Directions For Saving Your Life

The first one is key in my opinion.

"You are worth saving."

Why is this even up for debate?

May every one of us know this to our bones

and act accordingly. 

Is there a "restless creature pacing inside"

who needs freeing? If so, may these suggestions 

assist in throwing open the doors and windows to let it out.

"give your instinct a voice and your body permission."

Here's trusting you're already practicing this...

getting stronger each day.

And the same goes for 
"taking what you need, not what scraps you think you deserve."

If this creeps in from time to time, it must be

flushed immediately because its a harmful lie.

We are mighty...we are roaring.

 

How To Do Absolutely Nothing

I confess, this would be a challenge for me...

No walking shoes? Lordy! Would barefoot shoes be acceptable?

And there's this...who's Barbara Kingsolver (I love her)

to tell us how to do nothing?  I can sit in my living room and do that.

I suspect you have your own methods?

She does make a point, though...

"Don't take your rechargeables" for example,

I find myself reaching for mine way too often.

I like to be connected to other humans.  

At the same time, enjoying my own company

is an activity I'd like to hone. 

Emphasis on enjoying.

My take away from this is,

can I step away from justifying myself?

Can I be complete and comfortable as is?

 

What Do You Bring To The Table?

This quote struck me hard in a good way.

It was a while back that a couple men and I 

were discussing what would happen if we 

bought an island somewhere...or went off the grid.

They began discussing what each of them

"brought to the table".

Medical expertise, technical expertise,

mechanical know how, carpentry skills...those sorts of things.

Sitting there listening I felt myself shrink

from lack of anything significant to bring to the table.

Reading this shifted that entire tableau around

and I am grateful.

"I am the damn table."

PS: Could not find a human name to provide attribution.

 

Happiness

"How far away is your happiness?"

How close?

These are rich questions to ask ourself.

It might be good to add our own to the list.

How many meals prepared by you or others?

How many seeds planted, bushes pruned, trees grown?

How many walks along the river and through the forest?

How many friends discovered? 

How many trips taken?

How many books read and/or written?

How many hugs given and received?

"How much thread in the enormous 

sewing machine of the present moment?"

My favorite line.

Think how small those stitches are...

but what magic they can create...

what fine garments they produce...

to wrap around yourself and your dear ones.

 

 

It's Ok If You Crave

I love the gentle pace of this piece.

"expand into the world and then contract:

this is the way of everything soft: ..."

I can feel the rhythm of the ocean 

and match my breathing to the ebbing and flowing.

Sending goodness your way.

 

You'll Become Rain

"And nature says no matter how you love,

you will return back 

to this holy sacred thing.

One day, you'll become rain."

What a delight to have such an abundance of rain,

with more to come.

A beautiful way to end this dry spell

as we enter the last weekend of May.

I bow my head to all those returning as rain as we

commemorate Memorial Day.

 

The Things I Know

"Even a dead tree casts a shadow...leaves fall...branches break...

bark peels off slowly...trunk cracks...rain seeps in through the cracks...

trunk falls...moss covers it...[creatures} live safely inside..

I would say that the trunk decays providing food,

habitat, and atmosphere for countless creatures to thrive...

slowly dissolving into the earth where new trees and plants

are born and live because of its remains.

"So that nothing is wasted in nature or in love."

The trick for me is to translate 

even the hardest happenings into the language of love.

Even when it feels impossible...

love is never weak...it is the strongest power we have.

 

Lost

"Stand Still. The Forest knows where you are.

You must let it find you."

Everyone who loves the forest knows this in their bones.

A wordless connection happens.

"The forest breathes.  Listen. It answers,

'I have made this place around you. 

If you leave, you may come back again, 

saying Here.'"

This is why it is heart breaking when

forests are removed.  

Stand still...is the strongest message I hear.

Letting the forest find me...knowing I am not lost...

I am Here, with the trees and bushes 

and creatures of the forest.  

It's subtle and powerful.

On a recent trip in and out of Asheville, I had a window seat.  

Watching out the window on my return

I was dazzled by the vista of nothing but trees

below me.  As far as I could see appeared to 

be unbroken forest.  It was so breathtaking,

I felt like crying from the wonder of it. 

