Wandering in Circles

I watch her walk from room to room, touching the walls, furniture, doors. She stops and stares with blank, empty, clouded cornea, into the surrounding space. Some times she smiles, or laughs - out loud. The way one is meant to laugh at the fun and joy of life. Then her head wobbles that customary rock and roll atop her neck we have come to associate with the blind. She cracks herself up.

I wonder what is funny. What has tickled her so? I ask, but she can't hear me. I laugh, too, because it is easy and rich. My heart opens softly and if I let the laugh sink in tears trickle down my cheek. Whatever she has released, it is good.

The wandering isn't always so pleasant, but neither is life. It's all about balance. We take the joy and the pain and walk the labyrinth finding depth and understanding in our soul.

Reflecting on being...on the path.

Reality

No matter your ideas, religion, or belief. We are all one. We are intimately connected so that when I exhale you inhale my breath. We are a part of the cycle of life from creation to death. To continue to deny this fact is to live in illusion.

Wake up into Love.

Sourced Within

Wherever I am, God is.
Wherever I am, God is.
Wherever I am, God is.

The search is over. There is no need to struggle. God is here.

When we accept that we are the vessel of Source/Soul/God, we open to our true being and from our hearts we extend the Love that is.

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

-His Holiness, The 14th Dalai Lama

Today, I reveled in the simple laughter of a busy toddler as she climbed, jumped, and played in shredded paper. Her joy at being with me, sharing her happiness, and teaching me her new words shifted my perspective on living a good day. Shifting perspectives changes our hearts. Ah, kindness...

In love with open hearts...more on the journey. 

To See With New Eyes

We added a new prayer to our bedtime ritual - a chant/manta actually, though the oldest created a new song about love and protection she insisted we sing. The baby has learned to stack hands and shout happy, so we did that too. I'm tired. I just want them to go to sleep.

Every day is a moment by moment occasion to give up something. Not as in stop doing, but really just not giving a good ... It takes them minutes to completely wreck the house. All I need to do is leave the room to cook dinner or wash the dishes, or shame on me, use the bathroom. And now that I have fussed them out for what I hope is the last time, I may just leave things as they are.

I am determined to see things differently, to find the smooth places in the path rather than stumbling through the daily debris. By the time night falls and self  assessment thumps my skull, I realize I have succumbed again to my distress.

What I need are new eyes. I need an entirely new approach to what are my chosen daily events that feel like struggles and challenges. My readings on kindness mock me. Be kind.

I feel crabby and out of sorts. I am pissed that I have not accomplished what I expect. I am angry that another has not picked up the slack. I would be hurt, but I know better. Mostly, I am out of answers, and questions. Be kind.

Be quiet. I am better at that these days. Better, that's all. At least in quiet I keep to myself the fuming that pushes to escape. As I type I feel like I won't get it together, but that is a lie. I will take the time to tend my heart, to relax. I will neglect the tasks that annoy me. There is always tomorrow, and if there's not, well, I'm not wasting tonight doing something other than what brings me joy,

I can see I need a bigger shift than I thought. I will trust in Source that just as my distress has been revealed, so will deliverance come. Be kind. Start with yourself.

Stumbling down the path...

In Bright Blessings.

We have various constructs that allow us to rethink and re-evaluate our lives and choices. The end of the calendar year and next beginning, any number of holidays, events, or situations can cause an assessment of how, when, and why.

I choose the Lenten Season to re-establish my purpose and choices, to celebrate all that have come before and release those things I no longer find useful.

In the past, the question or statement around this season was about giving up. "What are you giving up for Lent?"

I ask, "How will you be shaped anew by accepting challenges and allowing them to change you? What are you taking on? How will you grow?"

Giving up and letting go will most certainly address those areas, if we let it. If we commit to feeling the shift that "giving up" opens within us. If we face the ache, hurt, or pain associated with holding on.

The Lenten Season helps me draw the line in some very hard places. Lent gives me permission to draw the line and hold it in those moments I would vacillate. My desire is to have shifted so dramatically that stepping back into the old pattern is not an option.

Here on the journey to a more authentic self...

Blessed be.

Honoring Perfection

Too often we neglect the perfection in our lives. We skip over the easy stuff and grumble as we struggle to reach the farthest point.

