Gateway

Pema Chodron, a buddhist nun, talks about Sim and Ripka. Sim is the Tibetan word for "clutter of the mind". It's the buzzing and random dialogue and come-backs one never thought to use on time. It's the hesitation and the passion and the disorganization of thought. A stumbling over and over of just too many things. Our best friends, inspirations and worst enemies all vying for our mental attention. It's the stuff that gives us headaches, keeps us up later than we want to be, and gets on our fucking nerves. It's the stuff that makes our shoulders hurt.

Ripka is space. It's the space between all that clutter. The doorway between the in breath and the out breath. It's the place where the water meets the shore, when it's neither coming nor receding, ebbing or flowing.

When I'm getting on my own nerves with all that fear and self doubt, when I'm lying in bed at night wondering if I'd forgotten to place a bakery order or file a receipt, wondering what I may have done taking on this shop, wondering about.... so much.....it's sometimes just a matter of remembering to repeat over and over again in my head~

sim sim sim sim sim sim sim sim sim sim sim sim sim sim sim

and then stop

take a deep breath

notice the space between

and then

R*i*p*k*a