Sun kisses ocean
as sparkling jewels adorn her
with adoration
“Lovers alone wear sunlight.”
E.E. Cummings
“Adoration is made out of a solitary soul occupying two bodies.”
Aristotle
…the sea…it is my favorite thing, I think, that I have ever seen. Sometimes I catch myself staring at it and forget my duties. It seems big enough to contain everything anyone could ever feel.”
Anthony Doerr, All The Light We Cannot See
Once I thought prayer was magic:
If I pray hard enough
God will give me what I desire.
I was young and did not yet know
grief and despair.
I grew in knowledge of sorrow and joy,
and found no being who could
change the course of the many things
that bring us suffering, as was told, when
once I thought prayer was magic.
Nor did outward prayer give me
what I yearned for, which may
conflict with another’s longing.
Who does this being listen to?
If I pray hard enough,
I am told, if I am good enough,
follow the rules, listen to authority,
learn to be pure like the saints,
deny myself,
God will give me what I desire.
Then I learned to go within:
to know prayer as silence,
to focus, allow, listen, sit in peace,
open to universal wisdom. Not taught to me when
I was young and did not yet know:
the connection is within the seed of the divine inside of me.
All consciousness, open to love, forgiveness, and grace
changes me; I then join with others as
we open to joy, and ease that which is our
grief and despair.
(Thanks to WP friend, David, for his teaching of a ‘cascading’ poem.
“It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without heart.”
Mahatma Gandhi
“Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself.”
St. John Vianney
“God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer.”
Mother Teresa
Seeking rest
and renewal
we weave our way:
down and around,
like the stream
then the river
flowing
to the source—
the ocean.
We meander,
then feel the tug:
the ebb and flow
vibrating
pulsing,
soul connecting
us to her—
origination.
Returning is the motion of the Tao.
Yielding is the way of the Tao.
The 10,000 things are born of being.
Being is born of nonbeing.
The 40th Verse of the Tao Te Ching
“We know all too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something.”
Mother Teresa
“I have seafoam in my veins, I understand the language of waves”.
Le Testament d’Orphée
The Life of Water
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.
One The Journey
My Goodness is Stamped Upon My Universe
The Door of My Heart
Today I sit with my friend from
long ago and remember when she
broadened my world
through ritual and story; when we
drummed and howled
on many a solstice night as we
each held the past
in the palm of our hands
like a bird with a broken wing—
wounds visible, stories told,
honored, when still young.
Age evident on our lined faces
and altering bodies, we
acknowledge each other now:
honor what we each create; celebrate
what we each offer to the world.
The mended birds fly:
winds lift, support, and carry,
on currents to new horizons, with
a whisper heard; Be free.
“The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can’t be any large-scale revolution until there’s a personal revolution, on an individual level. It’s got to happen inside first.”
Jim Morrison
“You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.”
Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon
“Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.”
Jim Morrison
I am excited to announce the launch of ONE WORLD: A JOURNEY OF BECOMING. Seeing my name in Amazon and on Goodreads, as an author, with my book, was stunning.
I finished and thoroughly enjoyed a week of book launch events that were well attended. The full art show is still hung at Common Ground, here in Cambridge, and available for viewing M – Th from 10 – 3pm. It will be taken down on January 28th.
I could not be happier or feel more filled with all the care and love expressed to me as I share my story. As I now write, it has been four days since the last event. I’m tired but feeling carried by all the support. One person asked, “What is next?” That is a hard one to answer. I have a couple of ideas for another book. I am thinking of creating a retreat. I am needing rest and sunshine.
More than anything, I want to continue to support individuals and groups in learning to ground and center into the core of who they are and open to what lies ahead for them. We are called to awaken to ourselves and to our divine connection, however we envision this to be; to find joy in who we are and what we bring to this world in healing, through compassion, and opening to this grand universe.
One World: A Journey of Becoming is available from me on my SHOP page, www.janisdehler.com/shop, to be mailed in the US. It is also available at Scout and Morgan Books here in Cambridge, MN. Both the paperback and eBook version (soon to be released) are available on Amazon here and in many other countries. The Great British Book Shop and Ingram Spark carry the paperback.
