Good Neighbors

It is spring and I am practicing setting good boundaries with my deer friends who have increasingly befriended our property and my plantings. While they enjoy a chomp on a green and succulent Hosta; clip off the top of the prized Asiatic lily that I have been waiting to see for two years; leave me phlox that stand stripped of their vibrant purple; I am left dealing with my feelings of being invaded by those who are not aware of what it is they do. In one word: fences. I have been planting fences. Telling myself this is mine and that is yours. Will it work? As in all relationships it is an unknown, but I am making change for me with a desire to live happily with those who love our land and bring beauty when they visit. Life is about connection, is it not? Letting it all go without stating my honest feelings and clarifying my position feels unsatisfying and lacking in integrity. How can I get upset when I have not done my part? Yes, Robert Frost, let us hope that “good fences make good neighbors.”

“When we fail to set boundaries and hold people accountable, we feel used and mistreated. This is why we sometimes attack who they are, which is far more hurtful than addressing a behavior or a choice.”

– Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

“Creating an atmosphere of mutual respect and consideration for boundaries, can lead you to the path of personal happiness.”

-Nancy B. Urbach

“No” is a complete sentence.”

-Annie Lamott

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To Living, To Life

I express deep gratitude to the mother who said yes to birthing me into this world—a world of beauty, challenges, pain, love expressed, with opportunities to give, develop this soul, give of self.

Beauty not found in perfection in her or me, but beauty in the raw truth of living. The opportunity to walk this earth, breathe this air, touch another human, feel the depth of pain expressed in tears, learn to keep going when all seems lost.

I look at mother robin who created her fragile nest atop our trellis against the east facing wall and see determination, duty, purpose, and faith as she watches the rise of sun in each day, protects her eggs, and waits for life to unfold.

In beauty it is so. Joyous good wishes to all mothers in this day and always.

“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”

-Pablo Picasso

“Birth is not only about making babies. Birth is about making mothers…strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength.”

-Barbara Katz Rothman

“Birth is an experience that demonstrates that life is not merely function and utility, but form and beauty.”

-Christopher Largen

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A Soul Journey


Dark fog deprives perception.
What I don’t know fills the ocean.
What I do know fills a thimble.

In each day, certainties fall.
The full picture is not perceived.
Dark fog deprives perception.

I strive to see into my soul,
clouded with years of unknowing.
What I don’t know fills the ocean.

Layer by layer the path clears.
Trust in the journey begins to form.
What I do know fills a thimble.

“Lack of true knowledge is the source of all pain and sorrows.”

—Yoga Sutras

“The more I see, the less I know for sure.”

—John Lennon

“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”

—W.B. Yeats

Choices We Make


We walk with fear:
We believe; not enough.
We feel; too much.
We worry; how will we?
We cry; when will it?
We dread; who will it be?
We tremble; what will happen?

We walk with love:
Abundance appears.
Joy fills our being.
Trust is our path.
Silence is our friend.
Beauty abounds. 
Connection rises in being.
Choice is our freedom.

“The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but it is fear.”

 — Mahatma Gandhi

“If you knew the secret of life, you too would choose no other companion but love.”

 — Rumi

“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”

— Nelson Mandela

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The Same Light

Light entered my world today, not from the east, solely from the north. A swath of blue and white within a sky covered with dark clouds. Instead of the window I look out to see the expected, I choose an alternate window to see the unexpected. The same light seen through a different world view.

“It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.”

—George Eliot

“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man [and woman] as it is—infinite.”

—William Blake

“In this treacherous world, nothing is the truth or a lie. Everything depends on the color of the crystal through which one sees it.”

—Pedro Calderón de la Barca

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The River of Sadhana


In a night vision, the meandering timeline of my life 
floats before me, like the river that flows past my house, 
winding its way south, touching here and there, while 
always moving in the direction of intent.

Challenges and joys that went before are seen,
as I float on to this moment. I see my learning 
and my fears, when, as a child, I do not understand.
I see confusion, tears, aloneness, transitions, 

moving in time, trying to find my way from there to here, 
with deaths, friends, shame, insecurities, curiosity.
I feel sadness and joy. I am a child, then a teen 
in my self-centered world, lacking awareness
 
and understanding. I see my marriage, my babies, 
the delight, the loss, their gifts to me. I see me, 
catapulted to awaken to my life, to shed old skin,
as I long to create, find purpose in being, alter perceptions. 

