Homework

So my homework this week was to write a letter to me back in the Army, when the wheels were flying off and I was falling apart. Somehow connect with him and give some comfort in that time.

Dear Richard,

You may not know it with no time to breathe but you may be numb. Like a scraped knee under a stream of peroxide your skin, your emotions, and the circumference of your mind may be having a feeling right now... numb.

Beneath the thin tingle of numb may be anger. Thickly caked like mud under the tread of your boots, carefully engineered and cultivated to make your body an effective killing machine.

But deep in the safest corner of your mind you are you... at your core. Tired, scared, and vigilant of the circumstances around you. I'm speaking now to that you of yous. The Rickey of your youth who has never been free to breathe.

Breathe, You are alive!

I am the you of the future and you are safe. I wrap you up in this moment, warm inside the wisdom of having survived all this shit. I can say that I know you know you will survive it, but allow me to take you further from it than you can know.

In the future you will become a living Buddha of compassion having known such suffering, The close people in you life will embrace you with thanks for what wisdom you share.

You will be a light of the Dharma. A teacher, a healer, and you will speak with a heart that is big and full with love.

Let's leave this place now for this time and see through the window through this suffering into your future. Gliding along serene bike paths as the morning sun breaks through the thick green leaves.

Listen to the sounds of the early birds chirping their song as you are given 24 new hours to be.

Breathe, You are alive!

This place is not for your Richard. Though you are strong enough to survive it, this Army is not your home and I'm here to take you away from it, right now in this meditation you have come back to your center...

Even though you may not know it.