A Mantra

“Train without bias in all areas. It is crucial always to do this pervasively and wholeheartedly.”
–Buddhist slogan

When you feel like you’re far from home and you are
When you choose to breathe in and breathe out
When you approach a preoccupied stranger on the street
When you see a restless five-year-old boy in the sooq
When you notice an already contentious middle-aged woman sitting in the front row before you give your talk
When you realize that emptiness seems to have taken up permanent lodging in your soul
When you meet up with a friend who’s had enough and is taking it out on you
When you have a searing memory of how bad it all really was
When you can’t seem to get on the exit ramp from the Via Dolorosa
When you sit down to write and nothing comes out
When you hear the knock on the door at just the moment the words begin to tumble forth
When you can’t stop thinking about Leila and her situation
When you study so long your eyes feel like pulp
When you understand you’re no longer needed at work
When you grasp that no one even realized you were gone
When you understand that this, here, now, is it
When you know that it tolls for you
When you remember how the Bedouins fed you
When it occurs to you on Michigan Avenue that you’re a nobody to everyone whichever way you look
When you get a rejection letter from another publisher
When you are sipping espresso at a sidewalk café with Chaos coming right around the corner

The mantra to cultivate
Day in, day out—

“Ahlan wa-sahlan”