What’s on My Mind …

for Wendy Lee

How to relax
How to listen to Gould’s recording of Bach’s Toccata in D Major
How to observe like David Grossman
How to stay open amid any outbreaks of intransigence

How to make eye contact
How to read minds
How to not take this all so seriously
How to write down what flashes in my mind

How to scribble and plot mindful mischief
How to see each of these students as future bodhisattvas
How to wake up to periwinkle
How to offer gratitude for four pages of hand-written inspiration, love, and wisdom  from Shanghai

How to now with the Tao
How to not be a teacher
How to be learner with Beginner’s Mind
How to ask for help on Instagram

How to notice who needs help
How to notice the light coming in through the blinds
How to assume that someone in this room is terribly homesick
How to sense that someone else is nervous, grieving, feeling perpetually behind

How to see this present moment as a  moment full of marvels
How to breathe in and out and smile like Chris Wallach
How to let go of last month’s tsuris
How to be here now