Art, photos, nature, children, or other socially constructed and condoned images elicit recognition of perfection. Math and science offer insight into the many missed aspects of what we hold as perfect.

But for a moment, acknowledge what is perfect in your life today. Anything. Find the forgotten, the dismissed, the neglected, and relish them.

It usually takes an act of denial to bring forth the joy and wonder of what we already have. What if we appreciated what we have in this present moment? Appreciation is the principle of growth and expansion.

Share the new and good in your life. Open to receiving more.

On kindness;

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echos are truly endless.             Mother Teresa

Forgiveness

Life is an adventure in forgiveness. - Norman Cousins

Forgiveness is the greatest moment of letting go.

We let go of having things go the way we planned. Let go of the way we think people have failed us, hurt us, disappointed us. Let go of the wishing, hoping, and praying that is directed to the past.

Forgiveness brings us to the now. What are we holding on to? And why?

Refusal to forgive is the anchor we wrap around our necks as we wade into the deep end of some hoarded past transgression. This refusal to release is threatening our very survival; as we struggle to find the next breath, freedom is as immediate as the moment we let go.

Exhale into this moment. Exhale clearing the past. Exhale the stubborn tightness.

Exhale. Exhale. Exhale.

The inhale will take care of itself. (And what a relief it is.)

Breathing with you on this journey up the mountain...

Recognizing Enough

Too often I walk through the marketplace or store and find I own much of what is displayed there. But oh how my heart longs for just one more babble or doohickey.

During this season, I have committed to letting go of my need to buy stuff just because I want it, or think I neeeed it. It has proven a deeper challenge today. Not because I wanted to buy anything, but because as I look around my house I see so much that we already have even in the face of the urge to gather in more.

I'll not chide myself for the behaviors of the past, but instead shift into a more reasonable, useful way of being. I will focus on real needs and dreams. While I live amongst my stuff, I long to be a resource in this world - in my community. I have so much to share, and now even more since it is obvious my needs are completely met.

Kindness in words creates confidence.
Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
Kindness in giving creates love.  - Lao-Tzu

Blessing on this journey of compassion and kindness.

Be Nice Anyway

Somehow the day has escaped me along with the note for the topic I planned to post. I have my grand-daughters in the afternoon and that is just one lmanic circus event complete with monkey antics and the accompanying mess. No sooner than I think I have one bit sorted than another turns over.

Thankfully, the girls went to bed and even to sleep peacefully. I had a few tasks to complete, then picked up my hook and yarn to complete a hat as a gift before the evening was through.

I love to crochet, to create and occasionally to design. The hat I made is one that I have perfected by following the pattern completely. To say I was excited to make the gift is an understatement. However, it was not received with any enthusiasm. A few nags. A nit pick, A carrying away of the gift.

I was bewildered at the unkindness. I still am.

This week's readings are on compassion and kindness.

The best portion of a good man's life: his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.  William Wordworth

 Words welled up inside me as the gift left my home. I have them still. Here, I let go of the outcome, the fruit, the results.  I give because I love to give. It is the ego that was seeking a return in that moment. The promise is that when we give, it will be given back to us, good measure, pressed down and running over. I am free to allow this moment to pass in love.

As the car pulled away and I locked the door, I heard the mandate, "Be kind anyway." That reminded my of Mother Teresa's Poem -

Do It Anyway

People are often unreasonable,
illogical and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind,
people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful,
you will win some false friends and true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you;
Be honest anyway.

What you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis,
it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

Blessings during this journey of reflection.

Challenge and Change

Reflection inherently means to look back - as in what presents in the mirror or pool. This morning, I took reflect as a moment to review, recount, peruse the past. In this moment I wonder why I thought that was useful.

I have adopted the season of Lent. It wasn't mine all along. I had to go get it.

I plan for my attendance to this season.  The giving up. The letting go. The moving on. I know my weaknesses, well, some of them, and am willing to open to change. Beyond the declarations of what we will give up for Lent, what will we take on?

I renew my commitment to daily pray and meditation.

I renew my commitment to give back to my community.

I renew my commitment to responsible financial stewardship.

During this season, I will offer a daily prayer and remember that we are all on the same journey - back to the One, regardless of our chosen paths.


Fill your mind with compassion. - Buddha

I let go of offering explanations. I am free and unlimited.

So are you...

What doesn't challenge you, doesn't change you. Blessed be.