Tag: Nature

After The Count

After the count and the claim,
I wake to dense morning fog.
Buried in a cloud,
I surmise through memory
what is before me,
as what is now present does
not reflect my vision.

Confusion, wonderment,
and disbelief fill me, while
the soft glow of morning light 
cuts through the haze into
the beauty of the trees,
the sky, and the rough shadows
of a day touched with mystery.

I do not need to understand.
I do need to love, laugh, 
and live in beauty. One reality 
does not abolish the other. 
They merely dance out of step,
as I polish my heart to get
a clear view.

“One common mistake is to think that one reality is the reality. You must always be prepared to leave one reality for a greater one.”

-Mother Meera

“You may not be able to alter reality, but you can alter your attitude towards it, and this, paradoxically, alters reality. Try it and see.”

-Margaret Atwood

“Dear friend, your heart is a polished mirror. You must wipe it clean of the veil of dust that has gathered upon it, because it is destined to reflect the light of divine secrets.”

-Al-Ghazali

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The Colors of Life

See the beauty 
in the colors of life 
that unfold the truth, 
buried within each of us,
waiting to come to light, 
waiting to be released 
into a world of change.

When the old die off 
we enter a new way of being,
seeing, and living. Trust
in the way of evolution. 
Trust in the heart of life.
Grieve what is set aside
as space opens for new to enter. 

Change unsettles the balance
we thought we had created and
now we release into an unknown
that beckons us forth.
Step into the void. Step into
the mystery—the change
unfolding before us.

Step into and let go.
Breathe into life.
You are re-born.
The colors that seem lost
will arise in vibrant hues.
Search now for your color.
It will guide you.

(Image-my own)

“Under the anger, under the fear, under the despair, under the broken heartedness, there is a radiance that has never been harmed, that has never been lost, that is the truth of who one is.”

-Gangaji

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

-John F. Kennedy

“A human being is a part of a whole called by us the universe.”

― Tsoknyi Rinpoche

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The Path of Hurricane Helene

Shock and sadness wash through lives as water rises, washes away dreams, muddies lives, upends structures, and rips apart the trajectory of what feels certain, familiar, steady, and known. Water finds its path, determines lives, then flows to the source.  Watery tears are shed for all that is lost and forever changed.

“Death is water’s close companion. The two cannot be separated, and neither can be separated from us, for they are what we are ultimately made of: the versatility of water, and the closeness of death. Water has no beginning and no end, but death has both. Death is both. Sometimes death travels hidden in water, and sometimes water will chase death away, but they go together always, in the world and in us.”

― Emmi Itäranta, Memory of Water

“Water is life’s matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.”

– Albert Szent-Gyorgyi.

“We forget that water and life cycles are one.”

-Jacques Cousteau.

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Infinite Stillness

Today, goldfinch perches on a tranquil tree
with no breeze, nor rustle to disturb. She rests
with trust and looks out into the world ready
to fly when she must yet, she feels no call to do so.
She studies the world around her as she watches and waits
for the moment when all is alive within her.  
When her beating heart is in tune with the sound of the universe,  
it is then, she takes wing and soars.

“The dance had distilled her, and she had become one with the essence of all that is.”
― Holly Lynn Payne

“Meditation is the process of entering into a receptive state and letting the goodness of the universe fill you. It is dipping your toe into a pool of infinite stillness.”
― Amy Leigh Mercree

“Your greatest teacher is the One with you always”
― Leland Lewis

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Deep Dive

Hidden in the depths, 
we seek to know
the light that shines within
to the life that unfolds out.
To make whole, to make one,
we dive in, then return
with a jewel found here,
a gem unearthed there. 
Scattered on the ocean floor,
waiting to be gathered,
wanting to be brought home—
all one through love.
No longer within or without.
Simply eager to be lived.

“You can’t do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth”

– Henry Louis Mencken

”Like the sea itself, the unconscious yields an endless and self-replenishing abundance of creatures, a wealth beyond our fathoming.”

– C.G. Jung

“The greatest explorer on this earth never takes voyages as long as those of the man who descends to the depth of his heart.”

– Julien Green

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The Next Morning

The sun appears out of darkness,
rises above the trees,
floods the earth with radiant light, 
teases me to come outside, 
to see the day, after the rains, 
the wind, and storm clouds.

See the red tomato in fullness
ready to be released from 
a hardy stem that supports growth.
See the way the black and white
Downy Woodpecker rests on the railing
taking a gentle breath of reprieve.

I set feet into moist grass with
rainwater absorbed in every blade
while wonder rises, and jewels 
made of sun and water glisten.
Realize this moment of peace,
resounds from within. It is yours.

“Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.”

-Steven Hawking

” I firmly believe nature brings solace in all troubles.”

-Anne Frank

“Nature is the purest potal to inner peace.”

-Angie Weiland Crosby

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A Moment

A moment,
a pause, 
reflected,
refracted.
The world
in cadence,
in syncopation.
And I,
in this moment,
find peace.

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”

-Mother Teresa

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”

-Edith Wharton

“Harmony is the inner cadence of contentment we feel when the melody of life is in tune.”

-Sarah Ban Breathnach

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Summer Days

Today’s Harvest

In these high summer days,
light shines on life before me,
enters my body, to heal 
and transform. Light rules 
and tickles my senses. 
Basil is ready to harvest
for pesto. A deep red 
cherry tomato catches my eye
then pops in my mouth.
Darkness is late in coming.
Sunset arrives to say, rest.
Tomorrow, I will rise again,
into the light.

“I have only to break into the tightness of a strawberry, and I see summer – its dust and lowering skies.”

-Toni Morrison

“I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.”

-Og Mandino

“Summer has filled her veins with light and her heart is washed with noon.”

-C. Day Lewis

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Brilliance

We each have within
that which is our unique brilliance.
Today, let it shine!

“We have magnificent brains, but we use a great deal of our brilliance to keep ourselves stuck and ignorant, to keep ourselves from not shining. We are so afraid of our beauty and radiance and brilliance because it scared the adults around us when we were children.”

-Patricia Sun

“One’s performance is often heightened by the brilliance and generosity of other actors.”

-Cyril Cusack

“If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull.”

-W. C. Fields

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Laugh Out Loud

Take a break,
grab your bestie, 
go outside, 
lay on the grass,
look at the clouds 
and giggle out loud.
There’s one that looks
like an elephant,
one a goose.
Then giggle some more 
until you can’t stop laughing 
and your bladder’s going to burst. 
Remember those days?
When you laughed 
with abandon?
When you laughed so hard
you started to cry?
We need it now—
our joy and our tears,
from the heart,
the tender heart
that is ready to break.
Break open!
Live the connection,
friend to friend,
us to clouds.
The heart knows 
the One. 
The One in the All.
Where love is all One.

“The highest state is laughter.”

– Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

“We don’t laugh because we’re happy – we’re happy because we laugh.”

– William James

“Everybody laughs the same in every language because laughter is a universal connection.”

– Jakob Smirnoff

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