You

Let's think long and hard on this beautiful reality.

Whenever we feel "less than" or "off" in any way,

keep this at our fingertips as a reminder.

Let it sink down deep into our bones and sinew.

Every cell in our body needs to carry this molecule.

I cherish the idea of "that star-bright web of you".

I carry you with me.

We're in this together.

Namaste'

 

No One Owns The Water

I always wonder how humans managed to cause so much

pain and destruction in our world. 

I wanted to ask, what would our world be like if the indigenous 

way of life would have become the dominant one across society?

I realized that required some investigation.  Here is the result:

"Indigenous peoples were not universally nonviolent —  but many had highly advanced systems of peacemaking, conflict resolution, and ethical restraints on violence that often exceeded those of colonial societies."  

The problem, as I see it, stems back to the fact that:

"Large-scale, destructive war became far more common only after: the introduction of European weapons,

massive population disruptions, resource displacement, forced removals, and colonial pressure that destabilized traditional systems."

So I come back to my original question. Which has long haunted me.

And my question is this:  Is there any way we can 

heal the vast mistakes of the past and return our societies

to ones with "highly advanced systems of peacemaking,

conflict resolution, and ethical restraints on violence?"

Isn't that worth looking into?

Isn't that the ultimate intention of democracy? 

Isn't that what true equality is all about?

Cooperation rather than domination?

I'd say we're working on it.  Yes, we still have a long, long way to go,

but many, many of us are working on it.

We're in this together and we can make it happen.

Namaste'

A Butterfly

"Come hell or high water, I am flying today."

We all have this tenacity whether we recognize it or not.

It's helpful to pay attention to when we're feeling it 

and what we're feeling it about.

What is it that gives us this strength?

In some cases, its simply survival, isn't it?

Although survival is seldom simple, if you ask me.

"Strength does not grow from easy living."

Our strength is certaingly growing stronger these days as we bear witness

to what is happening to our brothers and sisters across the globe,

and responding in the best way we each know how to stop the needless suffering.

"...it's not the absence of fragility,

but rather the ability to prepare yourself for the journey."

Can anyone adequately prepare themself for the journey?

Perhaps that means coaching ourself to take whatever comes, 

relying on the grace and resilience of the universe to see us through?

And, to find every shred of joy, happiness and love we can along the way?

May it be so.

Namaste'

 

 

They Say The Heart Is

Of course, we all know this. 

We are using it now.

Loving ourselves more.

Loving each other more.

Loving our country and our universe more.

It's why we must keep on...

no matter the cost, no matter the heartache.

We must continue to open our hearts ever wider.

It's "the most powerful thing we will ever do."

Namaste'

 

All Yours

"What if it is enough, this voice that is all yours."

I want to say, what if we are enough?

"no add ons needed, nothing to take away."

Exactly as we are?

I've spent pretty much my entire life

trying to be better...more...improved.

I'm asking myself why and

how would things be different if

I focused on simply being myself

without any judgment, criticism or apology?

Well, I can think of some instances

where people living out of that mindset

are doing grave harm to humans and our planet.

Decency, dignity and equality 

do not come automatically, do they?

Or do they?

Don't they say that when you learn to 

honor and respect yourself,

you will do the same for others?

What would our world be like then?

What a dream.  

We're in this together...

may we be ourselves in kindness

and may it infect the world causing

a pandemic of goodness 

for which there is no cure.

Namaste'

 

Lick Your Wounds

"I know you feel like sunsets are your story, 

but you still have your heart like morning."

We are gifted with mornings and chances

to begin anew...today is one.

"Leave the dead thing to rot in the dirt."

This does not pertain to loved ones...

they are carried with us forever,

but what is no longer useful for casting love

into the world, needs to be left.

"You still have your heart like water."

Water is our heart.

It pulses and flows and carries.

It stills and disappears underground 

and casts out debris.

"your heart, like a seed, 

split and growing green in the sun."

