熱情熄了沒關係，再點著就好
你有沒有試過，專心做著一件事，中途突然就分心了；昨天明明狀態很好，今天甚麼都提不起勁？
遇到這種情況，我們第一反應通常不是接納，而是回頭檢視自己是不是哪裡出錯了。我們很容易就把中斷當成一種失敗。
點燃聖木的過程，剛好能回應這種不安。
習慣點線香的人，初次接觸聖木時總會有點不解。木頭點著了，吹熄火苗，看著白煙冉冉升起。過了一陣子回頭一看，已經熄滅了。
這其實不是一個問題。聖木生長在南美洲的乾燥林，木質緊密且樹脂豐厚，這讓它無法長時間維持明火，只能靠著斷面的餘燼悶燒。一兩分鐘後，餘燼冷了，煙自然就停了。正因為這樣一段一段地燒，每次點燃的氣味都保持新鮮，一截木也比一口氣燒完用得更久。
精油同樣來自木材，蒸餾後沒有了煙燻的感覺，反而帶著一點柑橘皮的明亮，底下墊著乾燥的木頭氣息，尾段慢慢透出溫潤厚實的甜美。
有些美好的事物，本來就是一陣一陣地來。
一兩分鐘，或許就是它一次能給出的全部。狀態好的時候就專心燃燒，冷卻了，就自然停下。如果你還需要這份氣味的陪伴，等它停了，再點一次就好。
有時無法一直持續下去，是正常的。
在聖木的香氣裡，好好接納停下來的自己。
以香為語，安在當下。
𝓑𝓮 𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓮𝓷𝓽, 𝓽𝓱𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓾𝓪𝓰𝓮 𝓸𝓯 𝓼𝓬𝓮𝓷𝓽.
When the flame goes out, light it again.
Have you ever been concentrating on something and found yourself suddenly distracted halfway through? Yesterday you were in good form; today nothing will start.
When it happens, our first response is usually not acceptance but a look back, to check whether we have gone wrong somewhere. We are quick to treat an interruption as a kind of failure.
Lighting palo santo answers that unease rather neatly.
Anyone used to incense sticks finds it puzzling at first. The wood catches, the flame is blown out, and the white smoke rises slowly. A little later you look again, and it has already gone out.
This is not, in fact, a problem. Palo santo grows in the dry forests of South America, and its wood is dense and rich in resin, which is why it cannot hold an open flame for long and can only smoulder on the ember at its cut end. A minute or two later the ember cools, and the smoke stops of its own accord. Because it burns in stretches like this, the scent is fresh at every lighting, and a single piece lasts longer than it would burning straight through.
The oil comes from the same wood. Distilled, the smokiness is gone; what comes instead is a little of the brightness of citrus peel, resting on a dry, woody base, opening slowly at the end into a rounded, substantial sweetness.
Some good things come in stretches; that is their nature.
A minute or two is perhaps all it can give at once. Burn with full attention while the form is there; when it cools, let it stop. If you still want the company of this scent, wait until it has stopped, and light it again.
Not being able to keep going is, at times, perfectly ordinary.
In the scent of palo santo, accept the part of yourself that has stopped.
Grounded in the present, spoken through scent.
𝓑𝓮 𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓮𝓷𝓽, 𝓽𝓱𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓾𝓪𝓰𝓮 𝓸𝓯 𝓼𝓬𝓮𝓷𝓽.