Holding

Holding is not a little garnish, but a vast and beautiful function.

Sandwiches, bookends, book covers, top and bottom sheets, andirons, prefixes and suffixes, lighting the match and later blowing out the candle — in all those instances there is a clear holding of the content.  Holding is not a little garnish, but a vast and beautiful function.  The mother holds the child in her arms, after holding it in her body.  We hold an intention.  We hold ourselves, sometimes each other, to our word.  The room holds us.  The glass holds the wine.  If the glass tips, the earth will hold the overflow as it sinks into the ground.

This poem by D H Lawrence beautifully transmits this idea of framing or holding:

When the ripe fruit falls
its sweetness distills and trickles away
into the veins of the earth…

(Read the entire poem here)

We can participate in this spirit of open holding by how we frame the day.

1. In the morning, let whatever morning ritual you perform (turning on a light, brushing your teeth, saying a verse, stretching your limbs) carry the intention to develop and hold kindness in the course of the day.

2. In the evening, let whatever evening ritual you perform (glancing at the stars, turning off the lights) be a cue to remember those moments of kindness you managed either to notice or produce that day.

3. Then release yourself into the wider holding of the night.

all blessings to all,
Michael Lipson

Michael Lipson, PhD is a Clinical Psychologist living with his family in Berkshire County, MA.  He is the author of Stairway of Surprise (2002) and Group Meditation (2010) both from SteinerBooks.  He teaches workshops in meditation and consciousness studies both locally and globally.