I love the vision of my heart like a seed...

filled with potential for bountiful goodness

growing forward, now and into the future.

I raise a glass to your heart.

Namaste'

 

You Can Walk Around Pretending

Love, love, love this ode to poetry and the definition

of what it means to be alive, unique and amazing.

Isn't it so true we are all

"holding both a storm and a calm sea inside..."?

and

"thinking of ourselves as more mess than miracle"?

Let's always remember

"we are a living, breathing piece of poetry written to defy all cosmic odds."

Most particularly when everything around us seems

to be determined to drown that out."

Namaste'

 

One Day You Will Understand

I don't know about you, but the world I grew up in

was full of voices telling me where to go

and how to be...good, in particular.

Nice...always.

As I recall, no one was coaching me on being myself.

No one was there to encourage me to feel what I was feeling

even if it was too loud, unpleasant, uncomfortable or 

god forbid, unacceptable to "society".

Not. One. Person.

Murderous rage was strictly forbidden; 

crying uncontrollably frowned upon,

screaming was punished, 

and anything related to sexuality 

was never uttered except to warn against it.

I was well into my ripening 

before that message was delivered.

At that point, I realized, regardless of the past,

now, the "coach" is me.

It was like a volcano erupted.

The lava is still pouring down the slopes.

And I want it to continue until my ripening

turns to remains and then to enriched soil.

May we all continue to "look within for the maps

we were drawing before the world told us where to go."

Namaste'

 

When I Ask You

"Start making something you."

What do you think?  

What would that look like?

Feel like?

Sound like?

Taste like?

What aroma would it have?

It's waiting at the edge of your fingers

or the tip of your tongue.

"We need your art."

Namaste'

 

What To Love When

"If you can bear the stillness of not looking away,

if you step even closer, the contours will begin to lose

their meaning.  The noise of an old story will fade.

New shapes will emerge, like petals after a hard rain."

This seems like a worthwhile suggestion for learning

to look beneath and beyond my assumptions and judgments...

which is my automatic in a world that seems to be 

careening toward me with offerings and demands galore.

I wish I could set aside the thought 

 I might miss something important

if I don't remain highly vigilant at all times.

It's a good excuse for not pausing to really look...

especially at what I want to shield from photographs.

"...your breathing has softened, your heart a door you can open past the jambs."

I can feel my breath soften by reading that sentence.

This world could use more softening, don't you think?

Namaste'

 

The Naropa Bow

Goodness matters.

Decency matters.

Dignity for all who exist matters.

What you feel matters even when it cannot be seen

or measured or counted.

Trust in the river of goodness.

Trust in the goodness of each other.

We all belong...we all matter.

Namaste'

 

Vote For Dancing

From beginning to end, I'm in love with this poem.

"Some stretch of time we agree to inhabit with

complete silence, in solitude, in stillness."

Wouldn't that be something to behold?

..."kneeling in front of the same tree at dawn"...

or any tree anywhere, anytime.

"pardon immigrating geese "...

[and welcome immigrating people]

"tax credits for books purchased by local authors"

and tax credits for books of poetry!  

"For dancing. For rain. In just the way a bridge might vote for connection,

and the sun for a new day. And your hand on my shoulder for steady,

and the sky for welcome,  for air.

Isn't this marvelous?  

With deep thanks to: 

https://www.instagram.com/moudi.sbeity/

 

Buffalo Run Towards The Storm

This touched me so deeply, I was overwhelmed to tears.

"Something to remember when you, too, 

are faced by the coming darkness."

I've come to a place in life when darkness 

means the unknown and uncertainty...

not something to fear but something to explore.

"You might then gather in bodies, and bow your head."

This brought to mind 7 million bodies in the streets...

and many others at home in solidarity...

raising their voices and their hearts for goodness and decency.

"You might then feel, beyond all doubt,

that hooved soul of yours galloping towards

the faint horizon, and trust it, at last,

as the sturdiest muscle you know.

Somewhere I read that the fact we feel

so much rage and horror and upset

means they have not succeeded

in making us numb.

