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.
I lift my gaze to the sun, the moon, the stars, to the birds of the air, to the universe of mystery, to the everything and the nothing.
I lower my gaze to the earth, to the plants, the animals, to the crawling things, to all that grounds me into Gaia—
the bosom of the mother who nourishes, protects, challenges, and grieves, who is alive in her evolution, who pulses life.
I open my heart to those before me, to the whispers of love and compassion, to the cries of war and hate, and on to my shadow of fear, pain, and sorrow.
I look to the mountains, the seas, the vast life before me—the unknown. For it all, my heart says, yes, in gratitude for life, for the journey,
the opportunity to be in body, in human form, walking each day with those who seek, who carry light, who reach to touch the stars to earth— an angel's kiss. I bow in gratitude.
(Image my own)
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”
-Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.”
-Henry Van Dyke
“Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.”
A big THANK YOU to the art collectors who purchased these paintings during the Common Ground Art and Poetry Exhibition. It is heart filling as an artist and author to be able to witness the connection that others feel to my voice and expression. These works have found new homes and I wish the owners years of happiness.
Each Sunday I write a poem or prose inspired by the sacred found in the ordinary during the week.
Today, the sacred is found in the moments watching my husband’s heart beating, pumping, with blood flowing, as the radiologist studies closely to find any abnormalities hidden in the ordinary beating of his heart—that which is extraordinary.
Valves opening and closing in a pulsing rhythm, on and on in each moment, each day. Through all manner of heartache, heart opening, shock, joy, grief, and peace, his heart is relied upon to simply beat.
Then the doctor shows me what he has found; a tiny hole, there from birth, has allowed a blood clot to flow through. For 75 years this hole sat silent, unobserved, hidden in the steady pump of life, until today.
Now we know. With all symptoms of this small stroke relieved, we go home with hearts pumping in gratitude.
Perfection is within imperfection. Joy found in heartache. Calm found in chaos. A heart beating, even now, with a hole hidden, deep within.
“I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine.”
Neil Armstrong
The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.”
Joseph Campbell
“Everything can change in a heartbeat.”
Travis Pastrana
For Ongoing Resource List: Reading for Heart and Mind
I thought of the ways we rejoice in life,
offer gratitude to the unseen force,
weary then from trial and toil,
seek solace to soothe our soul.
One thought riding the other,
one emotion responding to need,
making our way to a final day
when breath retires
and we release to what comes beyond—
something or nothing.
We call it faith or delusion,
each in their own way.
Then, I watched the sun set,
sparkling on the waters deep,
hearing a child’s laughter
as she ran through the evening waves.
Whatever you are, I mused,
this is what you are.
This is how you speak.
“Thus, to know humanity, understand the earth. To know the earth, understand heaven. To know heaven, understand the Way. To know the Way, understand the great within yourself.”
25th Verse of the Tao Te Ching
“My work is like a dialogue between me and unseen powers, like alchemy.”
Cai Guo-Qiang
“To work magic is to weave the unseen forces into form; to soar beyond sight; to explore the uncharted dream realm of the hidden reality; to infuse life with color, motion and strange scents that intoxicate; to leap beyond imagination into that space between the worlds where fantasy becomes real; to be at once animal and god. Magic is…the ultimate adventure.”
Starhawk
For Ongoing Resource List: Reading for Heart and Mind
As the week of preparation progressed toward our annual Thanksgiving gathering and feast, two women came to me within my mind and heart.
First, my sister, Mary Beth, born with Down Syndrome, autism, and then later Alzheimer’s. Mary did not verbally speak as a way of communicating but had her own adaptation of a few words in ASL and maybe 3-5 words or short phrases that she would vocalize. One of those heard was “taw tu”, thank you. Hearing her voice, in and of itself, brought a feeling of deep gratitude. Shortly after her death in 2020, she and I met in a dream, and she spoke to me quite fluently. I felt enraptured with the sound of her voice and enthralled with a more in-depth sister relationshp.
Next, my mother-in-law, Winnie Rose. Until her death Winnie could be moved to tears with the memories of deprivation, poverty, aloneness, concern for survival in cold and dark, all that she felt in the early years of marriage and the birthing of babes to a total of 9 surviving and 4 miscarriages. In these years, farming became a total loss, her husband had to drive a couple of hours away for work during a deep cold snow winter which left her to live alone with the young babes during the week. Despite this early pain that remained within her, she held to her gratitude in her 97 years of life. Her list grew. Her heart opened and expanded. I can still hear her reminding us to remember our gratitude’s and her birthday cards and holiday notes listing all she felt grateful for in her life including each of us.
Both women in their own way were heart medicine for both the giver and the receiver.
My “thank you” opens my heart to you
and invites you to open your heart to me.
Gratitude grows gratitude.
“Living in a state of gratitude is the gateway to grace.”
Arianna Huffington
“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”
Maya Angelou
“Gratitude opens the door to the power, the wisdom, the creativity of the universe. You open the door through gratitude.”
Deepak Chopra
Ongoing Resource List: Reading for the 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
“One must maintain a little bit of summer, even in the middle of winter.”
