Life
pay attention…
there’s a whole world outside waiting to meet you.
and there is a whole world inside also waiting to meet you.
let go of the stories you repeatedly tell yourself and meet this life.
~j
war or peace?…
Every day, at the moment when things get edgy,
we can just ask ourselves,
“Am I going to practice peace, or am I going to war?”
~
Pema Chödrön
offer all of it…
today is Teacher Appreciation Day. there are so many teachers I am grateful for, so many who have influenced my life in small and large ways. what a gift!
today, though, I would like to highlight Susan Piver. I trained to be a Meditation Instructor under her guidance and I continue to learn from her practical, grounded practice and teaching. she is real, direct, humorous, and generous.
below is a teaching I keep going back to. so beneficial.
“When I’m at my lowest and have no more ideas about what to do, I think, ‘Offer it,’ and something shifts. Even if only for a moment, I feel lighter. It’s not a simple offloading into the ether; I intend my feelings as a devotional gift, a kind of mind-Prasad. Even though I have no idea how my ‘gift’ could be of any value, I offer it anyway…I know not to what or to whom.” ~Susan Piver
profound. just “offer it.” all of it. the sadness, the anger, the hurt, the confusion, the broken heart. the swirling chaos, and the shaking ground beneath your feet. who you are, where you are at, what you are feeling – offer it. all of it.
~j
05.09.17
dancing between the two…
we have within our hearts
the capacity to
hold all of this.
the tears, the laughter
the noise, the silence
the gain, the loss
the stillness
the love.
we also have within our minds
the wisdom to
let it all go.
and here we are
on this journey together
learning to dance between the two.
this life!
this life!
~j
here, in service…
perhaps we are here
simply to bear witness
to the world
her
suffering and joy
all the while reminding her
in the thickness of morning
and
the surrender into night
she is beautiful
and
she is loved.
~j
05.03.17
the long arc…
…real love and truth
are stronger in the end
than any evil or misfortune
in the world.
~
Charles Dickens
bearing witness for the Earth…
On the morning of the Buddha’s enlightenment it is said that the great tempter and deceiver Mara after many failed attempts to deceive and distract the Buddha, asked the Buddha, “What gives you the right to be enlightened? Who are you to awaken? Who bears witness to this?” Silently, calmly the Buddha took his right hand and touched the Earth and in that moment the Earth shook, bearing witness to the Buddha’s enlightenment. With this, Mara disappeared.
And so it is with every step we take, our feet touching the ground, that the Earth also bears witness to our right to be here and to awaken.
It is now our turn to bear witness for the Earth in her time of need. The Earth has given us life and sustains us. In fact, science has shown us that we have the Earth’s elements within us. Without these elements, without the delicate balance that is our Earth, life as we know it would not be – we would not be. The only appropriate response for such gratuitous love, is gratitude, a gratitude that manifests in reciprocal love.
Our relationship to the Earth, is just that, a relationship. How do we show our love? How do we show our gratitude? How do we pass this relationship on to our children and grandchildren?
Let us take some time today to touch the Earth. Feel the dirt between our fingers, feel the ground beneath our feet as we step. Are our steps, steps of love? Let us step out into nature and listen, look. Allowing in all the life that is sustained by the Earth, allowing it into our hearts, blessing it and sending it back out with love. Let us make new choices that bear witness to our love for the Earth and all of life.
~j
04.22.17
Earth Day
no score to keep…
we chain ourselves to the debts we carry for those who have wounded us. a second wounding from the weight of burdens too heavy and never meant to be carried or held onto.
let them go and be free.
~j
here and now…
The Metta Garden 