Daily Nourishment for December 1, 2024: Start Close In
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 50 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 15 minutes
How does Advent invite you to start close in?
Pause.
Take three deep breaths with a six-count inhale and a six-count exhale. Then read “Start Close In” by David Whyte. I first read this poem in David Whyte: Essentials.
Start Close In
by David Whyte
Start close in,
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.
Start with
the ground
you know,
the pale ground
beneath your feet,
your own
way to begin
the conversation.
Start with your own
question,
give up on other
people’s questions,
don’t let them
smother something
simple.
To hear
another’s voice,
follow
your own voice,
wait until
that voice
becomes an
intimate
private ear
that can
really listen
to another.
Start right now
take a small step
you can call your own
don’t follow
someone else’s
heroics, be humble
and focused,
start close in,
don’t mistake
that other
for your own.
Start close in,
don’t take
the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.
Prompt.
Listen to this Start Close In video using David Whyte’s poem and additional thoughts. It’s about nine and a half minutes long. I recommend listening with your eyes closed. (Thanks, Bre Strobel, for sharing this link!)
Practice.
Set a timer for five minutes and respond to the poem and/or the video. Answer some of the questions he asks in the video:
What is the conversation you don’t want to have?
What is the question you don’t want to answer?
How can you start with the first thing close in?
If you observe the season of Advent, what would it look like to start close in on the First Sunday of Advent?
Want More?
Here’s David Whyte’s Substack if you want to explore more of his writing and work.
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Workshops, Gatherings, & Resources
—Advent Resources: Throughout Advent, I’ll include a new resource each day. For today, here’s Advent Breath Prayers with the Book of Common Prayer for The First Sunday of Advent.
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Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Charlotte Donlon.
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