Shifting
Swirling
Overlapping
Never separate
Never fully one
Dark and light blending
No clear definition
Stormy or clearing
All sources of nourishment
Endless gifts
Purpose in all.
Ever Changing Skies
Category Archives: compassion
As The Wind Blows
I am made of grace
Flowing and free
A mystery force
Unseen yet felt
Barreling through corridors
Softly pressing against your body
Making my way.
Often unnoticed
Unappreciated
Lonely at times
Ignored unless I rage
Stoking flames
Tipping trees
Whipping myself around wildly
Roaring in your ears.
Do you notice my work
Clearing old leaves from the trees,
Making wild flowers dance,
Brightening your cheeks?
Or are you only frustrated
As I muss your hair,
Push against you,
Rip through your windows?
Invite me in,
Swirl with me,
Experience my grace as your own.
Help me avoid the need to burst into flames
Or wither to nothing just to be noticed,
To feel connected to you.
Honor not just my ferociousness
But the power in my grace.
Ripples
May ripples of love and acceptance help you see all the good in others so that you can see it in you too.
Loss, Not Lost
Grief…it’s not about the loss as much as creating and being able to access a little warm place in your heart where you hold that connection forever.
I used to think that grief was the act of severing ties and throwing away something special because it was lost.
But now I know that grief is a process of storing the memories of the specialness of every experience regardless of its labels, conditions, and how it came to be or not be.
Grief is experiencing the loss without getting lost.
An antidote for loss
When you are suffering, my smile does not mean I don’t care. It may be that I am just opening my heart more in a time when yours may feel closed off.
I am holding a space of warmth and hope in which you can feel sad but not alone.
Allow my smile to soften your pain and be not a blinding light but a guiding light.
Feeling and noticing love and joy in others does not negate the loss. It just reminds us of our capacity to heal and honor loss without getting lost in it ourselves.
Caught up
Why is it that I am so regularly seduced by over work at the sacrifice of self care and compassion?
Caught in the net of a never ending to-do list that lures me away from rest and towards the mirage of success.
In the end, it is not the amount of work I get done but my capacity to enjoy the work I do and that is only possible with sufficient compassion and care.
Sail Away Home
Settling into my breath, I find the spot where the inhale meets the exhale – the moment of attachment of my body to the breath, the point of connection to my inner knowing.
At that point, I find stillness. Projecting from that stillness is a clear and receptive space of awareness.
From that awareness, I follow the path of least effort to discover my intention – the sensation, word or object that reflects my true state of being. In that intention I find reassurance, guidance, and confirmation in my decision making.
I sit for a moment longer in the stillness, awareness and intention until I can let go of all discomfort. Full of ease and comfort, my sails fill confidently with my inner knowing, fulfilling my purpose and potential.
Finding stillness, awareness, intention, and letting go, I sail away home.
Delightful
I am happy to support you along the way.
I am always willing to remind you of your talents and your strengths.
I will continue to share in your surprise in discovering your gifts,
In realizing your power, and spreading your wings.
I will hold the door open as long as you need
And leave the window unlocked just in case.
I will scoop you up when you trip over the illusion of failure.
I will not let go until you feel your own steadiness.
I will lend words and gestures to guide you into your own being,
but I have never told you anything that you don’t already know.
I have never seen any part of you that you should withhold from your own sight.
I long for the moment when you free yourself from the tentacles of self-doubt.
And I delight in the prospect of you delighting in the greatness of you.
In This Vase
I tried to grow straight and tall like them. I worked just as hard as they did to grow.
But, it seems I am unfolding differently. I wonder if you see me as suffering, wilting or weak. Do you think I am lacking in nourishment or attention? Perhaps I strike you as non-compliant or maybe even deformed.
Why can’t it just be that because of me their poise and beauty are more prominent while my stature is no less dear?
Could there be room enough in this vase for all of us to be equally valued and admired?
Awakening
Why is it when something good happens, I assume I am dreaming? Good fortune couldn’t possibly come to me just because it is a way of living.
Our dreams allow us to live out endless possibilities, to experience great joys and work through sufferings. Yet it is more often the sufferings that we bring with us into the waking world. It is the sufferings we expect to find in the daylight hours.
As we settle into the darkest time of the year, let us awaken in this darkness to the fact that we are intended to live in joy and peace, and to thrive in the living more than in our dreams.
It is the suffering that is the illusion, not the success. It is the discomfort that we can relinquish to the dream state.
In the darkness, I awaken to know that this being is intended to be miraculous, exuberant, joyful and abundantly filled with ease.
It is time to give ourselves permission to celebrate our successes and well-being, fully awake and aware in our right to thrive.
Monday Mindfulness 