My experience of life as a human primate is sometimes fairly…practical…and…gross. Graphic. Real. Biological. These elements of my human experience don’t accept much in the way of argument, denial, or avoidance; we are primates, we are mammals, we are biological creatures made of cells, and systems.

I spent last night quite sick. Today’s plans are no longer relevant; I am fatigued and aching, in pain, and a tad apathetic about the day to come. “I don’t feel well” is a phrase I suddenly recognize as also being characteristic of the ‘phrased in the negative’ figures of speech so common to me. Instead, this morning I will say it differently; I am in pain, and feel a lingering sense of illness and physical discomfort. “I don’t feel well” covers a lot of unstated territory, and isn’t really very specific at all, is it? “I feel ill” – or even “I feel unwell” – is easily every bit as specific (not very), and as polite, and manages to be a more powerful ‘I statement’. Nice bit of curriculum, Life – I could do without the terrible backache, and the nasty headache, they were not necessary to communicate the lesson.

I would write more on some other morning. The backache from being sick during the night is quite distracting. I feel cross and irritable; pain just sucks like that. Seems like a good day to slow down, meditate more, nap some, and be kind to myself. It seems like a good day to relax and watch fish swim. It is also a good day to practice practices, to consider things with perspective, attention, and care, and to read The Four Agreements.

Today I will take care of me. I will take the very best care of me that I know how to do. I will use the opportunity to enjoy some of the lovely qualities of being me that life is often too fast paced to really slow down for day-to-day – and perhaps find new habits along the way that allow me to do so more easily, more often. Today  I will make a point of being kind and patient with others, too, because it is what I want for myself. It is a good day to pass over the chaos, to rise from the damage, and to continue my journey engaged, present, and enjoying my experience with a beginner’s mind. The map may not be the world, but I am my own cartographer on this journey, and it is what I choose to make of it in so many important ways.

Letting in the light, letting in the love, and open to the possibilities.