Billions of dollars have been spent

to do just that and it is failing.

We are not numb. 

Our hearts are breaking but we are not.

We are "galloping towards the faint horizon",

together...so, so many of us...

and we will prevail.

Namaste'

 

Gulf Of My Body

This explains why water is where I land 

whenever I think about what is most precious...

most vital...physically, emotionally, psychologically 

and spiritually.

We are water...May we (be)ar it with awe and reverence.

Namaste'

 

All Things Bloom

"Some things aren't ready to stand exposed

and naked in the light.

Some cannot bear the violence of knowing,

the insistence of change."

"the violence of knowing"...Wow to that bit of wisdom.

Until recently, I was not acquainted with this violence.

I am now.  I guess that's what some would call a privileged life.

Being this stage of golden and just discovering this.

I am familiar with the "insistence of change",

as I know you are...intimately familiar.

It's why we cherish the continuity of nature...

the sun and moon and galaxies...

the seasons that we can rely on.

"All you can do is shine on with indiscriminate hope

in trust that all things bloom,

with determined patience that they will."

May we discover two things:  indiscriminate hope and

determined patience.  My hope is that they lay

dormant inside me, ready to awaken and bloom.

Namaste'

PS:  Moudi is a new poet to me.  I'm grateful to cross his path.

When a poem reduces me to deep sobs, I pay attention.  

I'm including his response when I subscribed to his Substack

to demonstrate what draws me to his work.

A deep bow of gratitude from my heart to yours for subscribing to Habibi Means Beloved, a poetry publication exploring themes of belonging and liberation through a contemplative framework of compassion, forgiveness, and awe. My hope is that this work stands as an invitation to remember your unquestionable belonging, that you feel touched in that place in you that resides in wonder, and to then look at all of life through this lens of gratitude and tenderness. Perhaps our hearts may awaken against the backdrop of industrialization, profit, and war, which desecrate the dignity of each other, the land, and all beings. ​​We have been gifted a brief and mysterious life in the wide unknowable universe. So why not honor our place in it, and begin already with the business of grief alongside its joy, seeing each other as the miracles we already are. You can read more about me here, and about my forthcoming books here. With Love, Moudi

 

You Keep Waiting

"The world doesn't need your perfection.

It needs your truth."

These words strike me like lightening,

shaking me up in ways I do not relish.

I start to feel like I'm standing in the courtroom

accused of wrong doing in the matters that matter most to me

and the question repeats:  What is your truth?

So much of what I do these days is about trusting.

And, I confess, that trust is being SEVERELY tested.

That is until I take myself out of feelings of failure, 

fearful imaginings, and terrified expectations into the woods

where the trees stand solid and undisturbed...

(for the time being at least.)

The giant rocks rest steady and strong, for now.  

None of them perturbed

by future or past happenings.

Its all temporary and I'm doing my best.

I remind the accusing voices inside

their job is done...the verdict rendered...

innocent. 

 Handcuffs removed, suspect is free to go. 

The truth as I see it is, I'm here.

For some reason I can't always fathom with clarity;

 I trust that however I find myself operating

matters, even when I can't explain myself properly.

"Making art in the middle of the mess."

Namaste'

 

The Hardest Part

Every line of this tugs hard at my heart.

I could repeat every one and add my commentary

but why do that when its already being said so well?

"A pain that aches so much that you're

not sure you'll ever heal it."

May each one of us continue 

"to breathe and take the steps ...

to face the hardest parts."

May we be mighty in our softness.

May we metabolize our rage into 

constructive corridors of resistance and rebellion.

Our softness is fierce and relentless

with insistance on truth, equality and decency.

We carry on together, step by determined step.

Namaste'

 

If You Are Overwhelmed

"Make the picture you are looking at smaller."

This is decent advice on many levels.

"Bringing it back to the scale

of your own life is the medicine for recovering . . .

