No Self

“I tell myself there is

no self- I am just

a place where the

universe happens to be happening

telling itself through me.”

– John Brehm

Via

There are mornings when I wake and forget, for a moment, everything I’m supposed to carry.

Link to a poem titled, “In the morning, before anything bad happens”

Poems for Your Life, v.06 - by T. De Los Reyes

We’re working every dread day that is given us
Feeling like the person people meet
Really isn’t us
Like we’re going to buckle underneath the trouble
Like any minute now
The struggle’s going to finish us
Kae Tempest - People’s Faces

life piles up
towers over us
leering, judging
we work
with heart
giving up pieces
to the pile
till it, we, fall
then
life piles up

Today
what did you
feel?
think?
find?
lose?
remember?

maybe today
walk away
from anything
without a heart

It’s easy to be busy. I’m always busy. There’s always something else I could be doing. Teaching is great for that. You’re never really done. And so, this week I’ve been trying to not always be the wrong kind of busy. The kind that involves staring at a screen. To be the other kind of busy, the one that involves spending more time with students and colleagues. More heart.

nothing happens next
this is it! and this is it !
and this is it too!

We read A Stone For Sascha by Aaron Becker in class yesterday and talked about time and how things change. Again, I tried to step back and give the kids time to speak. I still find that hard, feeling the need to fill the spaces. A beautiful, wordless book all told. His Journey trilogy is still some of my favourite picture books.

These words are from the comic of two monks that I have had rattling around inside my head for the longest time. And talking about time has brought it back, again.

Music is Rosie Thomas - These Friends of Mine

we hear, but
don’t, can’t absorb
you’re ready
when you’re ready

Stupid challenge. Been thinking a lot about realising things. Then realising these are things you’ve read, been told, were first thought long ago. But it didn’t matter. You’re ready, when you’re ready.

a few
lines each day
condensing thoughts
packaging them
releasing them
letting go

We talked as a family of doing a challenge. The kids said they would do a lap around our compound but that’s changed to just going outside after school. Lyra’s is to read everyday. I’m going to write a poem.

Breaking routine loops
Stepping outside well worn habits
Finding something new!

a term time shadow
of myself, and my glory
a choice I have made

I feel like a different person in the holidays. Like work takes so much of me that I am a shadow of myself during term time.

a term time shadow
of myself, and my glory
a choice I have made

I found my breath, in
Life’s busy repetitions,
Hiding in plain sight

Waiting till they sleep
Future points of happiness
A wedding, old friends

Haiku #1

Not ordinary
But extraordinary
What are we doing?

inspired by

It feels like,
It’s not just getting
Time
To yourself .
It’s having time,
With the right
Frame of mind.

Which is where I fall down.

, again

Starting
Ending
Packing up lives
Goodbyes

Tearing
Embracing
Promises to keep
Sleep

TWENTY REASONS FOR BEING

Another poem

swissmiss - A Poem for Someone Who is Juggling Her Life

each haircut
each set of outgrown clothes
each start of a new school year

moves us closer to that thing we dread
our kids growing up
our kids leaving

this is not to depress you
it’s to help you enjoy now
while it’s here
while they are

the past is past
put our mistakes behind us
stop being distracted or too busy
rededicate ourselves — to parenting
our most important job

let us begin afresh, afresh, afresh
for
today is the very last time
they will be this age
again

Paraphrased from Daily Dad

Day 10 is sponsored by Ted Lasso and the song Risk It All by Ella Henderson.

Day 9 Yumo was looking over the back of the sofa, like a meerkat. Tigger and his blanket held tightly. Daddy? Yes Yumo? He makes a kissing noise with his mouth. Good morning Yumo

❤️

Day 8

Day 7

Day 5

Day 3 at the dining table

Morning fights

Day One of Thirty