Welcome, new day!

Welcome, new day, and may we bask in the light

Of acceptance, of grace, and community.

So many paths to Oneness

So many paths to Oneness —

Some curvy, and some direct...

Let’s not obsess on who chose which,

Or which is best: just appreciate

the beauty of the journey.

A vast, refreshing stillness

As you focus on the waves of your thoughts,

Learn to rest in the gaps between the waves.

There is a vast, refreshing stillness

That lies beneath and beyond the waves:

Open to that, and let it fill your heart with love.

Glow your brightest

In autumnal defiance, my dahlia lifts

Her drowning face to the light:

The cold and wet will not overcome

Her determination to bring color into my garden.

Glow, your brightest, most colorful self,

though the world around you darkens.

Depends on your perspective

 Whether situations are positive or threatening,

Welcoming or scaring you away

May often just depend on your perspective.

Could it be the things that worry you most

Would prove to be less ominous

If you could change the angle

From which you approach or view them?

Head out into the deep

Don’t be afraid to set off on your own;

to explore the depth and height of possibility.

You’re as prepared as you’ll ever be,

and younger than you’ll ever be again,

So now’s the perfect time to muster up your courage.

Take a deep breath, take up that paddle,

 don your life vest (whatever that looks like),

and head out into the deep.

Celebrate the harvest of Now

Take a moment today

To set aside your worries

About what’s been and what’s to come,

And just celebrate the harvest of the season;

The rich and complex glory that is Now.

Calming perfectionism

What if you took that child in yourself —

The one driven to perfectionism

By her desperate eagerness to please —

And held her, reassured her,

loved her til she calmed and fell asleep.

What wonders might you accomplish

While she slept?

The light of presence

Though dark skies may be looming,

Let not your fears for the future

Keep you from appreciating

The light of presence that is here, that is now.

Heaven unzipped

Some days it feels like someone unzipped the sky

And a little slice of heaven fell down

To envelop you in wonderful.

And then there are those other days...

How can we learn to walk through both with equanimity?

Ripening, not aging

Don't think of yourself as aging;

Think of yourself as ripening!

Peace in isolation

There is a certain peace to be found in isolation:

When we insulate ourselves

from the press of urban cares,

And steep ourselves in nature’s quiet beauty,

We can more deeply contemplate

What we might be called to contribute to humanity.

But we also need to spend time with humanity

If we hope to understand what it might need...

Drop those defenses

These huge internal edifices we build,

Hoping to protect our hearts,

Only serve to isolate us more

From the very things we need to feed our souls.

Perhaps it’s time to take that risk;

To drop those adamantine defenses

And let the fragile, imperfect soul within

Be seen and held; embraced and welcomed

In love, in light, and in community.

Still making waves

We forget that when we’re paddling happily,

Playing in our own pond,

We’re still making waves.

How does what we do affect the lives around us?

Why wait?

As yet another autumn rolls around,

We contemplate once more

The harvest of the year, the fruits and flowers

Of past work and present sowing;

Resolutions kept and dropped;

The things we swore to change but haven’t yet.

Good news! We still have time and opportunity

To accomplish all the things we’d hoped to achieve.

Start now. Why wait another day?

What will you appreciate today?

Light and shadow, color and form,

A stillness humming with the potential for motion...

What we create says so much

about who we are, where we’ve been,

And what we’ve learned to love.

What will you appreciate today,

And how will you express your gratitude?

When the clouds come rolling in

And though the days grow shorter

And the clouds come rolling in,

Still we continue on our journey,

Moving toward whatever new ports lie ahead.

Moving into the light

I know the world seems dark right now.

Let me walk through this with you,

And together we will move into the light.

Not why or how but Wow!

There’s almost always something big

Looming over almost everyone’s lives.

Death, divorce, disease, or loss —

a litany of possibilities.

But whether you’re heading toward it

Or leaving it behind,

You’ll travel far more safely —

And quite possibly more peacefully —

If you keep your focus on this moment:

This here, this now, not then or when;

Not why or how, but Wow!

Live awash in gratitude

We go through life with basic expectations:

The car will start, the switch will turn on light,

Our friends will show up for a coffee date —

But there will always be surprises:

An unexpected failure or disease,

A startled bear, or a plane crashing into a tower...

Will those events teach us to live in fear,

Or to live awash in gratitude

for what good we do enjoy?

Harvesting the days

As the summer draws to a close,

We gather in the harvest,

And marvel at the surprising shapes

Our days have taken...

The pool of stillness within

Find the pool of stillness within you,

Then look beyond to find the inexhaustible

source that continues to feed it.

Feeling, seeing, holding that connection

Will bring peace.

New Opportunities

There are always new opportunities

Waiting just beyond our reach,

But it may take courage, strength, and ingenuity

To open and push through that door —

And who knows? What’s on the other side

May simply be more of the same...

Love lapping at the shores of your heart

As the hills cradle the water

that flows through all,

Our bodies cradle the spirit

That flows through all.

Take a moment to center, and feel the love

Lapping at the shores of your heart.

Who, what and where we're meant to be

Birds are at their happiest

Soaring through the sky;

Fish, when they’re swimming in the sea.

Where are you your happiest?

Who would you be with,

and what would you be doing?

Answers to these questions help discover

Who, what, and where we were meant to be...

Sail safely

May all who travel in its path

Sail safely through the storm...

Life is a waterfall

Life is a waterfall:
Something is always giving way or being lost;
Something is always replenishing and restoring.
It’s easy to get lost in the terror of the tumble;
More refreshing to step back a bit;
To take in the beauty, the power,
The infinite resourcefulness of the whole...

Breathe in light and hope

It’s in the air: keep breathing —

Let light and hope replenish your lungs

and lift you back into the world of possibility.

Your ripest self

Don’t be afraid to be a little different.

By being your ripest self,

you bring much-needed color into the world.

Another one slips away...

Despite all of our efforts

to support, reach out, hold on,

another loved one’s slipped away

and we must trust their passage to that other shore,

and the future that awaits them

to welcome them with open arms

when ours can no longer hold them close,

but some days it’s hard not to rage

against the dying of the light...