Tag: peace

Time For Rest

My dear WordPress and Facebook friends,

It has been a big summer. My heart has been saying “take a break” and I keep resisting—until now. It might be a couple of weeks, maybe more. I am needing to recalibrate, renew, revive, and integrate.

Peace…Janis

“It’s very important that we re-learn the art of resting and relaxing. Not only does it help prevent the onset of many illnesses that develop through chronic tension and worrying; it allows us to clear our minds, focus, and find creative solutions to problems.”

-Thich Nhat Hanh

“Resting for me is fitness training.”

-Jenson Button

“I get a lot of the ideas when I’m resting – either when I’m meditating or getting some kind of work done on my back, like physical therapy or acupuncture. That’s where I get my best ideas, maybe because I’m balancing my body.”

-Katy Perry

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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It’s Not Going To Happen and, It Is Happening

Today, I sat to write a poem for my weekly post. It is not happening. My brain is tired. I have run out of words to edify, describe, inspire.

For the past two months, I have been preparing for two sermons that I will be offering at Common Ground Community UMC , our local worship community. Tomorrow, Sumday the 18th, at 9:30 Central Time is the first. The two part series is on suffering, transformation, and compassion. The seocnd part is Sunday the 25th.

If you are interested, I will post a link to their archives and you can pick it up later. This post may be arriving too late for the livestream but it is here.

https://commongroundumc.org

“The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.”

–Ben Okri

“Life and death are illusions. We are in a constant state of transformation.”

–Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”

–Dalai Lama

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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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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Reflection

I stand at water’s edge,
with trees above, 
mirrored below.
Like friendship—
a reflection seen,
yet not the same. 
Conveys who I am, 
similar, yet different.
At once solid, yet fluid.
Challenging, yet joyful.
Colorful, yet peaceful.
Encouraging,
playful,
inspiring.
Friendship allows.
Connection to the heart. 
Flows on to thee

“Life is but a mirror looking back at us, uncovering the layers we’ve neglected to see.”

-Bayu Prihandito

“The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise, we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.”

-Thomas Merton

“The way we experience the world around us is a direct reflection of the world within us.”

Gabrielle Bernstein

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The Path of Suffering

The path of suffering is a lonely path. 
Affliction arises; story is created around the pain. 
Once entered, it is difficult to depart as
thoughts dance in a loop—diminish our resolve, 
suck our energy, our creativity, our love. 
A point of choice awakens in our seeking:
we find a door that offers an exit from this diminishment 
of heart and mind, or we stay locked inside, feeling 
tied to thoughts that wound the soul. 
Are we willing to look within the pain? 
Endure the weight of what is asked of us?
Bear the needed change required to release us? 
Now, that is the mystery. That is the unknown.
Our response dictates our tomorrow
as we pray for you and for me:
May we all be freed from our suffering.

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of those depths.”

– Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

“The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.”

-Ben Okri

“Suffering isn’t ennobling, recovery is.”

-Christiaan Barnard

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Co-creation

Rise from slumber.
Fling open the curtains.
View the world
after whipping wind,
and pounding rain unfold
a newfound calm.

Hummingbird flits,
flower to flower, 
dining on fresh nectar
made from an offering
of digging, planting, 
and attending.

Produced in co-creation, 
a feast for an unknown 
and welcome guest.
Joy rises to meet
this day, and spirit
unfolds before us.

“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

“The time is now for transformation. It is a new era and we are poised with the opportunity to bring in new consciousness, and co-create a new reality. Why? Because the light within each of us has been turned on and it’s our job to turn that light on brighter and brighter until all false thought forms dissolve in the light of our truth.”

-Dr. Michelle L. Casto

“Feeding birds means feeding yourself! Birds are part of nature and feeding nature is nothing but feeding yourself!”

-Mehmet Murat ildan

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Living Bliss

I ask myself, why do I feel so tormented 
with deer who do what deer do:
a flower recently planted lies smashed 
out of its pot—limp on the ground,
the tops of the magenta beauties 
stand stripped and bereft of color.

As I stop and breathe, feel the turmoil of wanting 
to welcome and wanting to be left alone,
I witness the paradox of inviting in all of nature
and then wanting to control who arrives.
I ponder life’s abundance; I understand that
all the colors I want, and need, are always before me. 

I enjoyed magenta beauty as I walked past 
in the day, aware of her within my display, 
in the large red pot. A deer enjoyed magenta beauty 
as she walked past one evening and became 
one with the excitement of her desire. 
Now, which of us lives in bliss, I wonder.

“Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.”

-Thomas Gray

“Just think of any negativity that comes at you as a raindrop falling into the ocean of your bliss.”

-Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.”

-Joseph Campbell

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