Wishing for a Fig in Winter

Dear Jade Readers,
Thank you for returning to read here. Yes, I have been away from writing posts regularly for some considerable time. There has been a reason and it might well be to do with wishing for a fig in winter, so to speak. Let my intention be to open my hands and write my thoughts. It is about love basically.
Bows, Mugo
Epictetus — a proponent of the wonderful practice of self-scrutiny applied with kindness — proceeds to offer a meditation on loosening the grip of grief in parting permanently from someone we have loved:

When you are delighted with anything, be delighted as with a thing which is not one of those which cannot be taken away, but as something of such a kind, as an earthen pot is, or a glass cup, that, when it has been broken, you may remember what it was and may not be troubled… What you love is nothing of your own: it has been given to you for the present, not that it should not be taken from you, nor has it been given to you for all time, but as a fig is given to you or a bunch of grapes at the appointed season of the year. But if you wish for these things in winter, you are a fool. So if you wish for your son or friend when it is not allowed to you, you must know that you are wishing for a fig in winter.

Find more on surviving heartbreak.

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8 thoughts on “Wishing for a Fig in Winter”

  1. This is very timely as I have just lost my dear cat of 18 years. In fact, I have lost four beloved fur friends in the past two years and am now feeling bereft. Even so, I am extremely grateful for having had their company. To every thing there is a season.

    1. Oh Kathie, so sorry. Our fur covered friends grow in our hearts and it takes a bit of time for them to exit. Well, if they ever do completely.

    1. Sue, you know they are not my words they are from Epictetus. I simply found them and passed them on. Thanks Sue for being a person, along with Mike, in my life all these many years. Love yer both.

      I’m back across the hills to Northumberland on Wednesday by the way for an extended stay.

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