I enter deconstruction—spiritual crisis— and am stripped to bones. 
In newness, I am embraced. Through friendship, divine manifestation, 
love, compassion, forgiveness, and healing, I find I am enough. 
All the iterations of me.  All one. All love. 

Joys. Challenges. Acceptance. Strength. Understanding. 
In allowing and accepting, the way opens. Amma, holy one, 
names me—Sadhana, spiritual practice. This name guides me, 
as I seek to know the meaning. To accept my path. Learn to allow, 

to create, to accept light, to accept love.
I enter my day with the message: 
open arms, open heart, receive, give, be.
Be gentle. Be patient. Be love.

“Anything can become a spiritual practice once you are willing to approach it that way—once you let it bring you to your knees and show you what is real, including who you really are, who other people are, and how near God can be when you have lost your way.”

Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith

“The goal of spiritual practice is full recovery, and the only thing you need to recover from is a fractured sense of self.”

Marianne Williamson

“Spiritual practice should not be confused with grim duty. It is the laughter of the Dalai Lama and the wonder born with every child.”

Jack Kornfield
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Spring Cleanse

spring rains foster growth
polished windows allow light
cleansed hearts emit love

“Self-care is never a selfish act—it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others.”

Parker Palmer

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”

Buddha

“Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin, as self-neglecting.”

William Shakespeare
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Life’s Becoming


So many seasons of spring
have I walked this earth:
to see the sun rise in its rose and blue
striations; to hear the morning chatter
as chickadee and finch wake; to witness
green leaves rise from soil with the promise of
rose tulip, purple iris, or yellow crocus.
Like an infant who wakes to see Mother’s
face anew in this morning, I feel joy
in anticipation, expectance of renewal, 
amazement in life’s becoming.

“What a strange thing!
to be alive
beneath cherry blossoms.”

Kobayashi Issa, Poems

“Is the spring coming?” he said. “What is it like?”…
“It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine…”

Frances Hodgson Burnett

“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.”

Rainer Maria Rilke
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The Flow of Compassion

El Camino IV, The Flow of Compassion by Janis Dehler

In the fall of 2017, I hiked the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain. When I returned, I created a series of paintings depicting my emotional, physical, and spiritual experience. Recently, a print of El Camino IV, The Flow of Compassion was purchased. I did not share my experience and the meaning of the work with the buyer but allowed her to see what was there for her. This week the collector sent me her perspective on viewing this art as a review to post on my website. As we enter the Christian Holy Week, I offer you her words, her intimate experience of self-awareness. I feel deep gratitude in being able to touch the life of another embodied spirit.

I sense the flow of something powerful within me and through me as I take in the vibrant colors, flowing and attuning to my inner being, awakening a deep knowing of the nurturing of my broken heart by compassionate people in my spiritual community.  As I look more intently at this amazing work of art, I see a cross.

My thoughts go to Jesus as he suffered intense beatings after his arrest; after he heard the declaration, ‘Crucify Him’! and while he hung on a cross, slowly dying. 

I remember reading his response ~ Forgive them, for they know not what they do!   And I feel a powerful movement through me and in my heart ~ the flow of compassion.

I am in awe of his response.  Instead of blaming the darkness, Jesus brought in the light of forgiveness, through compassion.

Now my thoughts go to myself ~ I have been blessed by the flow of compassion toward me; I have allowed the power of compassion to flow through me to others, and finally, I have forgiven the one who broke my heart. 

Eileen

“All I ever wanted was to reach out and touch another human being not just with my hands but with my heart.”

Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.”

Plato

“One love, one heart, one destiny.”

Bob Marley

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Due North


Sandhill crane seeks rest
before the flight north to home.
I journey with birds.

(photo by Leo Dehler)

“Sometimes the people around you won’t understand your journey. They don’t need to – it’s not for them.”

Joubert Botha

 “It’s a funny thing coming home. Nothing changes, everything looks the same, feels the same, even smells the same. You realize what’s changed, is you.”

Eric Roth

“You will never completely be at home again because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.”

Miriam Adeney