Seeking buoyancy

My wish for the coming year is this: 

that whatever weather may arise I will not be blown off-course, 

but continue to rise above the storm; 

to float, serene, untroubled, dancing lightly on the waves of change,

buoyed by faith and anchored in eternal oneness.

The circle of unknowing

Step into the circle of unknowing

And find the golden light that blooms within.

The wound in all those shoulds

How many of your thoughts are judgments?

I love this, and I hate that. That was right but this is wrong.

I'm such a loser, or I so won that round...

Dividing the world into yes and no,

we lose all the possibilities of maybe.

Maybe is the crack, the wound in all those shoulds,

the place where we begin to open, 

where the light of hope shines through.

Grounded in love

Our resistance is less effective when fueled

by division, fear, or anger.

Our actions are most successful

when grounded in unity, compassion, and love.

Listen to the mountains

Listen to the mountains: 

make time today to rest and breathe;

allow the pressure of the holidays 

to dissolve into a mist of memories.

Your unique contributions

The movements, the riffs, the phrases and strokes, 
the colors that come most easily -- these are the artist's gifts; 

the dancer, writer, or composer's trademark gestures,

the ones that make work fun, yet uniquely ours.

Don't edit them out or put them down: 

rejoice in your own unique originality!

A Christmas Wish: for Enlightenment

 

And so today, as, like the wise men, we find our way to hope, 

and, bearing our gifts, we set them forth before the world

to honor the birth and promise of new life,

my wish becomes that all may be enlightened;

that those who are governed by fear, greed, and distrust

may discover anew the beauty and goodness 

of all that is created, and move to honor and protect

this fragile earth, our island home:

to tend the sick and feed the hungry,

to give rest to the weary and soothe the suffering, 

to pity the afflicted and shield the joyous

and all for the sake of Love.

Christmas Wish #10: Playfulness

My wish today is for all who feel 

oppressed by the burdens of the world; 

for all whose responsibilities weigh them down;

for all whose inventiveness and creativity 

seem to have gone into hibernation,

that they may find -- if only for a moment -- 

a renewed sense of playfulness, a lightening of spirit, 

a moment of joy or an unexpected smile to ease their hearts.

Christmas Wish #9: Justice

My deepest wish this morning is for justice:

not a justice that is judging -- one is right, or one is wrong --

but a justice that is rooted in acceptance 

of diversity, of the value of every living thing;

a justice that travels away from either/or and into AND.

Christmas Wish #8: Persistence

Today I pray that I may have persistence:

that whatever challenges I may face,

I honor my commitments and show up for my appointed rounds;

that no adverse conditions will prohibit me

from doing the work that I was created to perform.

Christmas Wish #7: Confidence

My wish for today is for confidence:

that we may learn to trust 

that whatever's happening is what's supposed to happen;

that whatever burdens we carry, we have the strength to carry;

that whatever is required of us, we will have the courage,

the endurance, and ingenuity required to bring it to fruition.

Christmas Wish #6: Hope

For all who feel they've lost their sense of purpose;

for all who worry that everything they've fought for is now gone;

for all who live in deep despair, discouraged,

I wish for renewed hope; that they may hear again

the call to courage, and drum up

the energy to march again in faith.

Christmas Wish #5: Silence

My wish today is for silence;

for a moment or two of absolute quiet

away from the cacophony without and within:

a moment to rest, and just be.

Christmas Wish #4: Community

My wish today is for community:

that those who have it 

may treasure and cultivate it,

and that all who long for it may find it.

Christmas Wishes #3: Freedom

I wish today for all who feel imprisoned --

by circumstance or fear, addiction or convention --

to find their way to freedom and release.

Christmas Wishes #2: Peace

A wish for all of us, awash in holiday preparations,

that for just a bit, sometime today, we could escape the shoulds

and curl up like a cat in a patch of rainbow-scented sunlight...

Christmas wishes: #1: Safe Harbor

A wish for all who are forced to leave their homes,

that they may find a safe and peaceful harbor.

