We love our work.
We love our vocation.
We love our hobbies.
We love our possessions.
We love our travels. We love music.
We love others. We try to.
In all the melee have you forgotten to express love to yourself?
It’s time to meet that “person” again.
The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was yourself.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Takedown the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.
This is a lovely poem by the Caribbean poet and playwright Derek Walcott.
Especially in the past few months, we have seen a burst of messages around “empathy” and “compassion” for others.
Which is absolutely essential.
This poem resonates with the teachings of the great Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh who has written beautifully about why learning to love others begins with learning to love ourselves.
Go sit with yourself.
Feast on your life.
