Marianela Medrano

Mindfulness and indigenous wisdom invite us to become aware of our creative and destructive patterns and our need for connection with everything that exists. Without this attention, we can get lost in the conundrum of solving the problems our "sophisticated" mind creates.

In preparation for the final stage of certification as a Mindfulness Meditation Teacher, I am focusing on ways to teach Metta or lovingkindness and Mindfulness in easy accessible ways. Metta is the Pali word for unconditional kindness—friendliness and acceptance.

The latest events in this country, including our exposure to witnessing the horrendous, unjustified murder of George Floyd, will no doubt have ripple effects on our psychological health. The adversity people of color, in particular Blacks in USA, have endured for centuries was captured in a 10-minute video filmed by a 17-year-old woman.

I am reading Mary Catherine Bateson’s Composing a Life for the umpteenth time, each time finding renewed guidance and comfort in her wisdom. Her emphasis on how the “deep chasm of discontinuity” leads us, especially if we are paying attention, to use our circumstances to creatively compose and recompose our life, resonates powerfully with me and also sends me back to Elizabeth Bishop’s line from “One Art” I use as title to affirm “loss is no disaster” but the beginning of something new.

Oysters protect the soft part of their bodies by snapping their shells shut as a response to any sign of danger. For the mollusks in the sea, the closing down action makes sense as a defense mechanism. The case is not so for us humans when confronted with emotional or psychological difficulties.