Some Days Are Not Meant

I feel my body relax and my breath slow down as I read this.

She names the programming most of us receive, doesn't she?

"Some days are simply meant to be lived gently."

Ticking things off the To Do list can be addictive.

Especially when you're on a career path or 

working on a major project, like saving democracy.

It takes courage and discernment to navigate the waters.

It's helpful to pause and check in with yourself 

on how to spend your time wisely;

and dare I say, joyfully.

Things can happen in the process of doing ordinary tasks.

Inspiration can visit as you fold a load of clothes,

a reminder to call your representatives may ring 

as you tidy up the kitchen counter.

Perhaps this is more about having self judgment stand down?

Perhaps its about living your life with enjoyment

whether you're "accomplishing" anything or not?

Who gets to decide that anyway?

Turn the spotlights off, take off the public costume,

change into your comfy clothes and luxuriate 

in who you are, just as you are, right now.

You are you and you matter.

Thank you for being here.

Namaste'

 

Questions of Influence

"I have been living this life so long, yet I am only just

beginning to comprehend how the little streams feed into the big."

At this golden age, for the first time, my bones and bloodstream

actually feel the impact of these words.  I find myself pausing to let

them liquify, sink into and merge with the river inside this body

I tend to take for granted.  

Instead of rushing to move mindlessly to the next habitual task, I let this take hold.  

I consider all the amazing poets and writers whose work has influenced me  

throughout my life and realize what a mighty network of goodness this has been.

How profoundly grateful and humbled I am by their offerings.

I must also add a caveat here about those whose words cause wounds...

the pain and suffering they cause have also been influential.

Their impact causes a more vigorous appreciation and dedication for

those whose work spreads the enrichment of goodness;

 (ie: decency, equality and justice).

Thank you for your presence 

and the goodness you bring to this world.

We are in this together and we matter.

Namaste'

 

A New Mythology

"Trains poets instead of soldiers."

It's impossible to say how much I love this "mythology".

This is the kind of imagination I want to build on and

 hone to the kind of perfection that continuously evolves ...

never complete yet always better...for all creatures.

"explosion understood as a metaphor for awe:

war a state of self denial;

 dirt the reason for devotion."

I want these words and the thoughts they conjure

to invade my mind when I can't sleep...

so tossing and turning becomes a joyful occupation.

of imagining "rainfalls of seeds"; and

"routing rivers to parched villages";

perhaps embroider them unto my pillow.

I want a world where healing is an ongoing common occurance

involving every aspect and every layer of existence

from the furthest reaches above us to the deepest depths below...

to everything we think we know and everything we don't...

a mind, body, spirit environment;

a world where decency, equality and justice are taken for granted.

"one where the only deity worth worshiping is the ground we stand on;

and to become a hero, you must not leave on a journey, 

but surrender yourself a witness to the pulse within."

Yes. Yes. Yes. For ever and ever;

Amen, Awomen, Aallcreatures.

Thank you for being here.

We're creating this together.

Namaste'

 

A Quiet Kind of Violence

The irony here is a sharp blow.

How many times have I said those words,

or thought them?

How many times have I said them to myself?

I cringe when I think of saying them to others...

others going through tragedies 

I could only begin to imagine

and imagine insufficiently.

I appreciate the way these words

put those words in their place.

Reminding me to remember everyone

suffers in different ways.

It also reminds me of what a grief stricken mother

wrote after one of her children took their own life.

"I learned to translate everything people said to me into: 

"I love you and care about what you're going through."

Regardless of how awkward or presumptuous.

I was moved by her generous spirit and kind heartedness, 

by her lack of condemnation toward those

who really didn't know what to say but cared enough

to say something.

It's a worthy reminder for when Lady Judgement

enters the scene, isn't it?

Namaste'

 

Lines Written

How did I miss this beauty by M.O.?

"knowing as we must, how the vivacity of what was

is married to the vitality of what will be?

What a bequiling way to describe the descent into winter.

It reminds me to bow my head in gratitude and respect

to all the fading flowers and fallen leaves; 

to honor with my attention, however fleeting it might be.

"So let us go on, cheerfully enough. . .

though the sun be swinging east,

and the ponds be cold and black, 

and the sweets of the year be doomed.

I think of these lines as I encounter the 

brown and drooping skeletons

in my mini meadow...

remember with delight how

gorgeous they were a short time ago.

Then I take a minute to recognize what

these dull and drooping skeletons provide...

seed-holders, wind-catchers...there is dignity

in their quiet release, their slow crumble.

Look deeper, it seems to whisper.

Beneath their remnants, insects overwinter, 

fungi weave their intricate maze, 

and the soil absorbs their petals.

It was a fruitful minute, giving me

a wider field of vision and a deeper

understanding of what lies beneath.

Namaste'

 

Love What You Love

"when you stop trying to be something other,

when you settle here on this morning;"

and drink your tea or coffee, listen to the rain,

watch the sun reappear, relish the new day.

You are living your "one, precious life."

"you treat yourself as a treasure, nestle inside 

your own wintering bones--whole body opening, opening.

I sincerely hope you know how to treat yourself as treasure.

What a gift to cherish yourself ... not one single rejected component.

Recognize the divine creature living within your skin.

She matters greatly.

Treat her with utmost dignity.

Namaste' 

 

Trying To Transform

"You build from the ground up."

There is a paradox here and I love it.

Building from the ground up?

To me, the ground we are living on is 

one of the most powerful entities on Earth, if not the universe.

The soil that has absorbed centuries of harm,
the waters that have carried away what we could not bear,
the forests that have stood as quiet witnesses to our forgetting.

It matters greatly in the matter of

"people living in dignity and hope".

It matters in "transforming a brutalized society."

To contemplate that transforming our society

from the ground up means starting with

the ground we're living on, fits perfectly 

into my idea of what is necessary.

Millions of us understand that healing our earth is not separate 

from healing ourselves or our society. It is the same work.

Healing our Earth is a matter of utmost urgency for ALL of us

to be able to live in dignity and hope.

May we contiue the work of transformation—rooted, gently, determined.

May we see it in our minds eye so we can create it in physical reality.

The ground is our guide. Let it show us the way.

It matters.

We matter.

Namaste'