A new year and a new host. I am in the process of migrating my WordPress site to a new host—a challenge for me, or so it seems, as I find glitches along the way, like who really owns my domain, as I have moved a couple of times.
This is a heads up that my site might be out of commission for a week or two as I redesign and upgrade. Hopefully I won’t loose any subscribers in the transfer but if it seems you aren’t getting a blog into your email by say the 19th of January, you can still find me at www.janisdehler.com and subscribe again. But in the end, I am hopeful all will go smoothly.
I am excited for the new hosting at Blue Host with better support and an enhanced commerce site for selling my art, books, greeting cards, and art prints.
Happy New Year to all with gratitude for your kind support and enthusiasm over the years.
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.
When we are born the heavens tell a story.
We don’t know the text, so we fill in the blanks,
to live it out or to create a new path. Without a plot
to foretell the dangers that come our way,
we trip and dance and love and grieve,
as details of a life unfold,
and arguments of free will rise.
We ask ourselves, “to do or not to do” —
a question we face each day, as we
flow through life’s ups and downs,
then wonder if we still end up, after all the fuss,
in the place foretold at our birth,
where we were headed all along.
Just as the river meanders,
with new routes created
by natures unfolding desires,
may it be so—
that we move along,
to exactly where we need to be.
“The world you are forced to inhabit does not match up to the world.”
“I knew at an early age I wanted to act. Acting was always easy for me. I don’t believe in predestination, but I do believe that once you get wherever it is you are going, that is where you were going to be.”
Morgan Freeman
“What I’m saying is . . . remembering feels like time travel, right? Dreaming works the same way. Well, what if that’s all we have in the first place? Thoughts arranged in time. And we’re free—if we can only learn how—to change those thoughts around all we like. So, no predestination. One world. One ever-changing universe. And we can change it!”
I am not getting much time in the studio as book creation is taking the bulk of my days; it is all cyclical and I will find myself with paintbrush in hand once again.
Life is an endlessly creative experience, and we are shaping ourselves at every moment by every decision we make.
The city sleeps,
dreams arise:
one for longing,
one for peace,
hers for union,
his for belonging.
The city wakes,
dreams are buried
within the act of living
and fearing mistakes.
When vision clears
we feel our misgiving.
What is to be done
with the dreams we hold,
when we fear our loss
before having begun.
We tuck them away
treat them as dross.
We pray they hold
within our hearts
to be revealed
when we grow bold,
when we grow old
and we turn to yield.
May this turn round
with the young,
remembering dreams
as they are found,
living them now
for all that they seem.
Believing in a time
that is filled with peace,
living within a vision
in all life sublime,
we create a dream.
We live our inspiration.
“Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.”
James Dean
“When you have a dream that you can’t let go of, trust your instincts, and pursue it. But remember: Real dreams take work, they take patience, and sometimes they require you to dig down very deep. Be sure you’re willing to do that.”
Harvey Mackay
“Dream and give yourself permission to envision a You that you choose to be.”
Joy Page
Ongoing Resource List: Reading for Heart and Mind
The Gene Keys: Emracing Your Higher Purpose by Riuchard Rudd
Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Inform Us by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
Energy Speaks: Messages from Spirit on Living, Loving, and Awakening by Lee Harris
Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create an New One by Dr. Joe Dispenza
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Cosmogenesis: An Unveiling of the Expanding Universe by Brian Thomas Swimme
The Mastery of Love, Don Miguel Ruiz
Change Your Thoughts—Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao, by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, by Mirabai Starr
The Four Agreements: A Toltec Book of Wisdom by Don Miguel Ruiz
Mindfulness and Grief by Heather Stang
How We Live Is How We Die by Pema Chödron
The Bhagavad Gita, Translated by Eknath Easwaran
St Francis of Assisi: Brother of Creation by Mirabai Starr
Wild Wisdom Edited by Neil Douglas-Klotz
Earth Prayers From Around The World, Ed by Elizabeth Roberts & Elias Amidon
The Tao of Relationships by Ray Grigg
Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom by John O’Donohue
Unconditional Love and Forgiveness by Edith R. Stauffer, Ph.D.
