“Relationship in any form teaches us about our capacity to accept, endure, and survive suffering, our own and every being’s: thus the creation of our developing compassion.” – Janet Adler
Today is the day.
It’s been fifteen years since my father left me with a puzzling mystery after he died. Writing became my way into an inquiry that often felt like a continuing conversation with him…with myself.
Today, I am thinking of my father.
“That’s the beauty of it.” was one of his favorite phrases. It was, as I share in The Watch, “his invariable response to something you normally wouldn’t like or want to do.”
The enthusiastic pitch of his voice was his good-humored yet emphatic way of nudging my brothers and me to expand our outlook in some way.
This often involved some less than appealing chore we were supposed to do or something he was cooking that we thought was disgusting. In response to our protests against a meal involving the pink squishy blobs on his kitchen cutting board, he would cheerily reply, “But it’s sheep pancreas. And that’s the beauty of it!
Today, I am thinking of Janet Adler, my long-time teacher of the Discipline of Authentic Movement.
By some strange coincidence, the original publication date for The Watch was changed a few months ago. I was stunned to learn the new date would be February 20th—Janet’s birthday.
Today she would have been 84 years old.
Toward the end of The Watch, I write:
From early on in her work Janet knew intuitively that we need each other in order to awaken to ourselves. Her great offering to the world is this knowing—that the spark of relational recognition is how we remember who we are. Hidden within each human being, until awakened, is the capacity to be present.
Today, I am thinking of each of you—friends, students, colleagues, folks I’ve never met in person—who receive my periodic messages. I’m grateful for each one of you, doing what you do, being who you are.
The Watch: Time to Witness the Beauty of It All
Sometimes the most ordinary object can open a door to life’s greatest mysteries. For Paula Sager, it’s a wristwatch—one that takes on a life of its own after her father’s death, prompting questions concerning synchronicity and the nature of relationship.
Paula walks alongside her father to the threshold of life, bearing witness to every step. Time is the landscape. Contemplative practice spreads out the crumpled map. The Watch delves into the mystery of time as lived experience, and to the possibility that every moment can be a portal to the invisible realm beyond time.
To order or learn more about The Watch visit – paulasager.com