Never alone

However isolated we may be, 

we're never truly alone;

we have the grasses, trees, and sky to comfort us.

First world problems

I am, today, this bleak horizon: distant, unreachable,

longing for the warmth and touch of a rising or setting sun,

unaware -- and unappreciative -- 

of the luxury of the waves lapping at my toes,

the gulls that pepper the salt-scented air,

the sweet blue oneness of it all...

When disappointment wails

 

Take this sense of raging disappointment: set it down, 

hold its hand, and let it tell you how it feels.

Let it wail; let the echoes of the anguish and betrayals of its youth

resound in the caverns of your heart,

and let it weep until its tears are spent and gone.

Now carry it, quite tenderly, to some safe and quiet place

and let it rest, rocking gently in the cradle of the stars.

Beyond iconic moments

Just as there are iconic shots, 

there are iconic moments in our lives;

those times when everything is perfectly aligned

to put us on the path to new adventures.

But what about those other times,

when every move we make encounters obstacles? What then?

Somehow we learn to trust that standing still

can yield as much -- or more -- growth as moving forward.

Show us the glory in the grey

I've been reading Listening for the Heartbeat of God, a book on Celtic Spirituality by Philip Newell, and in it I found a wonderful prayer from a Scottish minister named George MacLeod:

Almighty God,

Sun behind all suns,

Soul behind all souls,

show to us in everything we touch

and in everyone we meet

the continued assurance of thy presence round us, 

lest ever we should think thee absent.

In all created things thou art there.

In every friend we have

the sunshine of thy presence is shown forth.

In every enemy that seems to cross our path,

thou art there within the cloud to challenge us to love.

Show to us the glory in the grey.

Awake for us thy presence in the very storm.

till all our joys are seen as thee

and all our trivial tasks emerge as priestly sacraments

in the universal temple of thy love.

... a lovely prayer, I think, to hold close to our hearts this Christmas season...

But for my facebook post today, because I keep those carefully free of references to God and Christ, I'll write instead this other thought, paraphrased from the Buddhist teacher, Adyashanti:

Think on it: all the harm we do

comes from believing what's not true.

... and lest these two thoughts seem unconnected to you, let me point out that the truth MacLeod's prayer points to is that God (or spirit, if you prefer that language) resides in all things, all events, all people.  The harm we do -- any of us -- is when we forget that's true.

Sheltered in the heart of being

Whatever storms assail us,

grant us the strength and trust to find

the warm and loving shelter that always resides

deep within the heart of being.

What is holy?

Who am I to say what's true,

and what is holy? All I know is this:

these leaves, once green and beautiful,

are yellow now, and fading fast,

and yet this plant still thrives and will return.

The wonderland of now

Let silence fall upon my thoughts like snow,

blurring -- or erasing -- all distinctions,

making mind's familiar paths far too slippery to travel.

Let me drop into the whiteness, 

and make angels in the wonderland of Now.

A quiet place

Find me a quiet place to sit,

where I can feel in tune with things that grow,

and close my eyes -- if only for a moment --

to all the worries and injustices that haunt me...

Cold adventures

Yes, it's cold, and the weather is uncertain.

That doesn't mean you should forgo adventures.

This could be the perfect time to leave familiar harbors;

to venture out in search of something new.

Caged

I built the cage myself --

the one that keeps my soul from dancing free --

and lined it with projections of another's expectations.

When will I find a way 

-- the courage, strength, or passion --

to part the bars?

A longing for eternity

The task of the artist is twofold:

with our hands, we give form to the formless,

and with our hearts we give voice

to the universal longing for eternity.

We close our eyes

We humans are designed to be reflective:

to see or read another's pain

and feel its echoes in our souls,

awakening old wounds.

And so, to protect our hearts,

we close our eyes...

The gym floor of my mind

I try to clear the dance floor of my thoughts,

to keep its surface shiny and reflective,

but still, instead of sitting on the sidelines,

they leap from their chairs like randy teens

and rush into the center to twist and shout,

leaving dark marks with their inappropriate shoes.