‘You might as well start packing now…’

    May 11, 2022

    ‘…and practice being alive.’

    How To B/e/l/o/n/g Be Alone
    Written and read by Pádraig Ó Tuama

    ~

    It all begins with knowing
    nothing lasts forever,
    so you might as well start packing now.

    In the meantime,
    practice being alive.

    There will be a party
    where you’ll feel like
    nobody’s paying you attention.
    And there will be a party
    where attention’s all you’ll get.
    What you need to do
    is to remember
    to talk to yourself
    between these parties.

    And,
    again,
    there will be a day,
    — a decade —
    where you won’t
    fit in with your body
    even though you’re in
    the only body you’re in.

    You need to control
    your habit of forgetting
    to breathe.

    Remember when you were younger
    and you practiced kissing on your arm?
    You were on to something then.
    Sometimes harm knows its own healing
    Comfort knows its own intelligence.
    Kindness too.
    It needs no reason.

    There is a you
    telling you another story of you.
    Listen to her.

    Where do you feel
    anxiety in your body?
    The chest? The fist? The dream before waking?
    The head that feels like it’s at the top of the swing
    or the clutch of gut like falling
    & falling & falling and falling
    It knows something: you’re dying.
    Try to stay alive.

    For now, touch yourself.
    I’m serious.

    Touch your
    self.
    Take your hand
    and place your hand
    some place
    upon your body.
    And listen
    to the community of madness
    that
    you are.
    You are
    such an
    interesting conversation.

    You belong
    here.


    ‘In truth, the purpose of any relationship is that love itself be served, in the lives of all concerned.’ -Marianne Williamson

    The generous heart does not collapse into the easy things, but rises up in adversity. – Mirabai Starr [Glosa a lo Divino, John of the Cross]

    ‘The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.’ -Kahlil Gibran

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