At the heart of sorrow there is presence, no different than the presence at the heart of joy. Energy is energy. It is when we dissipate it by self-centered thought that we are weakened instead of strengthened. In grief, of course, there is weeping, which drains the body while it is going on. But after the tears comes the fertile ground of new energy. Someone said that I benefited from a good cry; that for me it was like preparing the soil for my writing. I understand that. There is no negativity in tears of remembrance, just a gentle letting go.

The path of presence is always right under our feet, but we flee into past and future as if they could be walked now. Returning to presence is returning to full-out healing. Energy is directed back into the flow of what is.

I am grateful for this quiet Monday morning. It is gray and rainy, the last day of January, 2011. Nothing significant has happened to me this month. There was a week of being iced in, but now that is just a memory. My heart has been iced in many times. Thaws follow. Rain comes and pale greet shoots poke up through the earth of the heart.