the sweet spot

One of the great gifts of being alive is the experience of care. To care deeply about a person, a community, a creature, the Earth, or an issue in society is to glimpse the possibility of oneness. However, when care becomes attached to a particular outcome, we may find ourselves in the territory of ‘overcare’. And there be dragons! Investing too much significance in the outcome of the caring impulse makes us susceptible to disappointment. We may even experience disillusionment and burn-out, feeling that ‘all our efforts were in vain’. Fixing our gaze on a particular result can blind us to the unintended – and often magical – outcomes that did in fact unfold. Entrusting the outcome to grace beyond our control allows us to savour each opportunity to connect with care.

The Sweet Spot

Between unconsciousness
and exhaustion
stretches a continuum of care
from don’t-care disregard
to can’t-care burnout.

Find the sweet spot
where care meets grace
and ego is disarmed.

Immersed in trust
significance softens
fixed ideas flex
love reaches out its arms
to life.