sati.

we need to do much less than we think.
one translation of sati, a Pali word, is mindfulness.
another, which feels truer in my own body and experience is:
remember
for those trained by industrialized society to do, to reach, to be productive,
this energy can arise in our practice.
thinking that is up to us to stop thoughts,
as if we are in control of the comings and goings of them.
but once practicing,
each time the mind wanders and returns,
we realize there is no one responsible for the grace of remembering.
each time we return, we can welcome sati, welcome remembering,
drinking up the precious felt moment of freedom through presence.
the path of remembering only requires our noticing.
that we notice all that is happening –
straying thoughts, charged emotions, ordinary breath.
and as we settle further into practice,
taking in the subtle, yet life changing moments of returning,
we begin to see and feel the unbridled pleasure of it.
it is not a feeling of high,
no, it is a feeling of widening, of spaciousness, of deep contentment.
this is the path of letting go.
a letting go that arrives as we show up to witness.
a letting go that is an endless verb.
a letting go that momentarily and ultimately, gives us our lives back.