A Wendell Berry Kind of Day

It may be that when we no longer know what to do

we have come to our real work

and that when we no longer know

which way to go we

have begun our real journey.

Wendell Berry, Standing by Words

When despair for the world grows in me

 and I wake in the night at the least sound

 in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

 I go and lie down where the wood drake

 rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

 I come into the peace of wild things

 who do not tax their lives with forethought

 of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

 And I feel above me the day-blind stars

 waiting with their light. For a time

 I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

“The Peace of Wild Things,” Wendell Berry

On days when words fail, awash in my heart’s overflow, I go to “rest in the grace of the world.” What better compass than the “presence of still water?”

Aim for Even posts offer equanimity a dose at a time. No day or dose is ever the same, even if the aim is. You may read about the origins of Aim for Even here or on this site’s About page.