Gentle Breath

My word for 2009 is gentleness and I've been giving a lot of consideration to what it means to me on a personal level. I've also been thinking about what it could mean on a larger, more expansive level.

In my morning meditation and prayer time I've begun using the word gentle. It has two syllables, making it perfect for the inhalation and exhalation of breath. As I slowly breathe in and out it occurs to me that everyone has the power to hold, and then breathe, gentleness into life. It can work in two ways.

First, holding gentleness inside has the power to effect change in me. It has the potential to frame my outlook and my perceptions, if only I give it a chance. Each inhalation of gentle breath can bring me closer to the person I was created to be.

The second part is equally powerful. The exhalation of each gentle breath contains the possibility of new life outside of me. Gentleness on my part can easily change the outcomes of my interactions with others. Gentleness in words and actions can even change the attitudes of those people with whom my life intersects.

An inward-outward journey.

Gentleness is a tiny action and a small thought. It's intangible and easily written off because the world can be a hard, unforgiving place.

As I knelt to meditate this morning I noticed that it was quietly beginning to snow. Each small, inconsequential flake fell from the sky and landed outside my window. I continued to breathe. The flakes began to gather one by one and soon there was a light blanket on the ground. The tree in front of me was being transformed into a magical white creature with many arms. I breathed. It continued to build, flake by flake. It was silent and still in its power.

Just like a very gentle breath.

What if we all breathed gently?

A Word for this Year

I'm not one for a bunch of New Year's Resolutions. I used to try and then get really down on myself when I "failed." This year, as I was thinking about what I wanted for myself in 2009 I decided to come up with one word that summed up my desires for the new year.

It didn't take me long to come up with my word.

Instead of a list of things that were somehow framed in negativity – I will stop eating all junk food. . .or else. . . – I wanted something that would encompass the direction I wanted my life to proceed. If I am gentle with myself then I can make slow and positive changes as I am ready and willing. No deadlines. No consequences. Just gentleness.

I want to give that to myself. And make it my gift to others with whom my daily encounters intersect.

I may make this work the focus of some art this year. Some writing. I will certainly use this word for my meditation mantra each day. We shall see.

The following quote has always been inspiring to me. It's been printed out and posted on the edge of my computer screen for quite awhile. May it inspire you too.

Don't lose any opportunity, however small, of being gentle toward everyone. Don't rely on your own efforts to succeed in your various undertakings, but only on God's help. Then rest in his care of you, confident that he will do what is best for you, provided that you will, for your part, work diligently but gently. I say "gently" because a tense diligence is harmful both to our heart and to our task and is not really diligence, but rather over eagerness and anxiety...I recommend you to God's mercy. I beg him, through that same mercy, to fill you with his love. 

– St. Francis de Sales

Happy New Year.