Today's practice in darkness was illuminated by the lights of Baltimore. Tide Point flashed out in large white letters across the bay, Bond Street Market flowed down the outside of a building kitty-corner across the intersection. Street lights illumined now-dry cobblestones where yesterday it was rainy and damp, the day before, snowy. Business, shoreline, and marine lights reflected off the surface of the water.
As a temporary visiting city dweller I turn on no lights in the room where I practice. Still, I see well enough--due to abundant outdoor lighting--to balance and move. The water's surface ... smooth but for a constant slight ripple.
My thoughts and memories are like those watery ripples. I remind myself to sink into my roots, to rest in my center, to release my mind's flickers and fanciful flights. As Justin Stone reminds us (paraphrased): "Do not be tossed by the waves on the surface of the water. Focus instead on the shoreline. Be as still as the horizon."
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