What do you do when you wake around 4 in the morning with some

Deep Concerns

I looked the word up to be sure it's the one i want…and definition b. according to Webster says:  an uneasy state of blended interest, uncertainty and apprehension.   Yes.  Yes.  This is right.  Not worries,  because they are frivolous,  not Fears because that's not the extent,  but Concerns.  Deep Concerns.    Waking wide awake with Deep Concerns.  So…what was there to do?  Get up.  Make red chile.  Fry some potatoes and spoon on a liberal amount.  Eat it.  

 

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it's a simple thing,  red chile,  as far as ingredients.  But there are some particulars that must be followed closely.  I learned from that person i was married to that i call the maniac but that Yvette doesn't want me to call him that,  him.  The last of the particulars is to simmer until a "skin" forms on the top.  And Look….Meera….the skin formed a Blossom

and you are still there with your Concerns,  so you just sit there in the Morning Chair in the still dark and eat More red chile by the spoonful till the SUN rises,  till Day.

 

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Your dog is thinking it is time for her food.  She is a little anxious because it's earlier than normal,  so the anxiousness makes her Yawn

 

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and then it's Light.  Morning is underway.  and in an email with Michelle about the 60's and 70's and Ram Dass  and trusting,  she sends me this,  from a friend of hers who read it in a NOVEL she got at a library sale:

"Memory is a willful dog.  It won't be summoned or dismissed but it cannot survive without you.  It can sustain you or feed you.  It visits when it is hungry,  not when you are.  It has a schedule all its own that you can never know,  it can capture you, corner you or liberate you.  It can leave you howling and it can make you smile….The trick is not to hate yourself…If you can manage not to hate yourself,  then it won't hurt to remember almost anything;  your childhood,  your parents,  what you've done or what's been done to you…."

I sat.  Reading and re reading.  

I have never hated myself.  so that word doesn't work for me here,  but all the rest DOES.  So i think…what word or words would i replace for hate myself that could make these words mine?  Because Michelle's friend cannot remember anything more about the book and this is all we have,  Michelle's friend, Michelle,  Me and now 

you

so…what do i insert here?   The trick is not to………………………………If you can manage not to………………………………………….then it won't hurt to remember almost anything;  your childhood,  your parents,  what you've done or what's been done to you

 

 

 

 

 

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30 responses to “Concern”

  1. yvette Avatar

    it’s a bit an open door but memories are in the past and we live now
    without forgiving, how hard it is , you you cannot live because as Pemma chodron sais the vibes reflect
    breath in the ” bad” breath out the ok
    nussbaum and ahrend have written about it so i could understand
    breath in the angry and transform it to soften

    Like

  2. grace Avatar

    Yvette…i know…and i know you know. WE know. I can live well with
    what i have from that time now
    not really Hate
    because hate is toxic.
    Things are in the past, especially when the Person is also in the past, as in dead
    for now
    we are never
    dead
    but he’s gone. Gone for now. And if it were about ME, i could work it.
    But he did what he did with the granddaughter. There is no
    forgiving that.
    She and i talk. it is what it was. but still, there is no forgiving that.
    There is maybe a kind of understanding. a kind of letting it be
    but there is no forgiveness.

    Like

  3. joy in az Avatar

    oh…grace
    is this the Amazing Light-Being Grand Daughter
    who visits you..
    hard…this is hard..

    Like

  4. Jan Avatar
    Jan

    we are so shocked when we can’t protect those we love. when there has been an unimagined danger. it calls our own instinct into question. Perhaps. . .”the trick is not to Doubt Our Own Instinct. . .” for you and for your granddaughter. . .love to you both

    Like

  5. Mo Crow Avatar

    I love the photo of Tay’s Yawn!
    the rest…
    well…
    hmmm…
    what doesn’t kill us just makes us stronger and love always finds a way through
    and Old Man Crow reckons he can forgive but will never forget…

    Like

  6. Jan Avatar
    Jan

    what doesn’t kill us takes us deeper into vulnerability and we wait to see how long it takes for love to grow back

    Like

  7. Mo Crow Avatar

    the quote is from “The Street Sweeper” by Elliot Perlman

    Like

  8. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    Sharing with LOVE:
    The Ancient Heart of Forgiveness with Jack Kornfield
    https://youtu.be/yiRP-Q4mMtk
    12 Principles of Forgiveness
    https://youtu.be/h-RBTd23RN0
    What Forgiveness Means
    https://youtu.be/8VLXYmUwaLA
    Forgiveness Practice
    https://youtu.be/PbHKCy4f6Dk
    Who Jack Kornfield is
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kornfield

    Like

  9. Kim Avatar
    Kim

    Maybe you just need to remove the word “myself”. As in…The trick is not to hate…if you can manage not to hate…then it won’t hurt to remember… Sometimes the memories do hurt. Thank you for making me stop and think about this.

