What if there were a prayer like an incantation, one to be recited, or sung—if you could carry a tune— echoing around the world like the wood pigeon’s call, five notes radiating as light rays fill the sky announcing: “Morning has arrived”.
What if, I ask, because I wonder what might bloom in our hearts if we held five words to lift us into the dawn— could they luminate our path through starless nights of change, surprise, and dread where daily news suspends us in silent, trembling pause?
Focus. Sing out. A clear message.
One that says: Lift your hearts today. Let love be your guide. My joy illuminates.
Could we, in unison, each in our own language of hope, sing until certainty rises that dawn has arrived, and all are bathed in new light.
Could we sing together and dispel the darkness that seeps through shadowed corners, permeating rooms of despair? Could we try?
There lies hope: Our one honest prayer of life. Together we could light the universe.
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.
The world over, wherever we roam— sea or mountain, snow or sand— may we unfold our hearts and breathe in what dwells before us.
Even in devstation, we glimpse a lone caterpillar or a single mushroom, yearning toward light and pressing forward into new life, and we pause this moment to witness it all.
Sure as the heart cycles through sorrow then joy in seeing the sky unfurled above, or the quiet grace of drawing breath after breath, we claim what is ours to experience, in this moment, the only one.
Encased in a world of white, frozen tundra, deep into darkness—there is rest in hibernation as all wait to rise into the warmth of what they could only dream of: growth, nourishment, and the freedom to bloom and bring joy and beauty into this world.
Yes! We too wait and dream and hold promise of living fully alive in grace, strength, and vibrancy. Deep within what appears to us as the absence of light, we each anticipate the moment of our arrival at the door of expectancy.
Free to radiate beyond shadow, into and through the light that illuminates and calls us forth into our creative day. All that we wait for, all that we dream of—it is ours, as within our inner depths, it waits for us.
Migration update: You probably thought it was done already! I am happy to report it is all in process—slow but sure—as work happens behind the scenes. As it turns out my nephew is hosting me and I am delighted to have a live person to work with on the changes I would like to make as I move forward. The shift will happen either Monday or Tuesday of this week. I surround it all in the light of smooth transition and highest good. Blessings on your week ahead, dear readers. I appreciate all of you.
The heart aches for what it desires while lost in the shadow of dissatisfaction.
When we fall will we rise with more clarity?
Will our hearts open to our lives with honesty?
Will we dare to change the trajectory and risk a new path?
We face the questions as we seek to know our human potential— the hidden gift of life on earth.
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Human potential at its best is to transform a tragedy into a personal triumph, to turn one’s predicament into a human achievement.”
-Vitor Frankl
“Human potential is the same for all. Your feeling, ‘I am of no value’, is wrong. Absolutely wrong. You are deceiving yourself. We all have the power of thought — so what are you lacking? If you have willpower, then you can do anything. It is usually said that you are your own master.”
Just as the winter winds come and go, so too the dreams that seek to be born. Some come alive in truth while others fall after deceit is near. What is the heart’s desire if not to be alive in love and longing for the day when all arises in beauty, and we believe in all that we are, beyond this physical form, beyond these fears, beyond all being into eternity.
On this solstice, the energy of light returns to guide us into what we wish to be: to see, to taste, and live as we set our intentions clearly, and birth anew into possibility, with dreams created from the heart. We are told, you are what you dream. Be all that is your dream and live into the wholeness and the wonder of who you are— light, cosmic love, and truth. Within it all, be you.
(image: Winter Winds by Janis Dehler
“This is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year’s threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future.”
-Margaret Atwood
“The winter solstice has always been special to me as a barren darkness that gives birth to a verdant future beyond imagination, a time of pain and withdrawal that produces something joyfully inconceivable, like a monarch butterfly masterfully extracting itself from the confines of its cocoon, bursting forth into unexpected glory.”
-Gary Zukav
“Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.”
In this season: love abounds, the full moon rises, lights shine, candles are lit, while we draw near.
We wonder: How do we enter? How do we gain?
We remember: there is no gain, there is no loss, in an endless supply of love, joy, and compassion.
Always and ever: as we need, as we open, as we allow and release that which is not needed, does not support, does not bring life.
We open to All: to life, to love, and rejoice in the season of light and love, which is now and always, never ending, in endless supply.
(Image my own)
“You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. That is how important you are.”
-Eckhart Tolle
“Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.”
-Rumi
“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.”
Last year at this time I was anticipating the publishing of ONE WORLD: A Journey of Becoming, on January 10th. It is now coming to the end of the year which held book events, book and art events, my art hanging at Gladje Gallery, offering a workshop on art and spirituality, meeting new people, and enjoying such heart felt responses to my words and images. As an artist and writer, I paint and write because I derive such enjoyment from each, however, selling my works and bringing joy to others lives is frosting on the cake. the cherry on top, the bees knees. And I try to keep it that way. Fun/not work.
I decided to show up today and remind you of a book that could make a lovely gift for you or a loved one. ONE WORLD is available through me, Scout and Morgan Books in Cambridge, and Gladje Gallery in Lindstrom. Also, Amazon in paper or ebook.
I am offering an end of year 20% off discount in my shop now through December 31. Click here http://janisdehler.com/shop/ to order. And check out the greeting cards for sale.
We ran in fear. We towed the line. As consciousness rises we stand in truth of who we are, no longer choosing from what is hidden in shadow, no longer following blindly in darkness, we rise to heart’s bidding— the All, unfolding before us, that calls us to live in simplicity and love, as we learn to believe, what is good for all is good for me.
(Image: From the One World Series, We All Belong by Janis Dehler)
“The main tenet of design thinking is empathy for the people you’re trying to design for. Leadership is exactly the same thing – building empathy for the people that you’re entrusted to help.”
-David M. Kelley
“Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.”
-Margaret Mead
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
