Formed knowing it will meet a crushing wave,
she dedicates herself to what brings her joy.
Though words may scatter like spray in the wind,
through uncertainty and half-formed understanding,
I persist until that moment of clarity—
"Ah, I see!"— throws open my heart's door.
I press forward with words and images,
offering my spirit in this moment
to the welcoming ocean.
We wait patiently for peony to bloom,
to open and shine in all her glory.
Might she feel the excitement
in being all that she is,
the anticipation as stem grows stronger—
stands taller reaching for the sun.
We too wait for blossoming,
not always patient,
wanting to be all that we are.
We forget that each moment of
loving and being arrives at the next,
until next is lived, and then next,
and on until our heart petals open in joy
and we arrive within to all that is
“How does the meadow flower its bloom unfold? Because the lovely little flower is free down to its root, and in that freedom bold.“
William Wordsworth
“If your heart is a volcano, how shall you expect flowers to bloom?“
Khalil Gibran
“May my soul bloom in love for all existence.“
Rudolf Steiner
Winter Solstice arrives,
we breathe a sigh,
light returns,
measured in seconds
until, once again, we
feel the joy
of illumination.
This season sings
of radiance,
candles are lit,
twinkle lights abound,
menorah, manger,
sun, all symbols for
our fascination.
Opening doors
hearts,
we find the light,
hidden within
all along, now bidden,
we are never without,
our true celebration.
A re-blog from Dec. 2022.
May we breathe peace into chaos, may we enjoy harmony in our encounters. Wishing us all joy in our days and serenity in our nights. May every day be seen as holy as we radiate light into this world.
Blessings and love,
Janis
While Sunday is my poem or prose offering, going forward, an occassional Wednesday will be my day to address art.
Today I offer a THANK YOU! to the collector who will be giving “Dancing Under One Sun” a new home when the show ends on August 31. She missed the opening so we met up to enjoy the exhibition one Friday afternoon and this painting called to her. 18 x 24 Mixed Media
There is still time to see and enjoy my art and poems.
Monday through Friday 9-3. The show closes August 31. Call the Carondelet office for any evening times available.
651-565-1633
Sitting in the chair facing the garden where the birdbath was nestled into the Asiatic lilies, Sedum, and kitchen herbs, I listened to a book on tape while my eyes focused on the scene before me. I watched Robin splash with abandon, wings lifting and flinging the water into the air then showering down upon his head. I laughed as he could not get enough on this unseasonably hot spring evening. When he flew away, his partner showed up splashing to her hearts content; back and forth they went, one after the other. I watched for an hour as Blue Jay inserted himself when he could, competing for the highest splashes, and trading off with his partner as well.
I glanced down at my phone deciding to check the news feed and read the headline, “Phoenix area can’t meet groundwater demands over the next century.” I looked back up at Robin delighting in fresh water, cooling, drinking, bathing to his hearts content. The paradox was not lost on me, the yin and yang, joy and sadness, abundance and lack in this one moment, one feeding the other, different and the same. Sitting in the silence of awareness with playfulness before me, feeling joy and sadness, love and fear.
“Life is strong and fragile. It’s a paradox… It’s both things, like quantum physics: It’s a particle and a wave at the same time. It all exists all together.”
Joan Jett
“In contradiction and paradox, you can find truth.”
Denis Villeneuve
“That’s the great paradox of living on this earth, that in the midst of great pain you can have great joy as well. If we didn’t have those things, we’d just be numb.”
Kathy Mattea
Ongoing Resource List: Reading for Heart and Mind
Today I color the world gold, then red, a hint of purple, accents of lime green—colors bold. Arrange, dig, and feed— my toil, placing a pot here then there, meanwhile, Iris simply rises from the soil. As co-creators, we are the hands, the lips, the thoughts, acting out the world play as it expands. Creating heaven or hell in our day, helping or harming as we unfold, caught in the trap of ‘this is the way.’ Might I color my world with joy, keeping thoughts to kindness, peace, and curiosity, to employ. Being one who visions anew, with courage and love speaking from my heart—with you.
“The feminine way is to look at the potential that is available and the masculine way is to look at what is not working and to find a solution to change that. So when we balance these two energies together, the solution is to co-create a New Earth together with Nature where we look at the potential of each and everyone involved to make a difference.”