Generally speaking, our own life is complicated enough,

yet, while I think this makes good sense,

I have to ask myself if NOT paying attention 

to the big picture has gotten us where we are today?

"Coming back to the scale of being human in community."

It is about humanity and community and might I add nature.

We're all living here together, doing the best we can

to survive, thrive and be decent human beings.

(Most of us are.)

If everyone could recognize and respect

each other as equals,

regardless of the scale, 

we might be able to heal ourselves,

and each other and this world.

We could bring this world into healthy balance.

I believe we're in the process of doing that.

There's still  a long way to go.

We can do this....together.

We ARE doing this...together.

Carry on, I say, and thank you for all you are,

and all you are becoming...for all WE are becoming.

Namaste'

 

What The Mirror Said

"Trust yourself. 

Trust no mirror could ever know the truth of you."

We are not trained to do this, are we?

We are trained to rely on others from the start.

On entities outside of us to provide our reality and sadly,

our definition of ourselves.

There is no way to avoid it given our vulnerability at birth.

You are fortunate indeed when those who

know how to nurture your magnificence cross your path.

They help us to grow and mature and 

discover ourselves for ourselves and then let 

the still voice inside be our guide.

That's my perspective.  

It takes a measure of time to grow a person.

"There are whole mountain ranges of wonder inside,

no mirror could ever show. Go wander and swim

in your own wilderness until you don't need

[this mirror] anymore."

Namaste'

 

Believe

"It remains only for you to recognize and acknowledge who you are, 

what you know and the powerful presence that is awake within you."

This is the fierce truth of this moment.  

We all know who we are and how we want this world to be.

We know it in our bones and it is not what is happening

in the world around us.

We are who is needed 

to correct the course.

Each of us in our own way....

together.

"Believe in yourself.  

That is all you need to do.”

Yes, believe in yourself, however,

All is NOT well.  

But it is on its way to being so.

because of us.

Namaste'

 

May All That Has Been

Isn't there so much noise in today's world?

It requires enormous concentration to 

stay aware, 

be informed, 

and pay attention 

against the constant deluge 

of cleverly constructed ways to shift your focus

to something someone else wants you to see, feel and think,

and most typically, to pay them for.

Did you know Nikwasi means the place of stars?

I did not.  Allow me to share this excerpt:

"the geographical locations of the Middle Towns—including the villages of Watauga, Cowee, and Nikwasi—along the Little Tennessee Watershed. The geographical pattern of the villages is astronomically organized, a kind of star map. If you had been a Cherokee in the village of Watauga, gazing up into the sky in the season of the Snow Moon, or what Europeans call December, you would have beheld with crystal clarity the seasonal unveiling of our galaxy, the Milky Way, painted across the sky just above where you knew Nikwasi, the star town, would be.

Taylor, Stuart. Retracing the Keowee Trail: A Deep Map of the Cherokee Path in the History of the Carolinas (pp. 164-165).

I've lived here over a quarter of a century and did not know this.

This is the music I relish and revere deep in my bones.

Do I gaze out at the night sky and witness the majesty

of the universe? I can count on one hand how often.

Due to my DNA, I'm completely spent by sunset 

and fast asleep by nightfall.

However, I'm just now realizing that since my body clock

gets me up in the predawn hours I could take myself outside

and witness the glory then.

I can hear the music warming up as I write.

Plus, I've heard the owls sing at that time in the morning

so the music is layered, intricate and astonishing...

All I need to do is look up and listen.

"May all that has been reduced to noise in you become music again."

And may you find yourself singing your heart out.

Namaste'

 

So Much of What Keeps Me Grounded

"it was shown to me by the earth herself."

How many times have you found yourself 

brought to awareness by Earth, herself?

I am finding it everytime I pass through my 

mini meadow, messy and chaotic

with flowers and bees, butterflies, moths,

insects of many colors and sizes.

As much as I'd enjoy picking a bouquet 

to bring inside, or tidying up the spent flowers,

the creatures are feasting

and I cannot disturb them.

