When you find yourself wondering
how you’re going to pass the time
and you scramble for arrangements
to fill the uneasy emptiness
When you find yourself wishing you were someone else
and stare enviously at the pages of magazines
wishing for better or more
When you catch yourself feeling that something’s not quite right
but can’t pin down what it is
and solitude feels unnerving
as if the room were filled with restless ghosts
When you catch your mind clinging to future dreams
looking forward to holidays a little too much
and you feel hungry for noise and activity
to immerse yourself in and forget —
It’s only a sign that you’ve lost yourself
that there’s a fog of worries and responsibilities
whirling through your mind
standing between you and the warmth and light
and spacious radiance of being.
It’s only a sign that you’ve pushed yourself so hard
that you’ve dried up like a river in summer
and can’t meet up with the ocean.
You don’t need to do anything —
you need to do nothing
to lift yourself out of the noise and stress
until the fog has cleared
and your being has settled to stillness
and the connection forms itself again.