Nothing
Hide and Seek
Friends,
I have thought about writing all week and what has come to me… nothing. And, the more I thought about nothing, the more it became something. Ironic as that is. I even thought that this is probably what some of you think when you begin to read my ramblings, I write about nothing, which makes me laugh. The state of “nothing” is important in our life. The ability to clear out, to make room, to rest, to let thoughts move through without perseveration, to catch your breath, and most important to BE.
I used to think that taking a vacation was for “nothingness”. But, it always seems that sightseeing or other things moved vacation into something. So now it is the peace I seek in my life to treasure the space of nothing. It doesn’t last long in any given day and yet it is a treasure! Maybe this is the grown up version of the game of hide and seek? There is a space where you are all alone, doing nothing but waiting with anticipation and then the joy of being “found” in the peace of the moment? May you seek and find a place of nothingness in this day or this week! May it be so.
Jace
I'm Sitting Doing Nothing
I’m sitting doing nothing,
which I do extremely well.
Exactly how I do it
is impossible to tell.
I scarcely move a muscle,
but serenely stay in place,
not even slightly changing
the expression on my face.
I’m fond of doing nothing,
so I do it all day long.
Wherever I do nothing,
I don’t ever do it wrong.
When I am doing nothing,
there is nothing that I do,
for if I started something,
it would mean that I was through.
When I am doing nothing,
I’m immobile as a wall.
When I am doing nothing
I don’t do a thing at all.
It’s easy doing nothing
and I find it lots of fun,
though when I’m finally finished
I’m uncertain that I’m done.
Jack Prelutsky
My Dog May Be a Genius, New York: Greenwillow Books, 2008, pages 68–69.
Nothing Extreme
No extremes today.
No crisis, no balmy paradise, just a day.
The point is not to achieve ecstasy,
or to bravely survive a trauma
(those are the highs of our addiction to adrenalin);
it’s to be awake, and to devote ourselves
to the sacrament of the present moment.
Simple things are sufficient for wonder.
Ordinary. Boring even, if it is so.
But holy.
Steve Garnass-Holmes
https://unfoldinglight.net/2010/03/17/105/
Hide and Seek in the Breezeway
I know she is there hiding
inside the sandwich board,
and she knows I know she is there.
And I know she is the one
tickling my foot while I stand.
And she knows I know it is her.
But for an hour and some,
I hunt for her behind columns,
in windows, inside my sleeves.
I call her name and pout
when she doesn’t appear.
And for an hour and some,
she crouches inside
her small sandwich board tent,
and giggles at not being found.
All around us the people rush past
to work, to lunch, to coffee shops,
to all the places we see each other hide.
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer