Tuesday, December 31, 2019

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.

Monday, December 30, 2019

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.

Sunday, December 29, 2019

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.

Saturday, December 28, 2019

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.

Friday, December 27, 2019

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.

Thursday, December 26, 2019

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.

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Calm and bright


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

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

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.

Monday, December 23, 2019

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.

Sunday, December 22, 2019

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.

Saturday, December 21, 2019

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...

Friday, December 20, 2019

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...

Thursday, December 19, 2019

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.

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

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.

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

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.

Monday, December 16, 2019

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.

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Beauty in emptiness


There is such beauty in emptiness.
Why do we insist on filling up
Our closets, days and calendars?

Saturday, December 14, 2019

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.

Friday, December 13, 2019

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.

Thursday, December 12, 2019

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?

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

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.

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

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...

Monday, December 9, 2019

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.



Sunday, December 8, 2019

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...

Saturday, December 7, 2019

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.

Friday, December 6, 2019

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?



Thursday, December 5, 2019

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.

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

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.

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

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?

Monday, December 2, 2019

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?

Sunday, December 1, 2019

A constructive balance


In art as in life, we need to strike
a constructive balance between dark and light...