    Like

  10. Nancy Avatar

    Maybe if we don’t ‘dwell’ as in don’t get stuck. We don’t have to forgive or forget, but maybe if we can manage, just manage to let it rest. Put aside and let it rest. Less attention, less power. I guess I’m just considering here.
    I know that feeling all too well, I call it the Madeline feeling, from the children’s book – when Miss Clavel wakes up just knowing that something is not right. Loving thoughts to you and granddaughter. xo

    Like

  11. yvette Avatar

    Nancy, the word manage is so clear, and less attention less power
    that really is the trick…
    Grace
    you know i went through the same horror your sweet girl did but i realise as a grandmother it must be a much bigger hurt
    in my case there was disbelieve….and still
    but there was the concentrationcamp etcetc so i had to forgive
    not possible untill i read about the tonglen Pemma chodron describes so wel

    Like

  12. debbie.weaver Avatar

    You can’t forgive or forget, I know this, I think Nancy is on the right lines, not to dwell, to manage. I live on the beach, I wrote all the bad words I felt in the sand and watched the sea wash them away. It helped.
    You can write them down and then burn them as well.

    Like

  13. saskia Avatar

    what to say
    thinking of you 2 with love

    Like

  14. grace Avatar

    joy…it’s long ago now. And yes. Part of who we are
    together has this woven in. That Love and Goodness are
    More, are stronger, sustain us.

    Like

  15. grace Avatar

    well….yes…but still, there really isn’t Hate. In this
    instance, there was hate in the newness of it but then it
    just became a kind of flatness that just is and will never
    go away, like when theres a piece of earth that has somehow
    been damaged and will not grow anything….
    i didn’t think i was thinking about this particular memory,
    just memory in general and the part that interests me today,
    Saturday is
    “it cannot survive without you….”……

    Like

  16. grace Avatar

    yes…unimagined…..and YES, calls our own instinct into
    question.
    for her it’s one thing, me another, but we carry it
    together

    Like

  17. grace Avatar

    well, we’re not dead. and we Have become strong, but i
    don’t think from that….less innocent maybe, less naive.
    i think it’s ok not to forgive. I think it is NOT OK
    to carry Hatred. and anyway, Hatred is a false cloak for
    Grief i think

    Like

  18. grace Avatar

    have you read EVERY BOOK ever written?????
    I think So.

    Like

  19. grace Avatar

    and that’s the Beauty of the granddaughter, love remained
    in a different place for her, it was not killed
    the expression “an Old Soul” is overdone, but she is.
    and Old Old Soul. I hope someday we might be born
    sisters

    Like

  20. grace Avatar

    haven’t look at these yet.
    i’ll wait until the Strange Holiday has passed. There is
    a Strong energy across this land here during this time of year,
    Heavy Laden. I’ve never quite gotten used to it.

    Like

  21. Mo Crow Avatar

    naw, haven’t read it (yet) was just curious and put the first two lines of Michelle’s quote in google… so easy… we don’t really have to remember anything much any more… I wonder if freeing up the trivia from the memory banks will give out minds more room to expand & explore…

    Like

  22. grace Avatar

    i think this is true. let it be what it is. and it’s been
    many years now. and it is just a
    fact
    as i said somewhere above, there is just a kind of flatness
    now. Like a piece of paper. it has no power. but it also
    will never go away.

    Like

  23. Mo Crow Avatar

    we become more discerning over time and perhaps wiser

    Like

  24. grace Avatar

    for me there was disbelief also. Things like that DO NOT
    HAPPEN in my world. There was never a clue. That’s why
    i refer to him as i do. He was a master of deceit.

    Like

  25. grace Avatar

    no dwelling. Love Rules.

    Like

  26. grace Avatar

    it was a long time ago, saskia.

    Like

  27. grace Avatar

    AHHHHHHHH and HA! is that what you do!!!!!!
    oh! how GREAT to know!!!! Who’dve guessed

    Like

  28. grace Avatar

    again, less naive, me. Her, i don’t know. Her life will
    tell her.

    Like

  29. Nancy Avatar

    Sending love Yvette

    Like

  30. saskia Avatar

    i understand

    Like

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