mindful_contemplations

The Path of Hurricane Helene

Shock and sadness wash through lives as water rises, washes away dreams, muddies lives, upends structures, and rips apart the trajectory of what feels certain, familiar, steady, and known. Water finds its path, determines lives, then flows to the source. Watery tears are shed for all that is lost and forever changed.

“Death is water’s close companion. The two cannot be separated, and neither can be separated from us, for they are what we are ultimately made of: the versatility of water, and the closeness of death. Water has no beginning and no end, but death has both. Death is both. Sometimes death travels hidden in water, and sometimes water will chase death away, but they go together always, in the world and in us.”

― Emmi Itäranta, Memory of Water

“Water is life’s matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.”

– Albert Szent-Gyorgyi.

“We forget that water and life cycles are one.”

-Jacques Cousteau.

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From the Events Page

There is still space available for my workshop, Growth Through Creative Spiritual Practice. I’d love to see you for an evening of poetry and art with playful writing and/or painting. No experience necessary, it is all creative play. Come and enjoy.

Visit www.wisdomwayscenter.org or call 651-696-2787.

Infinite Stillness

Today, goldfinch perches on a tranquil tree
with no breeze, nor rustle to disturb. She rests
with trust and looks out into the world ready
to fly when she must yet, she feels no call to do so.
She studies the world around her as she watches and waits
for the moment when all is alive within her.  
When her beating heart is in tune with the sound of the universe,  
it is then, she takes wing and soars.

“The dance had distilled her, and she had become one with the essence of all that is.”
― Holly Lynn Payne

“Meditation is the process of entering into a receptive state and letting the goodness of the universe fill you. It is dipping your toe into a pool of infinite stillness.”
― Amy Leigh Mercree

“Your greatest teacher is the One with you always”
― Leland Lewis

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Time For Rest

My dear WordPress and Facebook friends,

It has been a big summer. My heart has been saying “take a break” and I keep resisting—until now. It might be a couple of weeks, maybe more. I am needing to recalibrate, renew, revive, and integrate.

Peace…Janis

“It’s very important that we re-learn the art of resting and relaxing. Not only does it help prevent the onset of many illnesses that develop through chronic tension and worrying; it allows us to clear our minds, focus, and find creative solutions to problems.”

-Thich Nhat Hanh

“Resting for me is fitness training.”

-Jenson Button

“I get a lot of the ideas when I’m resting – either when I’m meditating or getting some kind of work done on my back, like physical therapy or acupuncture. That’s where I get my best ideas, maybe because I’m balancing my body.”

-Katy Perry

Deep Dive

Hidden in the depths, 
we seek to know
the light that shines within
to the life that unfolds out.
To make whole, to make one,
we dive in, then return
with a jewel found here,
a gem unearthed there. 
Scattered on the ocean floor,
waiting to be gathered,
wanting to be brought home—
all one through love.
No longer within or without.
Simply eager to be lived.

“You can’t do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth”

– Henry Louis Mencken

”Like the sea itself, the unconscious yields an endless and self-replenishing abundance of creatures, a wealth beyond our fathoming.”

– C.G. Jung

“The greatest explorer on this earth never takes voyages as long as those of the man who descends to the depth of his heart.”

– Julien Green

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The Next Morning

The sun appears out of darkness,
rises above the trees,
floods the earth with radiant light, 
teases me to come outside, 
to see the day, after the rains, 
the wind, and storm clouds.

See the red tomato in fullness
ready to be released from 
a hardy stem that supports growth.
See the way the black and white
Downy Woodpecker rests on the railing
taking a gentle breath of reprieve.

I set feet into moist grass with
rainwater absorbed in every blade
while wonder rises, and jewels 
made of sun and water glisten.
Realize this moment of peace,
resounds from within. It is yours.

“Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.”

-Steven Hawking

” I firmly believe nature brings solace in all troubles.”

-Anne Frank

“Nature is the purest potal to inner peace.”

-Angie Weiland Crosby

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It’s Not Going To Happen and, It Is Happening

Today, I sat to write a poem for my weekly post. It is not happening. My brain is tired. I have run out of words to edify, describe, inspire.

For the past two months, I have been preparing for two sermons that I will be offering at Common Ground Community UMC , our local worship community. Tomorrow, Sumday the 18th, at 9:30 Central Time is the first. The two part series is on suffering, transformation, and compassion. The seocnd part is Sunday the 25th.

If you are interested, I will post a link to their archives and you can pick it up later. This post may be arriving too late for the livestream but it is here.

https://commongroundumc.org

“The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.”

–Ben Okri

“Life and death are illusions. We are in a constant state of transformation.”

–Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”

–Dalai Lama

A Moment

A moment,
a pause, 
reflected,
refracted.
The world
in cadence,
in syncopation.
And I,
in this moment,
find peace.

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”

-Mother Teresa

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”

-Edith Wharton

“Harmony is the inner cadence of contentment we feel when the melody of life is in tune.”

-Sarah Ban Breathnach

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Summer Days

Today’s Harvest

In these high summer days,
light shines on life before me,
enters my body, to heal 
and transform. Light rules 
and tickles my senses. 
Basil is ready to harvest
for pesto. A deep red 
cherry tomato catches my eye
then pops in my mouth.
Darkness is late in coming.
Sunset arrives to say, rest.
Tomorrow, I will rise again,
into the light.

“I have only to break into the tightness of a strawberry, and I see summer – its dust and lowering skies.”

-Toni Morrison

“I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.”

-Og Mandino

“Summer has filled her veins with light and her heart is washed with noon.”

-C. Day Lewis

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Brilliance

We each have within
that which is our unique brilliance.
Today, let it shine!

“We have magnificent brains, but we use a great deal of our brilliance to keep ourselves stuck and ignorant, to keep ourselves from not shining. We are so afraid of our beauty and radiance and brilliance because it scared the adults around us when we were children.”

-Patricia Sun

“One’s performance is often heightened by the brilliance and generosity of other actors.”

-Cyril Cusack

“If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull.”

-W. C. Fields

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