I Cry for You

When I think about the election of 2016, one image comes to mind: a woman in 17th century Salem dragged to the stocks. Her hands and head are shoved into rough hewn holes; a vulnerable, painfully humiliating punishment in the village square. Jeering crowds hurl rotten fruit at the immobilized woman, her alabaster skin colored by stains of cruelty, her soul tainted with the hateful thoughts of her tormenters.

Certain sectors crow over the misdeeds of Hillary Clinton with chants of "lock her up." Yet, they enjoy the spoils of a country that has pillaged the planet for self-serving gains of the material kind. The utter injustice of a psychopath seizing power while the real leader is vanquished has become a real-time nightmare.

I cry for the hurts inflicted upon Hillary Clinton and more importantly on our nation and the world. We can only hope that the arc of truth shall prevail over the span of time, but it is we who must bend that arc.

Pain As a Gift

Sentient beings don't want pain on any level - physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. However, that is the one sure-fire experience of incarnates and is intricately laced within pleasure and other states of sensation.

Looking on the bright side, pain does present a viable alternative to the thinking, worrying mind. While most of us waste endless hours contemplating trivial matters or events of grave importance, the moment pain erupts due to injury, illness, or loss, all mundane concerns vanish. Pain puts us in the here and now; everything else recedes into the distance.

This is the gift of pain, and allowing oneself to experience the immediacy of the sensation is a built in meditation, courtesy of mother nature. As the mind surrenders to the call of immense discomfort, it ceases to be that which we must escape, and becomes on some profound level a friend that reminds us of the need for balance and mindfulness in all things.

Thus I contemplate as I rest with legs elevated, nursing a frayed tendon in my leg and grateful that the pain has brought me back from a labrynth of disembodied thoughts.