Shouldn't…but Do

They say if you gaze into a mirror long enough, you eventually stop recognizing yourself.  I know this to be true.

It works with hands too.

Try this at home – hold out your hand, palm toward you and stretch out your fingers.  Watch for awhile, the palm seems to warm – as if returning your gaze.

It is not you – it is your hand.  You are part of the same being, but it is not you.  It is, however, matter that knows you, thus you and your hand together,  are embodied.

Think of the life that hand has lived, what it has done, how it expressed you, felt for you, kept you occupied.  It carries out thoughts and a million other things.  A marvelous extension, one and the same.

Gaze long enough, you realize fingers are miraculous – tissue, bone, blood – each part of the body a step,  an edge, a movement, into space beyond we who utilize vocal cords to speak,  legs to walk.

And hands to hold.  Wonderful thing about hands,  we can hold our own in a clasp, or a prayer, or  hold the hand of another – one and the same.