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Take a Moment of Reflection: Open the Door
“… Do you think this world was only an entertainment for you?
Never to enter the sea and notice how the water divides
with perfect courtesy, to let you in!
Never to lie down on the grass, as though you were the grass!
Never to leap to the air as you open your wings over the dark acorn of your heart!No wonder we hear, in your mournful voice, the complaint
that something is missing from your life!Who can open the door who does not reach for the latch?
Who can travel the miles who does not put one foot
in front of the other, all attentive to what presents itself
continually?
Who will behold the inner chamber who has not observed
with admiration, even with rapture, the outer stone?Well, there is time left –
fields everywhere invite you into them.And who will care, who will chide you if you wander away
from wherever you are, to look for your soul?Quickly, then, get up, put on your coat, leave your desk!
…Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?”
-Mary Oliver
Your life was meant to be lived fully, to be experienced fully – not to be merely a treadmill you walk until it’s over. Read more
Take A Moment of Reflection: Break Free
“You must learn one thing.
The world was made to be free in.
Give up all other worlds
except the one to which you belong. …
anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive
is too small for you”
-David Whyte (excerpted from Sweet Darkness)
The worst limitations we live with are the ones we create for ourselves. We limit ourselves with beliefs that are inaccurate and untested. Read more
Take A Moment of Reflection: Seeking the Truth
“If you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against. The struggle between ‘for’ and ‘against’ is the mind’s worst disease.”
-Sent-ts’an, c. 700 C.E.
One of the greatest challenges I have with my own teenage daughter is trying to seek the truth – the common ground between us – without taking a side and being “for” the way I see things and “against” the way she sees things. Our truth lies in the part of Read more
Take a Moment of Reflection: Your Precious Life
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”
― Mary Oliver
As we prepare to end this year and enter the next, it’s a good time to do some reflection on how you want to live.
Are you treating your life as precious? Are you giving it the respect and attention it deserves?
What is one step you can take toward enjoying the treasures of your one wild and precious life?
Wishing you blessings, joy, peace and love in the New Year.
Deb
Take a Moment of Reflection: Wherever You Are is Here
“Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.”
-David Wagoner
Wherever you are is “here.” That seems like such a simple statement but it carries great depth. So often we forget how important it is to simply be here, now. Read more
Take a Moment of Reflection: Beyond Right or Wrong
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”
-Rumi, Sufi poet
When we name things as “right” or “wrong,” we leave no room for a meeting of the hearts. When I find myself in disagreement with someone, I can get into a place of fierce self-righteousness. Instead of focusing on ways I can connect with the other person through common ground, I focus only on what makes sense to me and on trying to convince the other person to see things my way. Read more
Take a Moment of Reflection: Abundance
Take A Moment of Reflection: Abundance
“Abundance can be had simply by consciously
receiving what already has been given.”
-Sufi Saying
We often seek abundance by looking for material things but when we take the time to look, we can see that we are surrounded with abundance: friendships, laughter, joyful moments, etc.
What abundance have you already been given?
What abundance will you gain simply by consciously receiving it?
A Moment of Reflection: Where Are You Going?
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat
“I don’t much care where –” said Alice
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat
“-so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
-Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Where are you going? In my mind, the question is less about where you are going then how you are going. Life is basically a journey. How we travel on that journey is what matters most. When we rush to get someplace, we often move without reflecting on how we want to be as we move ahead.
Are you rushing so fast that you miss out on the scenery along the way or are you taking time to enjoy the connections you make as you travel? Are you moving forward so quickly that you are not taking time to be in touch with what you are feeling?
What does your inner wisdom want to tell you about how you can better journey forward?
Moment of Reflection: Surrendering for Higher Dreams
“Any real change implies the break up of the world as one has already known it. The loss of all that gave one identity, the end of safety. And at such a moment, unable to see and not daring to imagine what the future will bring forth, one clings to what one knew; to what one possessed or dreamed one possessed. Yet, it is only when one is able, without bitterness or self pity to surrender a dream one has long cherished, or a privilege one has long possessed, that one is set free—that one has set ones self free—for higher dreams for greater privileges.”
-James Baldwin, 1961-Nobody Knows My Name
When we cling to old dreams and old ways of being, we keep ourselves from expanding and reaching our higher dreams.
What might you be holding on to that no longer serves you well. Are you afraid to let go of a relationship, a habit, a privilege, or a job because you cannot see what lies beyond it?
What better future might be waiting for you if you simply surrender and let go?
Take the Time for a Moment of Reflection
In various spiritual practices, the world as we experience it with our senses is considered an illusion. It is not reality. Reality is the internal place at the core of our being – the place our inner wisdom, inner calm and sense of well being reside; the place that contains the essence of our energetic life force. Even though I believe this to be true, it’s still so easy to forget the power of what lies within and get caught up in the external world.
How often do you strive to do things in the outer world to bring you happiness, Read more
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For information about Deb's book, The Quilt of Humanity: A Metaphor for Healing and Reparation, click here