By Mirabai Starr,
Here. Come here. Take a moment to set aside that list you’ve been writing in fluorescent ink. The list that converts tasks into emergencies. Items like “feed the orchids” become “If I don’t accomplish this by 11:00 a.m. tomorrow morning the rain forests are going to dry up and it will be all my fault.” Or “If I fail to renew my automobile insurance I will probably crash my car and everyone will die.” Or “This friend just had her breast biopsied and that friend’s brother-in-law beat up her sister and my aunt just lost her job with symphony and my nephew is contemplating divorce and I must call them all, and listen to them for an hour each, and dispense redemptive advice.”
Gather your burdens in a basket in your heart. Set them at the feet of the Mother. Say, “Take this, Great Mama, because I cannot carry all this shit for another minute.” And then crawl into her broad lap and nestle against her ample bosom and take a nap. When you wake, the basket will still be there, but half its contents will be gone, and the other half will have resumed their ordinary shapes and sizes, no longer masquerading as catastrophic, epic, chronic, and toxic. The Mother will clear things out and tidy up. She will take your compulsions and transmute them. But only if you freely offer them to her.
Excerpt from "Wild Mercy" © 2019 Mirabai Starr used with permission from the author and the publisher, Sounds True, Inc.
Mirabai Starr writes creative non-fiction and speaks internationally on contemplative practice and inter-spiritual dialog. She has received critical acclaim for her revolutionary new translations of the mystics, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila and Julian of Norwich. She is the award-winning author of God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and Caravan of No Despair: A Memoir of Loss and Transformation. Her latest book is Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce & Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics. She lives with her extended family in the mountains of northern New Mexico.
Six communities, including the Abbey of Hope, have come together to bring Marabai Starr to Maine, March 13 & 14. Both events are sold out, but for more information and to join the waiting list, go to unitygreaterportland.org/mirabai-starr. The book, Wild Mercy, is available at local bookstores.
