Friday, June 3, 2011

Poem: Reflection


Reflection

Six months in, you find yourself simpler,
more yourself, not
by shedding skins, tasks or delights,
but

by choosing,
stopping again and again
and asking
yourself

if this moment
reaches out to your dream.

================

For the past several months, I have been simplifying life and work.

It's something I have learned about myself in the past few years, that while I handle complexity well enough, I thrive in simplicity. Events in my life forced me into simplicity five or six years ago, but as I have recovered from that blow, I have also let life become more complex, and more scattered, and so a few months ago, I set out to simplify things again, this time more purposefully.

One of the most surprising lessons is that simplifying does not mean giving up the good things in your life as much as it means making conscious choices, focusing yourself at any given moment on one thing, not twelve, lets you do all twelve, only with better concentration, more focus and appreciation of what you are doing in the moment, and more effectively. And as I reflected on this in my journal writing this morning, this little poem popped out.

The photograph was taken on Rupert Mountain, not far from my home in West Pawlet, VT. You can click on it for a larger version. 



Tom

2 comments:

Tess Kincaid said...

It truly is a gift to be simple.

Momcat said...

As usual, you have wisdom in your thought process that is inspiring to "chickens with no heads" folk like me. Very nice poem. You are the Poet Laureate of West Pawlet!