"nature didn't ask me to toughen up.

she taught me that softness is strength."

This is not an easy lesson to learn,

The push for "tough" is always at the ready...

the desire to INSIST, to DEMAND,

to STOP THIS MADNESS...

May the soft rebellion of 7 million

triple and quadruple...a quiet revolution.

A returning to nature.

Namaste'

 

Your Perfect

"Don't aim to come out of this life preserved and perfect,

you're supposed to crumble and rebuild a million times over

until your soul is satisfied you have given your all."

And you get to choose when your "all" has been given.

Ignore edicts from outside casting judgements.

No one but you knows what wrestling matches are going on inside.

"Your perfect is not needed but your broken is very important,

very important indeed."

Yes, and Yes and Yes to this.

Namaste'

 

And When You Miss Me Most

This is reminiscent of 

Love Letter From The Afterlife by Andrea Gibson.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmZHLvq-gDg

Both of them level me with joy and sadness in equal, overwhelming measure.

It is one of the most heartfelt feelings there is, I think.

Namaste'

PS:  Love Letter from the Afterlife, Andrea Gibson

My love, I was so wrong. Dying is the opposite of leaving. When I left my body, I did not go away. That portal of light was not a portal to elsewhere, but a portal to here. I am more here than I ever was before. I am more with you than I ever could have imagined. So close you look past me when wondering where I am. It’s Ok. I know that to be human is to be farsighted. But feel me now, walking the chambers of your heart, pressing my palms to the soft walls of your living. Why did no one tell us that to die is to be reincarnated in those we love while they are still alive? Ask me the altitude of heaven, and I will answer, “How tall are you?” In my back pocket is a love note with every word you wish you’d said. At night I sit ecstatic at the loom weaving forgiveness into our worldly regrets. All day I listen to the radio of your memories. Yes, I know every secret you thought too dark to tell me, and love you more for everything you feared might make me love you less. When you cry I guide your tears toward the garden of kisses I once planted on your cheek, so you know they are all perennials. Forgive me, for not being able to weep with you. One day you will understand. One day you will know why I read the poetry of your grief to those waiting to be born, and they are all the more excited. There is nothing I want for now that we are so close I open the curtain of your eyelids with my own smile every morning. I wish you could see the beauty your spirit is right now making of your pain, your deep seated fears playing musical chairs, laughing about how real they are not.

 

In The Middle

"a life as complicated as everyone else's, 

struggling for balance,  juggling time."

Sounds oh so familiar, doesn't it?

Keeping a slower pace requires effort.

Why is that?  Shouldn't it make life easier?

In my experience, it does not.

"Each day we must learn again how to love

between morning's quick coffee and

evening's slow return."

I love this line and the truth it conveys.

Love can fall off the rails so quickly,

thank goodness it as often bounces right back.

"We'll never get there, time is always ahead of us,

running down the beach, urging us on faster,  faster.

Such a relentless master, merciless and unyielding.

Yet

"sometimes we take off our watches, lie in the hammock

caught between the mesh of rope, and the net of stars,

suspended, tangled up in love, running out of time."

It's possible to ignore time, for a time...

to counter its constant pull

with soft, firm resistance and stay still.

To acknowledge reality;

yet maintain your own rhythm.

Isn't it possible to collaborate with time 

and not be constantly driven by it?

Namaste'

 

The Thing About the Chrysalis

". . .nothing can be forced. this phase is for rooting,

for grounding, for slow walks and conversations with trees,

for listening within when our eyes are unable to see a way through."

This speaks well for soft rebellion.  

For staying centered and sane amidst horror and mayhem.

To look for and focus on the goodness wherever we find it.

". . .a painter paints, a writer writes, a singer sings, 

knowing beauty is the anchor of the soul."

I would add that a gardener gardens, a mother mothers,

a chef cooks, a builder builds, a teacher teaches,

and on and on and on.  Decent people

living their lives the best they can,

growing from caterpillar to butterfly,

transforming their worlds with their goodness...

Namaste'