bodhisattva work. keep it simple, doable, balanced, without expectation of fruition. we tend to give up and do nothing, feeling helpless, when we feel we can’t do a lot or “enough” or a resolution isn’t in immediate sight. every little bit helps, though, we aren’t always able to see how seeds planted may one day bloom, and isn’t our job to save the world (or this country). it is our job to show up, heart open, mind free, and embody love in the best way that we can and is most helpful in the moment. we do this with grace, for ourselves and others, it’s not about perfection, it’s about path, practice, and meeting a world in need.
“You can cut all the flowers, but you cannot keep Spring from coming.”
~ Pablo Neruda
🌼
love is the spring. your open heart and your love, have the power to awaken this world. so, center yourself in openness and love no matter the outside forces, moving forward with empathy and compassion, working to support the forces of good, of justice, of truth and love, lessening the suffering in the world.
i’ve long been drawn to the beautiful Celtic knotwork of Ireland and other Celtic nations well before i found out that i too have Celtic roots from Scotland and Wales. one of my tattoos is a triquetra, or trinity knot.
these beautiful knots without beginnings or endings, are wise ways of depicting reality and relationship, with its twists and turns, its intertwining. life is interconnection and movement. each moment, though passing, filled with infinity. knotwork can be found in other cultures as well, the Tibetan endless knot comes to mind (second pic). i don’t wear much jewelry beyond my mala beads and a red braided Tibetan endless knot, but my current regular wear are a Celtic knot pendant and a ring made of trinity knots.
may this profound Celtic symbolism, a gift from the great land Éire, Ireland, remind us of our true nature and the nature of reality – beautiful, endless, and intertwining with all, which is to say – LIFE.
may the road rise up to meet you, my friends, and may the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face, and may the rains fall soft upon your fields.
a simple truth: impermanence is reality. we see change happening all around us, all the time.
a simple solution: allowing things to be their nature of change. letting go, letting be. not grasping and tightening our fist around life, strangling the life right out of it.
relax.
relaaaaax and float.
i often say “open heart”, but should probably include “open hand” as well. that is the practice after all and a beautiful way to live – to love fully and care deeply with all our being, and yet have the wisdom to let go when it is time to.
A moving quote from Elie Wiesel’s 1986 Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech:
“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere.”
quotes from the Oscar nominated film EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE.
it’s a multiverse movie at times silly and weird, with action and bizarre sights, but ultimately it is about heart, family, love and how love – embodied as choosing to be kind, choosing to find joy – is our super power and perhaps the answer we seek.
the character of Waymond, brilliantly played by Ke Huy Quan, is the heart of the movie in my view and he has these two monologues brought to life by two different versions of himself alternating in a scene that spans two universes. it’s beautifully executed with such skill, poignancy, and depth by The Daniels, the directors of the film, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.
it’s a powerful moment that resonates deeply – especially at this challenging time we are all in.
may we all find our way to being kind even in our confusion and fear. may we choose kindness and choose to find the good and beautiful in life even as we swim in this sea of delusion and confusion. no matter what universe we find ourselves in. 👀
we do not need to fully understand another’s lived experience or agree with it in order to practice empathy, to act with kindness, to open our heart to them and their embodiment of life with compassion and warmth.
harm is being done. the LGBTQIA+ community is being targeted, especially our trans family. history has shown us where the current inflammatory rhetoric may lead. people’s well-being and lives are in the crosshairs of a far right extremist ideology that claims it follows one of history’s foremost embodiments and teachers of Love, yet has nothing to do with love.
we need to learn from each other, not ban books or classroom conversations. we can’t erase history or another person’s lived experience.
this is the moment to get on board and choose whether we want to embody love and align with life, or embody fear and align with harm and death.
if we call ourselves lovers of Life or children of God, then we need to move with a focused, fierce compassion that shines the light of love, even and most especially when others, lost in the darkness of ignorance and fear, seek to harm and destroy. we do so with our voices, our hands, our feet, our art, and our vote.
now is the time to be an ally, to stand in solidarity with me and your other LGBTQIA+ family, friends, and coworkers. now is the time to embody love in the face of ignorance, fear, and hate.
The Metta Garden 