Uncommon Advice

 My mother would not agree with this advice.

She would advise, "doing something for others comes first."

It seems counterintuitive but I believe by pursuing yourself,

you will end up serving others in a way that fits your unique qualities.

So, I respectfully disagree with my mother,

I encourage "becoming the healthiest, 

most healed, 

most present, 

most confident

version of yourself."

Trust it will guide you to your own way.

 Namaste'

Don't Speak Negatively

I owe Bruce Lee an apology.

Because of his movies, I associate him 

with brute strength and little else.

(I owe an apology to martial arts as well).

I fell into the bias of simplifying him into a caricature

which was incomplete and dismissive.  "All muscle/no brain".

Looking back, I've shared a quote from him every year since 2022!

I didn't even notice this until now. 

I did not know he's written many volumes,

including ones on philosphy and quantum physics.

So this quote today is a reckoning for me.

A reckoning with the assumptions I make

and the bounty I miss due to prejudgment. 

It's much more "efficient" to

deem something or someone as

unworthy of time or attention;

to label and dismiss 

rather than to be curious and open to learning.

It feels like opening a window I didn't know was there.

Namaste'

 

Pause

We've all heard this.

I require frequent reminders

in order to make it stick.

"there is power...in a pause before you respond."

I would welcome the power of a tiny shock

to wake me in the moment, 

perhaps a strong nudge would be kinder.

May our pauses be frequent and fruitful.

Namaste'

 

Knowing The Earth

"Each plant alive with the mystery of beginnings."

I am reading The Light Eaters: 

How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence

Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoe Schlanger.

It has me captivated as she explains and expands

the magnificent world of plant's incredible capabilities 

toward evolution and adaptation.

"Observe the journey of an ant and imitate its path

of persistence in a world of bigger things."

Isn't that what each of us is doing 

in whatever small way we find before us?

"The journey begins on a path made of your old mistakes.

Of which we have plenty, don't we, regarding our Earth?

It is deeply painful to contemplate.

I welcome the idea that a right path can be made from past wrongs.

"The journey continues when you call Earth by her name."

To see and honor Earth and all who live within her ...

this is what I consider as my most important purpose.

The roots of human superiority are deep and strong.

They must be altered...(as in placed on the alter of intention)

and transformed in order to grow equality and kinship with every creature.

There is much work to do. To save what can still be saved.

Namaste'

 

Chunky and Noisy

It was on a trip to Indiana when I got to see this performance.

The "theater in the air".  I was mesmerized by the murmuration.

"Ah world, what lessons you prepare for us, even in the

leafless winter, even in the ashy city."

I watched the snow doing a kind of murmuration yesterday...

rising, falling and twirling on the gusts of wind.

"I want to think of dangerous and noble things...

to be light and frolicsome.

I want to be improbably beautiful and afraid of nothing,

as though I had wings."

Perhaps not dangerous...there's too much of that already, isn't there?

but noble and light and frolicsome?  Yes!

What a thrill it would be to have wings.

The light and feathery kind...

sprouting from our shoulders...

carrying us anywhere we wanted to go.

Namaste'

Not To Send You Light

 I changed my mind three times on today's quote.

(I am "stupefied by gratitude"* for Rosemerry's permission

to share her poems widely.)

This poem speaks with exquisite eloquence to how I'm feeling.

It "reminds me such darkness is natural, essential even,

[ ...] in trusting I am part of some great process, 

even though it terrifies me."

I long to skip forward to the history 

my great grandchildren will be studying and learn...

"they came so close to losing everything 

but through combined dedication and persistence,

democracy was saved and equality honored and regenerated."

and

"An about face was made. 

They focused their united power on saving the planet

through creativity and ingenuity;

transforming waste into clean energy;

restoring a relationship to the natural world

and devising ways for all beings to thrive 

with dignity and grace."

This is my page in the dark.

Namaste'

* Maria Popova

Every Day

How many times have I tucked something away for "special"?

No longer.

Using the good silver even when its cold and windy and dreary 

day after day after day.  Even when there's no one here but me.

"Every day IS all there is."

And I am a special guest!

Namaste'

 

All My Life I've Been Waiting

I didn't know about Harold Norse until I ran across this poem

and immediately took note.

"love erupting in the streets" is the line that captured me.

That and politicians telling the truth and

bankers giving away their money.

Far from reality but one can imagine.

I have to go on imagining despite what I see and hear on the surface.

Go on imagining that truth matters and 

our planet will survive us. 

Imagining the river of goodness flowing

steady and strong bringing everyone into its current.

Imagining wounded people with distorted thoughts and ideas

coming to their senses and acting decently.

Imagine fairness reigning strong.

Now, how to make my imaginings a reality?

Namaste'

May Your Coming Year

What would "good madness" look like for you?

For me, its standing at an empty or incomplete canvas/page

learning to listen with patience and reverence...

if I'm stumped, imagine stumps.

There are so many gorgeous ones modeling for me in the woods.

If I'm blocked, consider blocks.

I begin to notice them everywhere.

If I feel clueless,

try looking for clues.

Listen to the conversation between the outside world

and my inner universe. Trust it will show me how to proceed.

Anything is possible.

Namaste'

One Little Poem

This sends chills down along my skin.

"It starts with nothing, or perhaps...more like everything."

Tears well in the corners of my tired eyes.

"a knowing, a nudge, a gnawing...

the need, need, need to breathe

to make (or say) something beautiful."

For your response to what is loud

to what is mean, to what is cruel

to be something kind, and beautiful and true;

quietly fierce...respectfully firm...open to learning.

"And always, always, always,

it starts in the dark."

Again with the chills; again with the tears.

We may feel alone when we sit in the dark.

Yet, if that is so, where do these sprouts of grace come from?

"Nothing" a second ago, becomes something...becomes everything.

The vast void casts out seeds...and you are earth receiving,

rooting, growing, becoming.

Namaste'

 

The Space Between

I am drawn in each time I read this.

"that you rest inside the space, this space

between thought and breath".

The space between thought and breath?

How deliciously intriguing.

Is this where the pause before words resides?

The "empty" darkness of not knowing?  

The nothing containing everything?

"It matters that you listen until you see

that you are not the storm...but the beloved,

badass ocean who holds and holds, who forever holds you...."

Reading Playground by Richard Powers

is giving me a dazzling perspective

of our oceans...it amazes me

to discover how much more there is to learn.

I love when this happens.

Namaste'

 

Unresolution

The idea of unresolution appeals to me tremendously.

The habit is strong.  Fixing, fixing, fixing...myself.

And if I'm brutally honest, fixing others as well.

Not in an unkind way, but certainly an opinionated one.

Like yesterday's thought...what am I carrying forward?

Tiny shifts in perspective and behavior, I'm thinking.

Speaking out where I've been silent...kindly.

Keeping still where I've been vocal...

especially when it comes to complaints.

Dumping them in the compost bin

to eventually fertilize something beneficial.

". . .feel how beautiful it is each time

my hand opens like a morning to what is here."

Namaste'

 

A New Year

What will I carry forward?

What a lovely way to begin again.

Holding my past with kinder hands.

Holding myself with kinder hands.

Holding this mixed up world with kinder hands.

Holding each other with kinder hands.

Namaste'