Thich Nhat Hanh wrote, in The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching of the importance of resting. He wrote, “After calming, the third function of shamatha is resting. Suppose someone standing along a river throws a pebble in the air and it falls down into the river. The pebble allows itself to sink slowly and reach the riverbed without any effort. Once the pebble is at the bottom, it continues to rest, allowing the water to pass by. … Stopping, calming, and resting are preconditions for healing.”

When I read this portion of his book, it felt like someone had just thrown a rock at my head instead of into a river. Resting is not one of my strengths, yet Thich Nhat Hanh’s words rang true. Sink into IT all and just being, not doing, a human being – and there is so much to sink into.

This afternoon, I sank into the rope hammock, under a cloudless sky and I just let the breeze flow over me, like the pebble in the river, only I didn’t get wet. The rope hammock has different pressure points than a solid hammock. It feels more like you are floating on air. I drifted off to sleep for a few minutes. Sleeping outside is the best.

This evening, I brought my achy old bones out into the hot tub. We’ve moved the hot tub so that I can see much more of the evening sky. Over my left shoulder were the twins, Gemini. Sirius was bright, as normal, and it was shining multiple blues and whites with the help of its companion star and our atmosphere. Right above me, Orion was continuing his hunt and Taurus the Bull was not afraid. The Seven Sisters had a front row seat to it all. And, to my right, Cassiopeia, in her Queen’s chair, seemed very comfortable.

I sank into IT all.