Maurice Spees
“An individual can’t create anything itself. All of our dreams come true with the cooperation and co-creation of other souls.”
Hina Hashmi, Your Life A Practical Guide to Happiness Peace and Fulfilment
“We exist in a co-created reality in which we cannot always choose all our circumstances. But how we think and feel about a given situation is always our choice.”
Anthon St. Maarten
Ongoing Resource List: Reading for the Heart and Mind
We remembered another heart that beat with love, for lovers, family, and friends, then stopped. We memorialized, celebrated, laughed, and cried. We remembered how you made us laugh, how you listened, taught, played, and prayed; how you gave of yourself and rejoiced in life. We, the ones left with hearts that beat with love, for lovers, family, and friends, encircle each other, then wonder deep within: Is my life making a difference? Am I offering myself to the world? Am I one who is bringing joy?
“What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?”
George Eliot
“Take stock of who we are, and what we have, and then use it for good.”
Ann Napalitano, Dear Edward
“Live for yourself and you will live in vain; live for others, and you will live again.”
Bob Marley
Ongoing Resource List: Reading for Heart and Mind
Art by Jean Crocker
There are times when what is considered sacred appears in a bold pronounced manner. This week, THAT which I will call SHE appeared most prominently in soft spaces, the flow of awareness, deep and simple quiet. What I found each day was a gentle presence as I waded through feet of snow to the compost bin, the laughter as I fell, the way the crisp air touched my cheeks, my face reaching for the touch of sun. SHE was in the rhythm of chopping onions for the chili, tears dropping from my eyes, salt slipping through my fingers, the sizzle of olive oil. I touched Her while sorting through items for the donation bin and remembering past days, then when I stretched to open my body. SHE was seen as I gazed through the window to observe the Cardinal dressed in her beckoning red while perched on a mound of fresh snow, then surprised me as the lone deer who walked past, so close to the corner of the house, I thought I would hear knocking at my door. Days filled with witnessing life. Touching, seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting. My heart filled with the peace of it, the noticing of it—the sacred moments of living.
“We have been blessed with the privilege to live life. May we live to the fullness.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita, Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind
“The breeze is nothing but kisses
blown to us by the universe
to tickle the remembrance
of the love for being alive”
― Valentina Quarta, The Purpose Ladder
“You know, it is one of the most marvelous things in life to discover something unexpectedly, spontaneously, to come upon something without premeditation, and instantly to see the beauty, the sacredness, the reality of it. But a mind that is seeking and wanting to find is never in that position at all.”
― Jiddu Krishnamurti, On God
Ongoing Resource List: Reading for Mind and Heart
Whenever I feel the weight of the world pressing down, determined to take peace from my heart, I walk from room to room, looking, opening, factoring what is not needed here, not used, beyond usefulness, now taking my joy. As doors open and close, memories and regrets emerge but with nothing new to learn they are tossed, losses grieved. This I determine to keep, that I need more time to decide. I breathe in the freedom of space. As compartments open and close, dreams held, desires sought, arise like butterflies seeking life from a dark cocoon. Not all live, not all see the light of day. In this, I find the luxury of ease, knowing freedom through open hands. Allowing now the peace of my heart, the stillness of my soul. The simple elegance of walking with a light load.
“Clutter smothers. Simplicity breathes.”
Terry Guillemets
“The outer world is a reflection of the inner world. Other people’s perception of you is a reflection of them; your response to them is an awareness of you.”
Roy T. Bennett
“If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person. If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house. If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation. If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.”
Chinese Proverb
Ongoing Resource List: Reading for Heart and Mind
May I know peace Deep within my heart Feeling you are there Guiding me along Gentle in your care. May we all know peace Deep within our hearts Feeling you are there Guiding us along Gentle in your care. May we end our wars Open to your love Deep within our hearts Guiding us along Gentle in our care. May we see all beings As we are all one Shining all within Deep within our hearts Guiding us along. May we all know peace Deep within our hearts Seeing you and me Beings that we are Wanting only love. Wanting only peace Being who we are.
“Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.”
Dalai Lama
“Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.”
Saint Francis de Sales
“Don’t search for anything except peace. Try to calm the mind. Everything else will come on its own.”
Baba Hari Das
Ongoing Resource List: Reading for Heart and Mind
