ARS VIVENDI...

... the art of living.

I was surprised to discover, in the course of this morning's meditation, a previously unnoticed reserve of tension in the wrists and hands.

Asking myself what might be the cause of tension in this unexpected place, I came upon this insight: if heart and mind are the instigators, wrists and hands are the instruments of much of my daily action.

The tension, my mind concluded--spontaneously, without great effort of thought on my part--derives from the need to do: I must do something.

And as I reflected further on this insight after meditation, that famous line from Archibald MacLeish's best known poem, Ars Poetica, popped into my head: "A poem should not mean, but be." So I came up with this useful paraphrase as a reminder: A person--particularly a person of respectable years, such as myself--should not do, but be.