Sounds True recently published a new, expanded edition of Inside the Miracle: Enduring Suffering, Approaching Wholeness, which gathers twenty-eight years of my writing and teaching about suffering, healing, and wholeness, including thirty-nine new poems and prose pieces not yet published. One of the great transforming passages in my life was having cancer in my mid-thirties. This experience unraveled the way I see the world and made me a student of all spiritual paths. With a steadfast belief in our aliveness, I hope what’s in this book will help you meet the transformation that waits in however you’re being forged. The following piece is an excerpt from the book.

The Decision for Therapy

As we gamble on the future,

let’s stay clear: this moment

with all its presence is intact.

It is not up for grabs.

This moment for which I’ve

lived all others, for which

I’ve withstood the breakage

of all I know repeatedly,

this moment is germ-free

and not on trial.

You are welcome here

by permission only

and the alarm you cast

like a blind fisherman

will only snag my want

for tomorrow, only hook

what I do not have.

I know you mean to help

and I cannot deny

you are a bridge

I have to cross.

But where I live

cannot be staged

or stained or seen

as gross evidence.

Where I live

is impervious

to histology.

It is the one site

in the city that

will not burn.

And if you guide me

to tomorrow, I’ll

show you, as you

shake your head,

how I still glow

in this unbreachable

clearing I carry within

like a sun or rising star

protected by its rays.

A Question to Walk With: Tell the story of a moment of certainty you experienced in the middle of a difficult time.