art lets our hearts break open... Marie Howe, poet

Breaking seems to be the "theme" of last month. It started when my dear daughter fell and fractured her ankle in three places, followed by my niece and two friends also falling and "breaking". While not on the same level, for the first time was the sad sight of my one of my clay pieces -- broken! With glue, my art piece, and our dear bodies with surgery, medicine, time to heal -- those broken places can be fixed. As Gloria Steinem has said "we are stronger at the broken places" Also, what nature teaches us is that breaking can be a breaking open. Think of a sprout coming out of seed and pushing through the earth to the light, or of a chick emerging from egg. When we break or break open -- it is a time, forced or chosen -- to stop and really be present with what is going on.