Carve out big slices of time.
If you don't have a holiday carver,
a kitchen knife will do.

Use your will as a wand,
you have to be ruthless.

Hollow out space like a pumpkin.
Carve windows and doorways,
make room for the senses.

Drink in every color of green,
oaks, banyans,
willows, palms,
the one that's more silver than green.

Be startled by red;
geraniums, poinsettias,
orchids, impatiens.

Touch silence.
Listen to the refrigerator hum.

Wear wind on your skin.
Breathe air in like menthol.
Read the earth with your footsteps.

Taste compassion
for those who have failings.
Start out with the fruit of yourself.

Dither, dabble, do nothing.
Inhabit your dreams.
Learn labyrinths and limbo.

Remember the soul
needs a parent.
If you don't protect it
who will?

-Linda Albert