kindness

Our Interconnected World

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

Soar Like an Eagle

Today, as I reflect on my week to see what inspires me, I look to my grandson who received the highest Boy Scout award, Eagle Scout. Sev joined Cub Scouts at age 5 and today at age 18 he looks back at hundreds of hours dedicated to learning, serving others, donating time, helping his community, and leading others to develop skills in planning, preparing, and living with vision.

I bow to Sev and other young men and women like him who look to what can appear as a ‘sorry excuse for a world’ and rather than give up in despair, move forward with integrity, kindness, thoughtfulness, and creativity while living from their heart to heal and make whole.

Also at age 5, Sev received his first drum kit. Music fills his world, and he has dedicated many hours of learning and practice in becoming a talented drummer, adding keyboard, guitar, and vocals. He is off to college now and we send him off with love and joy and a greater hope for our world’s future.

“Rise up and adopt an eagle mentality. Challenge yourself to leave environments where people have accepted mediocrity. Surround yourself with people who are going places.”
Germany Kent

“You can run with turkeys, but it takes greater strength to fly with eagles.”
Matshona Dhliwayo

“Be an eagle instead of flocking like pigeons. Self-discovery will always be the highest type of knowledge in one’s life.”
Mwanandeke Kindembo

For Ongoing Resource List: Reading for Heart and Mind

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The news reads of  
cluster bombs
and record heat 
of all time
and I attend 
a party for a
Ukrainian family
who are now here 
safe from war 
over there, while
I got stuck on 
cluster bombs 
with my heart
clenched like a 
fist pumping
“Enough! Enough!
Enough!”
Then night brings
a dream 
with me standing
in a field with
one friend on
my left 
the other 
up ahead on
my right and
the question,
What is most important now? 
One friend says
this and that 
and the other
and the one up 
ahead says,
“Kindness.”
I look from 
one to the other
not wanting to 
offend in choosing 
but I know and raise
my arms and yell
“KINDNESS”, and 
with a thumbs up I
run through the
golden grass in
the hot sun
to a lone tree
and lay my body down 
with my back 
on the moist 
cool soil
bringing me to 
breath and to
peace as the 
shade brings
balance of 
kindness to 
this hot and
wild earth.

“One who lives in accordance with nature does not go against the way of things. He moves in harmony with the present moment, always knowing the truth of just what to do.”
8th Verse of the Tao Te Ching, trans. by Dr. Wayne Dyer

“We can be sure that the greatest hope for maintaining equilibrium in the face of any situation rests within ourselves.”
Francis J. Braceland

“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”
Dalai Lama

Ongoing Resource List: Reading for Heart and Mind

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I Saw Her

I saw her,
early in the morning,
when most were sleeping.
She was standing at the water’s edge,
arms spread wide as if inviting into
her being all the energy the ocean offered.

She saw me,
later in the afternoon,
as I walked past her family
playing and resting on the sand and 
I smiled at a little girl walking,
carrying a large scoop of sand. 

She told me,
later, as I walked past her,
standing at the water’s edge with open arms. 
She said, “You have good energy.”
I saw you earlier, your smile, it is beautiful.”
I paused in front of her, thanked her for her kindness. 

I felt wonder, 
in the recognition of each other. The simplicity 
of connecting with another human on a heart level. 
The gift given to a stranger. The confidence to speak.
A moment that was too soon gone as, 
with nothing more to say, we each walked on our way.

“Life is a collection of moments. Mindfulness is beautification of the moments.”
Amit Ray, Mindfulness Living in the Moment

“There’s beauty everywhere. There are amazing things happening everywhere, you just have to be able to open your eyes and witness it. Some days, that’s harder than others.”
Sarah McLachlan

“My witness is the empty sky.”
Jack Kerouac

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