Henry David Thoreau
Our summer 2022 is wrapped in the bookend of grandkids. In June a trip following down along the Mississippi to La Crosse and now Labor Day when the grands descend on our home and our hearts for two days. The weekend marker that reminds us that summer is over, children will head back to school, the days and nights are cooler, the State Fair comes to an end, and bedtimes need to be earlier. The troupe ages 12-20 arrived to enjoy pizza, little sleep, lots of laughs, movies, late nights, eating favorite foods, enjoying favorite local activities, and celebrating their Opa’s birthday.
We want summer to last a bit longer. Summertime that brings a sense of letting go, relaxing, resting or playing in the sunshine, in a sundress and flip flops, or shorts and t shirt, offering a lightness to the body and the spirit. As we return to schedules and obligations, not totally forgotten in summer but more lived in a feeling of vacation, we also feel relieved as we do when we travel and long to return to our familiar routine. While our outer life might now feel more regulated, we long to hold onto the inner spirit of summer, the warmth of the sun within our being, the light of joy on a summer afternoon.
As I feel deep gratitude for the fact that our grands so desire to be with us and the joy they bring to our home in lifting spirit, I sit now and reflect on the overwhelming views of flooding in Pakistan and take in the horror of loss, crisis, grief, shock, and all that will not happen for those citizens and their children and grandchildren, their family unit. The incredible disruption to livelihood. The uncertainty for now and the future. The feeling of instability as life as it was known has been swept away.
One does not retract the other as there is pain and joy in every moment as we all live in one world separated only by miles. Each moment that I live, is also a moment of another’s life with a wholly different expression. Each to be honored for what it is, attended to with whatever presence we can bring to each other’s stories, knowing that all is in constant motion. Everything changes. Knowing your pain on my day of joy brings balance, truth, honesty to the full expression of living.
It is quite easy to find the sacred in these days of joy and family on a warm summer day, it is another to find the sacred in trauma or catastrophe. Yet, we do. It is there when we look, when we open to its presence, the possibility, to our memories stored within. We only need to remember our own stories of a lifetime to remind us that the peace and warmth in our hearts is there to touch. Summer is not just a season in our outer world but one that resides within.
“A little bit of summer is what the whole year is all about.”
John Mayer
“Summertime. It was a song. It was a season. I wondered if that season would ever live inside me.“
Benjamin Alire Saenz
“Some of the best memories are made in flip-flops.“
Kellie Elmore
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
Paddling through cloud reflections,
trees mirrored on the lake,
I listen as water laps against my paddle,
voices arise from camp, as all awake.
Watching grasses floating below,
a kayaker making her way along the shore,
I observe the trees along the lakeside,
captured in stillness as I explore.
Closing my eyes as a water skier casts waves,
rocking my vessel, soothing my soul,
I feel calm in this cradle of peace,
realm of sky and water, now to console.
Smiling, two loons arrive, dunking heads,
ruffling feathers, diving, resurfacing, near to my craft.
I reflect on ease and grace as they move,
as if they dance in abandon to make me laugh.
Offering thanks for trust in my presence of beauty manifest,
I rest in community; one they so freely adorn.
I receive communion in my attendance of the sacred,
in this moment, this sacrament, on this—a Sunday morn.
Loons on Cedar Lake 2022
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
Today, in the United States, many of us celebrate Thanksgiving. For our family, it is not about celebrating the traditional story told of coming to America, conquering the land and its people, then sitting down for a shared meal.
For us, it is a day to come together with family and friends, express gratitude, eat not only turkey and the favorite childhood dishes but also lentil balls, vegan gravy and mashed potatoes, and of course pie. Always, pie.
Some years it might be more challenging to open our hearts to gratitude as we experience our losses and challenges in life, but there are invariably people and things that we find we can lift up. Today, I acknowledge and thank you, the reader. Thank you for taking the time to read, comment, and like, however it is you interact with me, throughout the year and years that I have been offering my thoughts and reflections. It truly becomes a shared journey between us.
Good wishes to you in this day, wherever you are, whatever you find in your gratitude list, whomever you find in your day who offers you kindness and compassion.
I offer you a poem, a bit of my expressed gratitude. As I have been absorbed in the writing of my El Camino journey with my sister, a little poem floated in one day while I was waiting for my client to appear on Zoom. I hurriedly wrote it out and laughed out loud when I came to the last line.
One Marvelous Big Toe
Little self learns to walk following
her sister’s lead. Up on two legs,
one foot, one foot, plop.
It looks so easy, now up, fall,
up, fall. Then, one day, she
pulls herself up with strength
and determination.
She does it! with pride, a smile,
looking around for approval,
seeing clapping hands, laughter,
and happy delight.
What a fun trick. She can do this
and make others happy—until,
one day she will recognize
making herself happy with:
run, skip, walk, bike, and kick.
Sometimes a kick in anger.
Sometimes a dance with joy.
Sometimes a run with fear.
And sometimes, a bike ride with abandon.
There is so much to express
with legs and feet making her
own vehicle of transportation.
For now, little self plops down on the floor
rocking onto her back, feet flying in the air, with
her foot coming to her mouth.
She finds comfort and peace
in a sloppy, happy kiss to her
one marvelous big toe.
@Janis Dehler
