Losses and learnings

As the year draws to a close

And we begin to contemplate

What lies before us, what will we focus on?

The obstacles we face, or opportunities?

Remembrance, regrets, or revelations

Of the year now past and gone?

May the losses and the learnings 

Serve to guide us in the days that lie ahead.

Born in the broken places

So often,

It’s when and where things fall apart —

The broken places, the cracks in our lives —

That’s where growth happens.

Even as we mourn the lost perfection,

Make time to notice

What new gift is being born;

What finally has the space and the grace to appear.

Open to welcome the light

Open your arms, open your eyes,
Open your heart, open your mind,
Open and welcome the gifts in your life:
Open, and welcome the light.

We are the future

We are the future, every one of us;
The instruments of worldwide transformation:
The bridge builders, the listeners, and the prophets,
Who by our words and actions, taking steps,
By creating, loving, sharing, saying yes, and saying no,
help propel the darkness forward into light.

From dream to reality

What is it that you dream of and desire?
And what steps might you take to bring
That dream into reality?
If all you see before you are walls and obstacles,
Perhaps you need to turn your head
And look some other way,
Or step outside yourself to observe
The perfection of the Now.

As the old year glides away

And as the old year glides away,
We pause to ponder all the boats we missed,
Remember those who’ve crossed the great divide,
And imagine the excursions
we might hope or fear to take in the year to come:
This transitioning from one decade to the next
Is a blessed opportunity
To discover new depths of generosity and compassion:
To shed old habits like old skin
And set our sights on new, broader, horizons.

Calm and bright

May all be calm and bright,
Wherever you are this glorious Christmas Day...

Something new is blooming

Even in the cold and dark,
Something new is blooming,
Waiting just around the corner,
Bursting with promise.
Fear not; glad tidings are on their way.

Learning from trees

Make some time to sit among the trees.
They understand how it feels to be stripped bare;
To have known the joy of young fruit
Clinging to their branches 
And the sharp ache when it falls away;
The glory of being clothed in golden color
And the chill of exposure 
when all we thought defined us turns to dust.
For they’ve also learned to trust
That the short dark days will lengthen into light,
And find them taller, stronger, clothed once more,
And laden with new gifts to bring to life.

The promise of the dawn

Rooted and grounded as we are

In the daily grit and swirl of life,

The complexity of the challenges of this season,

We may find it hard to lift our eyes beyond the dark 

To the horizon there before us, 

and the promise of the rising of the dawn.

That final shore

We can’t know what’s on that other shore;

We can only grieve as we witness

When those we love embark on that final journey,

And hold close those who are left behind,

Watching through a mist of tears...

Loss as a beginning

Lo, how a rose, once blooming,
Continues to bear fruit
Long after her petals fall.
Do not despair: sometimes the loss
Is only the beginning;
A necessary precursor to unimaginable growth...

Modeling possibility

I long to live in — or perhaps return to —
A space, a mind, a country
Where what is round and what is square,
Opposing ways of viewing and reacting,
Can coexist in perfect harmony.
And if I can’t discover it, perhaps I can create it:
Find a way within myself to reconcile our differences;
to model possibility.

Drift and dream

A little time away can bring perspective.
Drop the sails of your concerns
And allow yourself to drift, and to dream.
Discover, deep within, the gleaming depths of the sea;
Look up; breathe in, and let your soul find rest
In the pillowy softness of the clouds.

Between shadows and light

In stillness we inhabit that mystical space

Between the shadows and the light,

Knowing each have their gifts

And serve as part of a unifying whole.

No regrets

Every single choice we make

Means some other road not taken:

Try not to look back with regret,

Or you might miss what’s right in front of you.

Beauty in emptiness

There is such beauty in emptiness.

Why do we insist on filling up

Our closets, days and calendars?

Tied to our shadows

Each of us is tied to a shadow,

A darker side of being which can make us act

In ways that are inconsistent 

with who we claim and hope to be.

Acknowledging the truth of our imperfections 

Could help not only our selves

But our society to become more whole.

Embodiment of light

Our willingness to reach into the depths, 

That divine source that nourishes

And binds us, one to another,

In turn will feed the flame of individuality;

A glorious reaching out to 

and embodiment of light.

How can we trust?

Waiting can be so hard — 

Those difficult situations when you thought you had

All your ducks (or in this case geese) in a row, 
and then one wanders off

And it looks like all your plans may come to naught...

How can we keep on trusting

That what happens is still what’s meant to be

When we no longer have any illusion of control?

Escape the chains

What’s holding you here,

Living so long on the edge,

Is starting to pull you apart. Can you feel it?

Breathe in. Can you feel how tense 

Your shoulders are? Relax them.

Now breathe out, and trust:

You’re not alone, and the time has come

To escape the chains that bind you to the past.

That sense of connection

Something in us longs

For an encounter with the real; with the true —

That moment when all else fades away

Except this intense sense of connection...

The art of conversation

In any work of art or conversation,

There’s what is being said,

And there’s what is thought or feared

That lies beneath the surface.

A successful blending of the two

Can propel us into a deeper sense of connection;

The greater the disparity, the more isolated we become.

Reality and mystery

We humans are such complex creatures;

Each one a unique mix

Of solid, grounded, predictable

And soft, flexible and fluid —

Reality and mystery inextricably intertwined...

There will be light

There will be light, somewhere,

Even on the cloudiest days.

Make time to seek it out;

Let it feed your soul,

And share it.

Promptings of the heart

Sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants,

No matter how impractical the choice.

How can we find a way to balance

The counseling of the brain 

With the promptings of the soul?

Trusting emergence

There will be times when what’s ahead

Seems painfully unclear,

And others when emergence feels

More like emergency.

It helps to see the obstacles

That keep us from the course we’d hoped to follow

As guideposts, helping us to forge

A new and wiser path.

Find your passion

This is how it feels to find your passion,

And share it with the world;

To discover your gifts and offer them up

In service to humanity.

Behind the masks

What gentle spirit watches

From behind the masks we show the world?

What gift does it have to offer

That longs to be seen, and shared?

Taking the next step

What is it about taking the next step

That makes us feel so anxious?

Wouldn’t it be easier than to continue

This awkward balancing act?

A constructive balance

In art as in life, we need to strike

a constructive balance between dark and light...