Compassion is the focus of this guided meditation led by Julie Potiker. Breath in compassion for yourself - and out for others. She completes the meditation with the poem, "Komorebi," by James Crews.

Komorebi, by James Crews

For what must have been a full minute

in the spacious eternity of an evening

at the ragged end of summer, I stood

in the kitchen as the sun dropped down

behind the trees at the exact right place

for it to dance, shadow and light, across

the swirled grain of the maple counter.

The Japanese call it komorebi, this play

of sunshine breaking through the gaps

in leaves, now dappling my hand as I

reach for my mug of tea. One of those

countless small miracles we seldom thing

to name in English, a simple reward

for laying down the knife and leaving

a carrot half-chopped on the cutting board,

to be heard for at least this one out of

the 1440 minutes I was granted today.

-Komorebi, by James Crews.

Find out more about using mindfulness in everyday life through Julie's books, "SNAP: From Calm to Chaos", and "Life Falls Apart, But You Don't have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos". Both are available on Amazon.com.

Follow Julie on YouTube and Facebook at Mindful Methods for Life.com

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