Keep Going: The Art of Perseverance by Joseph M. Marshall III
Art & Fear by David Bayless & Ted Orland
Quantum-Touch by Richard Gordon
The Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Persons Path Through Depression by Eric Maisel, PhD
The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit
Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith by Kathleen Norris
Forever Ours: Real Stories of Immortality and Living by Janis Amatuzio
Personal Power Through Awareness by Sanaya Roman
Violence & Compassion by His Holiness the Dahlai Lama
Teachings on Love by Thich Nhat Hanh
Devotions by Mary Oliver
To Bless the Space Between Us by John O’Donohue
Meditations From the Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison
The House of Belonging: poems by David Whyte
Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness, by Jon Kabat-Zinn
The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit
Soul an Archaeology Edited by Phil Cousineau
A Path With Heart by Jack Kornfield
Listening Point by Sigurd Olson
I Sit Listening to the Wind by Judith Duerk
Dancing Moons by Nancy Wood
The Soul of Rumi, Translations by Coleman Barks
Keep Going by Joseph M. Marshall III
Arriving at your own Door by Jon Kabat-Zinn
The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer
The Hidden Secrets of Water by Paolo Consigli
Conquest of Mind by Eknath Easwaran
Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay
Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh
I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t) by Brene Brown
Practicing Peace in Times of War by Pema Chodron
When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron
On Death and Dying by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
Unattended Sorrow by Stephen Levine
Joy in Loving, Mother Theresa
The Joy of Living by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
Let Your LIfe Speak by Parker Palmer
Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh
The Essence of the Upanishads by Eknath Easwaran
Welcoming the Unwelcome by Pema Chodron
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Medicine Cards: The Discovery of Power Through The Ways Of Animals by Jamie Sams and David Carson
“The self is a creation, the principal work of your life, the crafting of which makes everyone an artist.”
Rebecca Solnit, THE FARAWAY NEARBY
The canvas sits cradled on my easel
as I stand silent before it, waiting—
a mirror reflecting the emptiness felt
in this moment. Once I lift my hand,
select a brush, dip it in water, touch into
yellow ochre, cobalt blue, or quinacridone
crimson, I am committed. I am choosing to
create, make the first line, open the door
to the unknown, that which desires life.
Knowing that the act itself changes me,
I move. While I create, I am created,
formed, informed. Each act—
conversation, writing, music, painting,
dancing, crafting, carving, sculpting,
loving, praying, listening, reading—
creates this life. My life. This self.
Opens me to truth, denial, rejection,
courage, fear, love, hate, joy, birth,
death, and passion. Nothing lies hidden.
The act is life, creating self,
on the journey of becoming.
The Gene Keys: Emracing Your Higher Purpose by Riuchard Rudd
Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Inform Us by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
Energy Speaks: Messages from Spirit on Living, Loving, and Awakening by Lee Harris
Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create an New One by Dr. Joe Dispenza
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Cosmogenesis: An Unveiling of the Expanding Universe by Brian Thomas Swimme
The Mastery of Love, Don Miguel Ruiz
Change Your Thoughts—Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao, by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, by Mirabai Starr
The Four Agreements: A Toltec Book of Wisdom by Don Miguel Ruiz
Mindfulness and Grief by Heather Stang
How We Live Is How We Die by Pema Chödron
The Bhagavad Gita, Translated by Eknath Easwaran
St Francis of Assisi: Brother of Creation by Mirabai Starr
Wild Wisdom Edited by Neil Douglas-Klotz
Earth Prayers From Around The World, Ed by Elizabeth Roberts & Elias Amidon
The Tao of Relationships by Ray Grigg
Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom by John O’Donohue
Unconditional Love and Forgiveness by Edith R. Stauffer, Ph.D.
Keep Going: The Art of Perseverance by Joseph M. Marshall III
Art & Fear by David Bayless & Ted Orland
Quantum-Touch by Richard Gordon
The Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Persons Path Through Depression by Eric Maisel, PhD
The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit
Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith by Kathleen Norris
Forever Ours: Real Stories of Immortality and Living by Janis Amatuzio
Personal Power Through Awareness by Sanaya Roman
Violence & Compassion by His Holiness the Dahlai Lama
Teachings on Love by Thich Nhat Hanh
Devotions by Mary Oliver
To Bless the Space Between Us by John O’Donohue
Meditations From the Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison
The House of Belonging: poems by David Whyte
Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness, by Jon Kabat-Zinn
The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit
Soul an Archaeology Edited by Phil Cousineau
A Path With Heart by Jack Kornfield
Listening Point by Sigurd Olson
I Sit Listening to the Wind by Judith Duerk
Dancing Moons by Nancy Wood
The Soul of Rumi, Translations by Coleman Barks
Keep Going by Joseph M. Marshall III
Arriving at your own Door by Jon Kabat-Zinn
The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer
The Hidden Secrets of Water by Paolo Consigli
Conquest of Mind by Eknath Easwaran
Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay
Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh
I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t) by Brene Brown
Practicing Peace in Times of War by Pema Chodron
When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron
On Death and Dying by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
Unattended Sorrow by Stephen Levine
Joy in Loving, Mother Theresa
The Joy of Living by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
Let Your LIfe Speak by Parker Palmer
Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh
The Essence of the Upanishads by Eknath Easwaran
Welcoming the Unwelcome by Pema Chodron
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Medicine Cards: The Discovery of Power Through The Ways Of Animals by Jamie Sams and David Carson
