The thing about making jelly is
It’s a risky thing.
The experience is unpredictable.
One minute you have a spoon in your hand
Stirring the sticky liquid in the pot
Staring at the smooth surface
Wondering when it will gel
**
Without warning, you find yourself
Thinking about your worries
Worrying about your thoughts
Forgetting the jelly
Frothing to the rim of the pot
Gathering strength and density
Liquid thoughts like a substance
Which may or may not gel
**
Next, you’re in a meditation room
Listening to a voice say:
Don’t analyze your thoughts
Let them go. Let them pass
Thoughts are thoughts, not facts
Do not stop to judge them
Or be worried by them
Let them float out of your mind
**
If your back or arm aches
Or someone has hurt you
Don’t dwell on those thoughts
Let them pass, and float away
**
I return to the liquid on the stove
Just before the jelly boils over
Because making jelly requires this much:
My total attention.
Making jelly is a meditation
On the liquid in the pot, swirling
As my thoughts darken and thicken
And bubble and froth their way to the top
**
Did I say thoughts? I meant jelly
But maybe I meant thoughts
Thoughts are not facts! the jelly says
Let them go while you stay here
Watch me boil and swirl and stir, and boil
And swirl and swell, making bubbles.
You are here, the jelly says
So be here. Be present with me
**
So you stir and watch and wait
For that final moment
When the liquid becomes
That thick, sweet, slow-moving gel.
The thing about making jelly is
It’s a strange thing
The journey is unpredictable.
*
PHOTOS BY HAMLIN GRANGE
Cynthia Reyes 
