holiday gift- perhaps combined with some warm socks and the makings for hot cocoa!