Italian Cyprus

swaying tall in moonlight

dancing with the stars

to comfort thee

words cannot speak

what lies beneath soul

depth of pain

beyond comprehension

yields to silence

Presence

quietly walks pathways

to broken hearts

When words are inadequate why

do we fill the space with more

words?

Because we cannot bear the silence.

And yet, that is the place

of deep healing….

beyond the cliche, banal and the trite.

I would rather hold your hand

in silence, with compassion.

waters liquid soul
ever seeking lowly paths
to puddle with grace

from the lowest place
to the highest glory
our watery journey

every wave different
in an ocean of waves
birthed in the same depths

for: One Breath Poetry

winged, feathered, loved
no reaping nor sowing
living dharma

“Stewardesses” is the longest word typed with only the left hand and “lollipop” with your right.

In my reading this morning I came across a poem in ‘Tricyle’ magazine that intrigued me. I can’t even remember the title of it but the gist of it had to do with our attachments to our opinions and ideas causing the perpetuation of our ’separation mentality’. To have strong opinions is to say that I think I’m right and by implication you are wrong, otherwise I would not be so attached to that particular opinion.
The most trouble I have ever had relationally was always rooted in my need to be ‘right’. I used to be totally frustrated (and angry) when others refused to see my side of the argument no matter how perfectly logical it seemed to me. Thus, greater separation, loss of unity, oneness.
I remember a preacher one time tell me that we have to allow the other person a lot of elbow room to make up their own mind about how to interpret the scripture or anything else for that matter. This is not to say that our teachers are not necessary. They can be invaluable guides to help us on the path to understanding and enlightenment but ultimately we all have to come to the truth on our own terms.

To hold my opinions lightly does not mean complete passivity or easy capitulation. It simply means I let go of the emotional attachment to them and do not allow them to separate me from my brother/sister. Another thing we used to teach at our ‘Marriage Encounter’ weekends (back in the early 80’s) was something like; “our relationship is more important than anything over which we may disagree”

Now that’s the truth and you better believe it!

We carry old wounds within us because we repressed the feelings associated with these wounds when we were children. If they are repressed, they will affect you in a negative and limiting way. And so you must reverse the process of repression by allowing the Spirit to bring these feelings and memories to the surface. At the same time, you remain fully present, witnessing the feelings as they arise within you.

I am not suggesting that you indulge in these feelings. They are from the past. They are simply memories stuck within you. They have no meaning other than that they are stuck within you and need to be brought to consciousness and released through the power of God’s love and acceptance. For one who is truly on a path of awakening, there is no interest in the past other than to bring it to consciousness in a way that heals and releases it. In truth there is no life outside of this moment.

I kept knocking on the door
until I realized that I was
knocking from the inside.

Rumi

O.K. Here’s one to twist your brain around. (You can probably tell I love this stuff):

How does one stay without all those stray thoughts fluttering across the canyons of your mind, especially during prayer or meditation times? Remembering that by prayer I mean the non-verbal kind where you just get quiet, focus on you breathing instead of problems and concerns of the moment, the day, the life.

You cannot stop thoughts. It is impossible. But you CAN choose to be fully present in the moment of NOW. When you are fully present, thoughts stop all by themselves.

You are not trying to stop the thoughts, which would be a form of judgment. You are simply choosing to be present with that which is present. You cannot thnk about the present moment. You can only think about the past or the future and so if you are truly present, thoughts will simply stop.

To just “be” is another way of saying “to just be present.”

“We cannot live the afternoon of life

according to the program of life’s morning;

for what in the morning was true will in evening become a lie.”

– Carl Jung

I’m borrowing this one from one of my favorite blogs; Graceful Presence

Heidegger’s A.M.

Coffee breaks
the chain
of neglect
of the problem of being.

Coffee grounds
the problem in ancient inquiries
concerning being not being beings.

Before coffee
what is not sought
is not unfamiliar
though ungraspable, hot,

but after the first shot
everyone understands
“The sky is blue,” “I am happy,”
statements like that.
A white ring mars a dark table.

The problem, the mug
being unmistakable.

By Les Gottesman
from the Spring issue of The Antioch Review

This is another gem from David Ziegler, (I hope he doesn’t mind my quoting him):

“I sat in a parking lot today watching a giant American flag moving in the wind. The way the wind curled it back and forth was beautiful.
There are two attitudes toward that symbol I’ve never understood. One involves combining jingoism and junk culture, the spawn of which is salt shakers and bird baths emblazoned with stars and stripes. The other is people who feel an embarrassment towards the American flag.
That giant flag I watched, it waves for people like Nick Berg. It waves to say there’s an alternative to the insanity of protesting injustice by cutting off innocent heads.”

Thanks, David. Well said. I was looking for the words to express how I felt about that particular incident besides revulsion and anger. Pardon the cliche, but you hit the nail on the head!

It was not the time of morning for chashing dreams
like slippery fish tails
or shaking the shadow of her, forever enshrined
in perfection.

The wheels crackle the gravel
as she pulls away and
Summer gels into autumn slowly
like an artery hardening.

Though it is the morning of the evening
of perhaps armageddon, I still bother
to straighten the sheets,
fluff the impression of her head from the
pillow, and mask our encounter
under a peach comforter
of quilted down.

continually evolves. We’re always moving into new experiences, new possibilities. This constant change unsettles the personality, which finds security in stability. But with life always in flux, that security is an illusion. We experience pain by trying to hold on to things that are not solid.
Life becomes joyful when we can open to the constant flow and ride freely with it. This requires us to let go of the need to control. We need to learn to trust.