Prosperity Bowl


I love pottery. I love the solid weight of the earthy material in my palm as I hold a beautifully hand crafted, glazed creation. I enjoy looking for the slight imperfection, the mark, the out of proportion shape that makes it unique whether the design has been rendered a hundred times. I cherish that a pottery piece holds the imprint of its maker, the oils from their hands mixed with the mud of the earth and that their spirit and intention lives on in each piece they produce.

After attempting to learn to throw a pot myself, I have gained an even deeper respect for the patience, tenderness and gentleness of touch that is needed to coax a work to life.

I’ve collected pottery for many years, visiting local craft shows, farmer’s markets and artist’s studios. I have plates, mugs, teapots, vases but my favorite piece of late, to collect is bowls. There is something about the continuing circle of life shape of a bowl, its expansive openness waiting to be filled and the sides that reach up to cradle its contents.

My most recent purchase is a simple 5" round dish of medium weight with an internal depth of about 3". The finish is a satiny glaze of dark blue seeping into light purple, with undertones of pink and delicate soft green flecks. I take pleasure in running my fingers from the center to the outside ridge of the bowl, feeling the subtle change in the clay as the bowl expands in size.

I’ve dubbed this hollow dish my Prosperity Bowl. This simple vessel represents my present day quest to focus on the flourishing aspects of my ever-changing life and my gratitude for the increasing abundance.

The likeness of a Tibetan monk in his flowing harvest moon orange robes shuffling through the ancient streets carrying his begging bowl, trusting that it will be filled by the generosity of his fellow man, enough to satisfy his hunger, has imprinted itself in my mind’s scrapbook of images.

I, like the monk, bare bowl in hand, intend each day with conscious direction. My mind is eager with curiosity. With what will Today fill my bowl? My soul whispers in my ear to be patient in the allowing. My time schedule is not necessarily the best schedule for the realization of my desires. My spirit dances the melody of trust inside me, with each willow-like sway it’s rhythm hums in me not to be obsessed with the result I think should fill my bowl.

And in those moments when I turn from the curiosity, let doubt and impatience almost raise my hand to smash my bowl to the ground, in that pounding, pumping push of blood rushing in my temples, my heart calls to me. “Love, love yourself, know you are worthy of prosperity. Know you are the essence of prosperity itself. By the very fact that you are here, searching, growing, thriving, prosperity lives in you.”

My bowl, like that of the monk, is brimming with more than enough to satisfy my hunger. Sated by what Today placed in my dish, with the gentleness of the potter’s touch, I wash and dry my prosperity bowl, eager with imagination about with what Tomorrow will fill it.