They hide in the house of my soul,
these stones—
ragged and heavy and thrown.
Igneous monsters
churning their grit
thick with inevitability’s spit,
they become increasingly intimate,
and so I sit.
Practicing maitri, polishing stone,
befriending my body,
befriending my home,
with its stones of anger,
its stones of shame,
its stones of loss, betrayal, and gain,
breathing in, I sit.
Becoming intimate with stones—
ragged and heavy and thrown,
bringing my monsters closer to home
raw with energy seething
befriending my spirit
befriending my soul
in an intimate act of breathing.
Breathing out, I sit.
Exhaling self-acceptance,
possibility opens—
shining and spacious and free.
Brenda Warren 2016
Arlee 2015 b.warren
Elizabeth’s Creativity Challenge Day 3 asked us to explore the word acceptance. After reading one of Elizabeth’s pieces, I decided to explore acceptance through the Buddhist lens of maitri. Maitri can be defined as loving kindness towards oneself. It takes practice. To really love yourself, you have to face your demons. When I turned my monsters into stones, this piece resulted. The ending feels abrupt to me. I may play with it later.
undercaws 
Whew! This is incredible, Brenda. I am in the middle of a situation that is testing every once of my person and belief system. Thank you for reminding me to breathe, just breathe. I dearly wish we could speak one on one. I know you don’t like the phone, but there is a chat on Facebook. Would you consider that? Thank you for this poem,
Elizabeth
http://soulsmusic.wordpress.com
http://1sojournal.wordpress.com
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Thank you, Elizabeth. Meditation helps. It provides a calm space that I know is there even when I feel like screaming. This piece took me most of the day yesterday, and I won’t have that kind of time until Monday. That said, I’m going to try to keep up with your challenges. It feels good to be writing again.Thanks for the challenge. As for chatting, I’d love to visit with you on FB messenger. I’ve got a busy few days, but hit me up. We can figure out a time to chat in real time. Monday works great for me!
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