Being Here – Day 48
Being Here – Poem Day 48
Poem – When I’m always measuring where I stand – Noticing
Earlier in this arc, we worked directly with status vigilance —
the pressure to prove, to hold position, to avoid slipping in standing.
Yesterday, we stayed close to the inner experience of that measuring.
Today’s poem steps outward.
It places comparison and rank within the wider systems many of us move through —
schools, workplaces, digital platforms, social groups, economies.
In many environments, position is visible.
Performance is tracked.
Opportunity can cluster around certain levels of standing.
Within those structures, scanning for where we stand is not unusual.
It can be a practical response to how access and recognition are organised.
This poem doesn’t turn inward.
It doesn’t calm vigilance.
It simply widens the lens —
placing status awareness inside broader social and structural patterns.
Pause.
If anything lingers after listening, you might try one small thing — only if it feels helpful.
Let your eyes rest on something in the room that has no rank.
Nothing else is required.
Listen to the poem here:
Warmly,
Per
Poem – When I’m always measuring where I stand – Noticing
Many environments are organised around ranking, even when it isn’t openly named.
Roles come with invisible ladders. Recognition is unevenly distributed. Attention flows toward some positions and away from others.
In such settings, comparison becomes practical. People learn to read signals — who is listened to, who is deferred to, who is overlooked.
Status is rarely stable. It can shift with context, with performance, with who is present in the room.
This instability encourages vigilance. Staying alert feels necessary when position can change without warning.
Modern life intensifies this further. Metrics are public. Achievements are displayed. Visibility is continuous.
Within these conditions, measuring where you stand is not simply personal insecurity. It reflects systems that invite comparison as a way of organising value.
Noticing this doesn’t remove the urge to compare. It doesn’t resolve the tension around status.
It simply places the experience within the structures that shape it, where keeping track of position can feel like a reasonable response to living in hierarchies that rarely rest.
