More than two hundred years ago when William Wordsworth wrote “the world is too much with us,” little did he know how much the world would be with us today. What would he think of our overscheduled, over-stressed, over-worked world that leaves us with little time to relax and unwind, little time to close our eyes, catch our breath, and dream?
No wonder there is a renewed interest in the ancient practice of yoga and meditation. We seek those rare moments of solace now as much or more than they did thousands of years ago. Yet our busy days are so often too jam-packed for us to find the precious time to relax. We barely have time for a few fleeting seconds to dream of slipping slowly away into a calm oasis of cool breezes and warm sunshine.
Even during our most hectic, busiest days, surely we can find a minute for ourselves to relax and recharge with a positive thought. It only takes a minute to close our eyes, take a breath, and whisper a few words to soothe the soul and reenergize the spirit. Surely each of us has a comforting place we can go in our mind’s eye to unwind for a minute. Here’s a poem to serve as a mantra to help take you to that place where peace and harmony may lift your heart and restore your soul with hope and promise for a calmer, kinder world.
Be Still in the World
Be still in the world wherever you are,
listen to life’s lullaby;
the heartbeat, the breathing,
the giving, receiving,
the sun and the moon and the star.
They all shine true through the essence of you,
a beacon of boundless light;
the father, the mother,
the sister, the brother,
all are within you tonight.
Let the flow of the seas, the lilt of the breeze,
the rush and the calm of all time
carry your dreams
along rivers and streams
and let you be still where you are.
©Charles Ghigna
For more about yoga and meditation check out Yoga: Find Your Zen Today and Every Day.
Charles Ghigna – Father Goose® lives in a treehouse in the middle of Alabama. He is the author of more than 100 award-winning books from Random House, Disney, Hyperion, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Time Inc., Abrams, Boyds Mills Press, Charlesbridge, Capstone, Orca and other publishers, and more than 5000 poems, many of which appear in textbooks and anthologies, and in newspapers and magazines from The New Yorker and Harper’s to Cricket and Highlights. He served as poet-in residence and chair of creative writing at the Alabama School of Fine Arts, and as a nationally syndicated feature writer for Tribune Media Services. He has spoken at schools, colleges, conferences, libraries, and literary events throughout the U.S. and overseas, and has read his poems at The Library of Congress, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the American Library in Paris, the American School in Paris, and the International Schools of South America. For more information, please visit his website at FatherGoose.com.
