Remember Sisyphus? Apparently, this famous figure from Greek mythology was something of a bad dude. He had the horrible habit of killing his visitors just to show off his power. The gods thought this was bad manners at the very least, going against their sacred traditions of hospitality. So they punished him with the gift of a heavy boulder that he was to push to the top of a mountain, only to have it roll to the bottom, over and over, for all eternity.

Aside from his lesser-known backstory, his name brings to mind boredom. Thankless interminable tasks are seldom looked upon in a positive light. But just for a second, let’s reconsider. Maybe the gods were on to something? Perhaps his punishment was just a poetic way of teaching him how to meditate?

Many of us, (myself included) have never quite settled into a stationary sitting meditation practice. For me, my mind quiets down and insights and inspirations bubble to the surface when I’m doing something that lets me drop into the flow without too much pressure on my conscious mind.

Somehow, there is something sublimely satisfying about tending to a task that can never be finished. It’s all too easy to approach tedious work or mindless maintenance with a sense of dread, but if you just loosen up your perception a bit, it’s not that hard to reframe tedium with a sense of gratitude for the opportunity to practice a moving meditation.

Going back to the garden for my metaphors once again, mean old Sisyphus came to mind as I was battling blackberry vines and clearing away climbing ivy from the walls of our grange. These persistent plants have much to teach us. They are playing the long game, while all we can do is push back their progress temporarily.

Longtime readers of this newsletter may remember several years back, my campaign against the giant Russian thistles encroaching upon the hills behind my home in the East Bay. My line of attack was to simply clip the flowers before they could spread their seeds. This battle has been joined by some stalwart stewards from the East Bay Regional Parks District zipping around on their little ATVs, zapping the roots of these nasty invaders with some noxious chemicals.

Here in France, there’s a different variety of thorny thistles that I’m going head-to-head with. Looming large in the farmer’s field next door, their young progeny finds fertile ground in our meadow. Armed with only a shovel and some sturdy gloves, I’ve taken to uprooting them one-by-one. Knowing that even a single survivor will scatter scores of seeds means that like it or not, it will be back up the hill with the boulder before too long.

But deep within this work that I know will never be finished is the gift of mindfulness. Patience, persistence, and playing my part in the dance with mother nature are all part and parcel to my turn here as the human steward of this land.

Let’s be real about it though. Not all Sisyphean tasks are worth the effort. If you’ve ever tried to help someone who was stuck in a rut, you know what I mean. Over and over you might show them that they’re on the wrong path, but until their soul is willing to make a shift, your efforts to assist them are going to roll right back down the hill. When it comes to helping people with personal transformation, you have to ‘know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em’ to borrow a card player’s cliché.

Nature is different. We know from the outset that we are nothing but compost in Mother Nature’s grand scheme of things. Plants will always have more patience than us.

Life gives us a brief span of time to sharpen our soul upon the living world. Our lot in life is to simply roll our boulder up whatever path our gods have given us with love, kindness, and our chins up.

With you in the wilds till next week!

À bientôt!

M+

Mark Metz
Director of the Dance First Association
Publisher of Conscious Dancer Magazine