I imagine to the universe we are much like day lilies,
endless varieties,
no two alike.
Ages in the making,
we are relatively predictable in our growing,
blooming just for an instant.
The landscape of our world is ever changed by each little bud and blossom as it pops briefly open and vanishes instantly, leaving just its memory imprinted on the wind in its unique and lasting fragrance.
It’s not that I don’t suffer.
It’s just that I don’t choose for suffering to be my way of being.
Right there, in between the meandering branches of my life,
the shifting sands of time,
the ebbing and flowing waters of my mind,
and the soft current that carries my heart,
there is a bright and constant light
that moves and shines through my existence,
the steady point that reminds and renews me over and over again,
guiding me back like a porch light,
to the warm, quiet, stillness of my eternal home within.
Photo credit: Brian Danahy (from the port of Mykanos, Greece)
Taking away someone’s freedom is the ultimate infringement on being.
When I impose my ideas, my values, and my beliefs on you, I limit your freedom.
When I think that any part of your mind, body, or spirit needs changing, I build barriers to your freedom.
When I create obstacles that exist from my assumptions and preconceptions and believe I do not have the power to change the way we co-exist, you cannot be free.
When I say I am powerless to impact your sense of freedom and that it is totally up to you, I am shirking my obligation to give you space to be free.
It is not just you that controls your ability to be free. If I lose sight of the light of love that shines in every one of us – in you and me – the light that has a right to shine – we cannot be free.
Today I vow to do my best to cultivate your liberation, your resilience and your fortitude, to be free.
Sweet, ripe, bits of tartness, sometimes mushy, juicy, occasionally messy and on the verge of rotten.
Dripping with flavor and full of surprises.
A steady flow of tastes and textures that overlap and give way to each other.
It has taken me all these years to realize I am not just the piece of fruit.
I am the whole fruit salad, meant to be experienced and enjoyed as a whole.
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Caught my finger briefly in the door.
Intense sensation.
Rush of pain.
Momentarily immobilized.
No blood, no mark, and yet I felt such an enormous affront.
Breath gradually returns.
Senses calm.
Back to OK.
Realizing how deceiving hurts can be on the outside…no way to know how the hurt is unfolding on the inside.
What seems like such a minor encounter could feel quite crushing on the inside.
Perhaps it would serve best to judge less and avoid assessing whether feeling hurt is appropriate and rather focus on finding the way back to OK.
May ripples of love and acceptance help you see all the good in others so that you can see it in you too.
Fear is born of the past.
Worry is tied to the future.
In the stillness of this moment
fully present
there is joy.
Instead of trying to form my being
If I allow myself to be
I find joy.
The sun typically illuminates the moon.
The moon relying on the sun to be seen.
On occasion they come into complete opposition.
The earth interferes with the sun’s capacity to light the moon.
For a moment there appears to be total darkness.
And then the moon emerges more strikingly in the sky than ever before, full of deep, rich color.
The moon becomes something new,
The dark more luminous,
The sun still shining.
Adversity the catalyst,
Throughout the darkness.
I sit in the darkness of my own shadow.
With the bright light of others filtered out, for a moment I don’t know where to turn, which way to go, who I am.
Alone with my own being, fear is gradually replaced with Spaciousness.
Space gives way to Clarity.
In the clarity I find peace,
Able to rely on me,
Trust me,
Know my way,
without others to inform me.
Alone I choose to be still,
to notice the internal motions of my being,
making the journey alone,
far from lonely.
Monday Mindfulness 