"If you leave, you may come back again, 

saying Here."

I'm so grateful to be here.

 

Walking In The Woods

We had a maple go down nearby recently 

while it was winter bare.

The parts of it left lying on the road

began leafing out many days after it fell.

There was something hauntingly sad

and remarkable about witnessing this.

How valiant the reach for light

and for life is in all of us. 

This poem reminded me of the maple.

It inspires me to keep reaching for life

and for light regardless of bleak circumstances.

It also reminds me there is life after death...

cuttings could have been taken and grown into new trees.

Perhaps tiny saplings are already growing in spots 

where seeds met the soil underneath?

PS:  I so want to add punctuation to this piece.

I'm not doing so in respect to the poet.

 

I Remember Redwoods

"I don't want a heavenly body but a body of dung and dirt."

In a way, this is the body we all will inherit eventually, isn't it?

The dirt part for certain.  

"Any form the shape of yearn."

I've had to pause every time I read this line.

(At first I "hear" your'n like yours with a heavy accent.)

And then it sinks in...again...and pauses me...again 

in a totally different way.

May our broken hearts be mended 

and their loving parts be made more resilient...

letting us carry the agony and the ecstasy,

the mundane and the marvelous,

and everything in-between with grace and gratitude.

 

 

The Thing Is

Two lines that struck me....

1. "An obesity of Grief."

In pondering my experiences of grief...having it 

weighing me down like my own flesh only more so

would not be how I would describe it.

However, upon reading this, it was notable how well it fits.

2. "Hold life like a face between your palms...say...

I will take you, I will love you, again."

Isn't this a marvelous way to see your life...

every tiny bit of it? 

It sums up everything we are.

No matter how messed up we feel,

to be accepted and loved and taken again.

 

Redefining Success II

I'm dismissing the first verse.

"whisper I love yous to everything that hurts. 

Ask for help. 

Refuse to abandon yourself."

Sounds pretty simple doesn't it?

I find it less so in real time with real need.

We've been so conditioned to take care of ourselves.

Refusing to abandon yourself means asking for help.

 I don't know about you, but that is decidedly difficult to do.

"Not power, but presence."

Can presence overcome power?

I need to sit with this and imagine 

what that would look/feel like.

I'm so proud of the people of Hungary.

Not more more more but

how many miracles?

Isn't it interesting how mundane miracles

can become?  I know I take them for granted

every single day many, many times.

Blank Page?

Can someone return to being a blank slate?

I think adding a new layer to what's been written

might be more realistic.  

 

For The Children

I loved this adage until I thought about it some more.

"Stay together...learn the flowers...go light."

Going light feels wrong for these times...

especially when "staying together" means

ALL of us...no matter our skin color.

White supremacy does not move lightly...

it's heavy footed and cruel...

Yes, learn the flowers. Yes, stay together; and

yes to going light if light means shining it on

dark corners where injustice is occurring 

and people are NOT staying together.

 

Illusion's House

Though not easy to read, this seems especially pertinent

and worthwhile to be reminded of in these times.

" It is the ending of a story that was never true."

I've been doing a lot of pondering on truth these days...

truth about what I'm hearing in the news and social media...

truth in what is written in history books...

truth in what is displayed on monuments.

It's been sobering to realize what I learned

growing up was incomplete and/or distorted.  

I'm concerned about how future generations 

will be told about these times we're living through.

I'd like to believe it is the end of a story that was never true...

and that what endures will be the honest truth 

and not a white-washed version.  

 

Patriot of Place

This had me at the first sentence.

"I pledge allegiance to this river at my feet,

and to the tributaries from which it flows,

one watershed under the sky."

". . .every citizen tree in my republic."

". . .every creature seen or unseen."

". . .the stones...the bones...earth underfoot"

". . .together declare our sovreign residence."

". . .and by water's revolutions find tranquility."

And every one coming after it.

Wouldn't it be marvelous if this were 

the pledge made and lived up to by the entire world?

Why not???

Rivers, trees, creatures, stones, bones,  earth underfoot...

they're showing us the way.