Blessings and gratitude,
Janis
We sit to order our food as
tears fall and her story opens—
one of lost love with
a found self and a clear mind.
Since emerging from her mother’s
womb, I witness her growth
into womanhood—her first bra,
her first menstrual flow.
When a seed is planted into rich soil,
it rises ever so gently to seek light, air,
moisture, and to grow. To evolve into a bud,
then flower, into all that this seed can be.
I behold this woman who seeks to unfold,
with the power to choose and to create:
choices that affirm her life, feed her soul,
and allow her spirit to soar.
“A woman is a full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.”
Diane Mariechild
“I can’t think of any better representation of beauty than someone who is unafraid to be themselves.”
Emma Stone
“Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe you must become its soul.
Coretta Scott King
Click for:
With body tired, spirit is filled. This week of book launch events has deeply touched a place in me—one of connection, love, humility, and awe—the oneness that we are.
I leave you with these words from my poem, “Come To The Water”:
…We are the miracle. Can we not see it—in each other?
Each of us filled with a wellspring.
We are all that valuable.
Come then to the water. Come home within.
Come to each other. Let us flow like the river.
Forgiving. Blessing. Refreshing.
Come to the water.
“Love is the greatest refreshment in life.”
Pablo Picasso
(My apologies for a double send on this one. A goof up on my end caused me to lose the poem from my collection.)
I face the camera and
witness the care taken
to set the scene:
a chair moved, a plant
placed here, now there,
lighting adjusted, inched forward,
then further to the side.
He checks and rechecks,
through the camera lens—
the eye of the artist
designing the scene, with
shadow, dimension, and interest.
I read poems to the camera,
and to my son, as his vision
moves from the lens to me,
with careful observation.
I arrive at the last word,
hold my gaze to his smile
and to his eyes, intent on mine,
as his speak of love and care,
to let me know we are done—
it is a good take.
I observe my son’s talent,
feel held in the palm of safe keeping,
son to mother. I experience the shift of time,
to when I offered an observant eye to him,
as he toddled, and I moved objects
that could harm or topple his way.
I now let go into his craft, as we each
offer our artistry to the other,
woven through time, they now unite,
dance together, create.
“To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.”
Osho
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”
Albert Einstein
“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.”
Martha Graham
For Ongoing Resource List: Reading for Heart and Mind http://janisdehler.com/ongoing-resource-list-reading-for-heart-and-mind/
I arrive at the end of this year with a mixture of emotion:
Feelings of sadness for the ongoing wars in Ukraine, Israel and Hamas, and the incredible loss of life throughout the world due to armed conflicts that do not make the headlines.
Concern and compassion rise for an estimated 117 million people who have been displaced from their homes due to war.
Joy rises for new life born to friends and family.
Grief is at home for the loss of life in my sister-in-law and my aunt and for all who have lost loved ones this year.
Pride in accomplishment for compiling a book of art and poetry with the desire to share with others.
Wonder at thousands marching from South and Central America to demonstrate their need for support for their families, jobs, and health.
Delight in the love shared with family and friends that feeds my soul.
Relief and gratitude that my husband recovered so well after a mild stroke with care from those on his medical team.
Gratitude for life lived, for choices made, for all that is learned in doing.
Curiosity and openness for what lies ahead in the unknown.
May we, in our varied emotions, remember kindness to ourselves and to each other. As life moves fast and hard, may we take the time to breathe and center, see ourselves in other, see ourselves in nature, humanity, the planet, and the universe. We are all one, together, may our hearts open.
Blessings in this New Year, 2024.
“The most valuable possession you can own is an open heart. The most powerful weapon you can be is an instrument of peace.”
Carlos Santana
“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”
Dalai Lama
“We live in an interconnected world, in an interconnected time, and we need holistic solutions. We have a crisis of inequaility, and we need climate solutions that solve that crisis.”
Naomi Klein
