Stop and stand by Rachel Holstead

Stop and stand on your own patch of ground – where your feet are.

Really stand there, all of you – body and mind.

From this place comes all your wisdom, comes every answer that is possible for you to know right now.

* * *

And when you see hurt, hold tight to your sword and know that you cannot fix another.

Instead, bear witness with the ground to that other body, to all its found and unfound wisdom.

And when you think ‘I want to take your suffering’ just stand.

And when you think ‘I want to take your pain’ just stand.

And when you think ‘I cannot bear to stand here, I have to do something’ just stand.

And if you really must do something, then remember love and breath it and be it.

And let the seams of your soul soften and melt away so the boundary between me and you is no longer there and we are both love and witness to love, ground and standing feet, question and answer.

by Rachel Holstead