May we listen and follow no matter the cost.

 

The Cure For It All

"Go gently, don't hurry or think about the next thing."

This is something to whisper to yourself often.  

It may sound simple but in a world of plans, calendars,

and activities with others, it's no small feat.

"Walk with the quiet trees."

I think of the countless times I walk among them,

and miss their magnificence. 

Yet, they stand present to me whether I notice or not.

"Forgive yourself for not meeting your unreasonable expectations."

And forgive yourself for having these unreasonable expectations.

"Allow the river of it all to pulse through eyelashes...

fingertips...bare toes."

These are all smart suggestions although, 

in my world, some things do need to be different.

It's a conundrum I cannot escape. 

It's reminders like these that provide balance

and sanity amidst the turmoil.  

It's reminders like these that will lead

to a better world for all inhabitants.

 

Instead of Lamenting

How does it feel to shift your thinking from aging to transformation? 

I feel like it's going to take some getting used to.

When I notice the incredible diversity and exquisite, raw beauty 

of decaying logs and stumps, it becomes somewhat easier...

especially when there is new life growing from decaying wood.

Aging calls for its own kind of grace.

A seesaw between accepting the creaks and groans and relinquishing to them;

and refusing to let them rule your days...moving anyway, staying young hearted.

Not giving in to the age old (no pun intended) story

that we diminish as we age.  Rather, making our story 

one of transformation into something vibrant, fertile and lively.

 

 

I Hope You Make The Time

 Let the "soft wind knock you over and destroy

all the partts of you that you never really needed anyway."

Considering the parts of me I never really needed anyway

is a fertile place for contemplation.

I don't know about you but my focus is getting things right,

doing the best I can, lamenting my forgetfulness, and wishing my body

would cooperate with all the physical things that need doing...

not to mention practicing the inner qualities I desire, 

such as patience, kindness, generosity, and good will toward all.

I dare say, the longer the length of your stay on earth

the more likely circumstances knock you over and destroy parts

you may not need, making this message pertinent and comforting.

"It's okay to not be strong sometimes."

May we give ourselves and each other the grace

to release the requirement to 

cover every base and scale every mountain...

to ugly weep in public without embarrassment...

to express sorrow without being labeled "debbie downer"...

to rage at injustice...

to laugh when things are somber...

to be flawed to perfection.

PS: I struggled with adding, to respect those who disagree with us...

I  wrote it several different ways and erased it each time.

I don't have the strength in this moment to say it with conviction.

This makes me sad from the inside out.

That being said, I still think its something worth pursuing...

even if it means scaling a very steep mountain to get there.

After Grief

 "having sensed the barest hint of sun still buried

like a bulb beneath the horizon, and decided

that's all the proof it needs to say its own

small yes to life in this new season."

This...these words describe how it 

feels to be alive in this vast universe...

yes, minuscule as we may feel,

we can sense the barest hint of sun

and murmur our own small yes to life...

Each one of us is doing this in our own unique manner.

Eeking our way through our days with

everything in us as fuel toward the sun of goodness...

We know who we are and who we wish to become.

We will not be deterred from our goal.

We're in this together.

We are not alone.

Like the crocus,

in our reach toward the sun...

we find ourselves in a field of blooming.  

Hope

There is a catch in my breath every time I read this.

It describes how hope feels these days...

dense and dark and sorrowful

and utterly beautiful.

"It lands in my body with all the fragile gravity

of mist suspended in light."

This description is so precise it steals my breath

and steels my resolve to cherish it 

beyond every ounce of strength I possess.

Yes, hope is the thing I'll follow 

in the darkest times, a living root I'll cling to

as it tenderly threads through the rich soil of my sorrows."

Oh my heart...a living root as it tenderly threads through

the rich soil of my sorrows.  

Everything inside me sighs in recognition of this truth.

It touches the sorrows I hide from and lets them breathe.

It reminds me how this "living root" also threads tenderly

through the rich soil of my drudges and my delights...

If I concentrate, I can almost detect its slow, steady winding...

circling and spiraling...

 grounding and centering me in the mist of hope.