Even in the midst of sadness

Abundant joy...

There is nothing like family.

When I rise

When I rise up

let me rise up joyful

like a bird.

When I fall

let me fall

without regret

like a leaf.

Wendell Berry

from Earth Prayers

stand ajar

The

soul

should

always 

stand ajar, 

ready to welcome 

the ecstatic experience.

Emily Dickinson*

***********************
*Nitpicky Full Disclosure:
There's a poem by Emily Dickinson that begins:
The Soul should always stand ajar
That if the Heaven inquire
He will not be obliged to wait
Or shy of troubling Her...
But the quote at the top of this post is also attributed to her - or at least it is all over the interwebs. Not sure I believe the quote is hers. Sounds more like a New Age-y addition to the line in her poem.  (But I still like it.)

The top photo was also found on the internet. Looks like a stock photo, but I couldn't find the origin. I like to attribute photos correctly when I can. The rest of the photos are my modified versions of the first.

So does anyone care about these details? Don't know.
Just felt like being effusively exact today.
***********************

A great way to start the day

Borrowed from Jason Mraz's blog:

Peace

May you be at peace;
May you know the beauty of your own true nature;
May your heart remain open;
May you be healed.

(I had this written down somewhere as a Buddhist blessing, but I have no idea where it comes from or where I found it.)

other people's words

i thank You God for most this amazing

day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything 

which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today, 

and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth 

day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay 

great happening illimitably earth) 

how should tasting touching hearing seeing 

breathing any--lifted from the no 

of all nothing--human merely being

doubt unimaginable You? 

(now the ears of my ears awake and 

now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

ee cummings

This is all I have these days - other people's words. Finding my way back to my own.  Hopefully soon.  It is hard work to awaken the ears of my ears and open the eyes of my eyes. 

winter fires

Sat in my backyard this morning and watched the hummingbirds and bees have a little pollen rave on this flowering bush.  I don't know what this is called but it blooms like crazy this time of year.

 

Just spent 20 minutes trying to find out what it is.  It might be a Hummingbird Trumpet.

I feel very fortunate that I can still see blooming flowers and hear the birds sing while the rest of the country is either buried in snow or just plain freezing.  I really have to remember to appreciate it and take more walks.

I know that there is a natural rhythm to the seasons.  Winter is a time of going inside, letting the earth rest, slowing down and being quiet.  But I remember that winters for me were just dark.  Dark for a very long time.

Nocturne:Grey and Gold - Snow in Chelsea (1876) by James McNeill Whistler

I think that I might be able to handle it better now.  (Easy to say, here in my sunny, 72 degree day.)  I know that I would have to face winter differently.  Instead of burying myself deeper, trying to hide from the darkness, I would have to embrace winter's brighter moments.  Take walks on brisk, sunny days.  Find ways to play in the snow like we did as kids.  Spend those dark nights in a circle of warmth and laughter with family and friends.

Light fires.  That's it.  I would have to keep remembering to light fires in my life.  It is easy for me to stop.  To hide.  To let darkness surround me.  If I keep lighting fires, I might be able to confine the darkness to a smaller corner of my world.  I couldn't banish it entirely.  It will always be there, I know.  It is because I have known the dark that I am now more able to greet the light with such joy and gratitude. 

For those of you who are in the midst of your dark and cold winter - keep trying to light fires.  Spring always comes.  Really.  It does.

Photo by Ryan Mahle from Sherman Oaks, CA, USA

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.

Happy New Year

If the day and night are such that you greet them with joy and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet scented herbs - that is your success.

Henry David Thoreau

Wishing everyone abundant joy and "success" in the New Year.

Blessing

Beannacht

On the day when

the weight deadens

on your shoulders

and you stumble,

may the clay dance

to balance you.

And when your eyes

freeze behind

the gray window

and the ghost of loss

gets in to you,

may a flock of colours,

indigo, red, green,

and azure blue

come to awaken in you

a meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays

in the currach of thought

and a stain of ocean

blackens beneath you,

may there come across the waters

a path of yellow moonlight

to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,

may the clarity of light be yours,

may the fluency of the ocean be yours,

may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow

wind work these words

of love around you,

an invisible cloak

to mind your life.

from Anam Cara by John O'Donohue

Moonrise by Stanisław Masłowski, 1884