Toward Love

“The heart beneath is teaching to
the broken heart above.”
Leonard Cohen

Here you are
at this precise time,
in this exact place,
at this very age,
the culmination of so much.

Every moment of your every day
has formed
your beyond-conscious thoughts,
your deepest beliefs.

Also woven in there
is all that came before,
your parents,
and their parents,
and their parents,
the cultures in which they were immersed,
the historical times in which they lived,
the joys they celebrated,
the trauma they endured.

So that each choice now,
each action taken
is like a sprout
growing from a complex
and infinite network.

Which means, of course,
that you are also the future.
The awareness you gain now,
the direction you choose to grow,
the small, incremental changes you make,
determine so much
for your children,
and their children,
and their children.
Your simplest action
impacts each person you encounter
and each person they encounter.

You matter.
You are a whole world.

There is no need to be overwhelmed.
Break it down.
Take a simple step in the right direction,
toward health in all things,
toward Light,
toward Love.

One step may feel like nothing.
No one may even notice.
Doesn’t matter.
In fact, all the better.
You notice.
Can you feel something inside
soften?
Can you feel your breath
come easier?
That is not nothing.
That is the beginning
of everything.

By Maria Brady-Smith
Photo by Mike Smith