Out beyond…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Out beyond ideas of

wrongdoing

and rightdoing

there is a field.

I’ll meet you there.

When the soul lies

down in that grass

the world is too full

to talk about.

 

~ Rumi ~

grateful for it all…

Wholeness does not mean perfection: it means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life  ~ Parker Palmer ~

Cultivate the ability to say, “Thank you for everything,” and you will find that everything is a gift.  ~ Alan Cohen ~

Could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy  ~ Kahlil Gibran ~

I know I write fairly often about gratitude here and I do my best to live from a grateful place every day.  I succeed, too, more often than not, although there are days that seem to be determined to break down my resolve.  Those days are full of people, places and events which test me in ways beyond words – the days when it seems nothing will ever go “right” every again.  And “right” means my way, my wishes, my plan, of course.

And then I remember.  It’s not my plan.  No way, no how.  It is so much bigger than that. The universe has plans for me – for all of us – that are far, far more complex and beautiful than my addled brain can even imagine.  And when I look at it that way – blue sky, open fields, no end in sight – well, I become grateful for “those days”.

Do you remember rock tumblers?  If I am recalling correctly, you would add grit – rough dirt, in essence – to pale, uninteresting, plain rocks and let it run for hours and hours. It was unbelievably loud, and after your parents had migraines and the whole house had shaken a bit, you could open it up and after a few rounds of different graded grit rubbing those rocks, there would be beautiful, polished, colorful stones.

That’s what life does to us.  The beautiful, sunny, agreeable days?  We all love them and can openly express gratitude for each and every one.  The days when our wills are thwarted, disease strikes, our homes or our bodies violated?  Not so much. And that’s ok.  We are human.  It is tremendously difficult, often impossible to see the good when we are in the midst of the awful.

Later, though, when we step back and look at it with a little (or a lot) of distance and time between us?  It’s clear as a bell.

I’ve been writing the story of my journey from an incredibly difficult start towards feeling  more welcome in the world, and that involves a whole lot of looking back at events and relationships that most would avoid even reading about, frankly.  It’s not hard, though, to view it through a lens of gratitude now.  And judging from these quotes, I am not the only one to discover this peace.  I only hope I can share it as beautifully.  I wrote this earlier this week, in a moment of wonder.  I hope it brings you some of that same peace.

What may appear to be dark, even very dark, is only there to usher in the light that sits just behind it.  ~ clg ~

 

I’ve been invited to a Link Party over at Meredith’s lovely blog, A Mother Seeking… this is new to me, and it seems to be a wonderful idea.  Come and check it out here!

Timeless words…

The one who loses patience with us
is the one who stays and protects.

You are the iris and the rose
and the fall that ruins the flowers.

Sing the spring and admit that you are also thorn.
Everything that exists is talking and not talking at once.
Everything looks at and walks through you.

The nightingale bestows a definite desire.
There is the ocean and the bridge.
There are these two or three numbered days.

I am none of those.
I am more the way you are,
flowers opening and the soul in silence,
but something in you will not let me keep quiet.

I try to hide like a clever quarry,
but you hunt the hunter and the prey.
You purify by staying apart.

The fragrance of everyone’s laughter
is your work and your gift to us,
as well as the weeping.

~ Rumi ~

I always hesitate to write anything after a Rumi poem, but here I go. Again.

On the days when the world is a little much, when things seem backwards or inside out or upside down, when I am sure that I am not in tune with the planet in general, I read Rumi. I read his words and know that nearly eight hundred years ago, somewhere in the Middle East, someone else’s heart felt what mine does. And I take comfort in that.

And on the days when the beauty of the earth almost overwhelms me, when I can’t count the stars because there are so many, when I am startled by what my eyes relay to my soul, I read Rumi. I read his words and know that his heart was open too, that he saw what I see, that there was so much good in his day – as much as there is in mine. And it makes me feel at home.

To me, his beautiful and timeless poems are proof positive that we are never alone. Every day.

Just be you…

When you do things from your soul,
you feel a river moving in you, 
a joy…

~ Rumi ~

So here’s the lesson that’s been in front of me all day…

I don’t have to earn my place in this world by being what I should be…

Or could be,

Or what someone thought I would be.

I just have to be me.

Your secret…

This is your moment,
a drumbeat of faithfulness.

Red flowers open
Grapes are being crushed into wine.
Soul and rational clarity sit down together at your table.
All desire wants is a taste of you.

The two realities are two small villages in your world.
Everyone longs for your presence.
As we start to step up, your ladder arrives.

You say, I am more compassionate
than your mother or your father.
I will make medicine out of your pain.
From your smoke I create new constellations.

I tell you everything
and yet I do not say it all,
because, my friend, it is better
when your secret is spoken by you.

~ Rumi ~

Sunday Stroll…

Even the wildest dreams have to start somewhere. Allow yourself the time and space to let your mind wander and your imagination fly.

~ Oprah Winfrey ~

This week’s stroll will be different in a couple ways. Rather than walk, we are going to fly. Sort of. These photos are from a recent trip from Washington, DC to London, England and I hope you will find some time and space to really drink them in. The skies above us both change and stay the same and it fascinates me to watch them, always. As I am held captive in the plane anyway, it seems like the perfect time to allow myself to dream, you know? Hopefully, through the magic of the iPhone, you will be able to see a bit of what I saw.

The other first is this – I am quoting Einstein and Oprah in the same post. Hopefully, the sky won’t fall! I’d like to think that they would both be pleased… or, at least, amused.

Here we go…

The sky is the daily bread of the eyes.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious.  And why shouldn’t it be? – it is the same the angels breathe.
~ Mark Twain ~

The sky is that beautiful old parchment in which the sun and the moon keep their diary. ~ Alfred Kreymborg ~

The clouds, – the only birds that never sleep.
~ Victor Hugo ~

Only from the heart can you touch the sky.
~ Rumi ~

A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space.

He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.

The delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us.

Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures…

~ Albert Einstein ~

It makes absolutely no difference…

These spiritual windowshoppers,
who idly ask, How much is that? Oh, I’m just looking.
They handle a hundred items and put them down,
shadows with no capital.

What is spent is love and two eyes wet with weeping.
But these walk into a shop,
and their whole lives pass suddenly in that moment,
in that shop.

Where did you go? “Nowhere.”
What did you have to eat? “Nothing much.”

Even if you don’t know what you want,
buy something. to be part of the exchanging flow.

Start a huge, foolish project,
like Noah.

It makes absolutely no difference
what people think of you.

~ Rumi ~

Just for the record, Rumi lived from 1207 til 1273.

Just saying…