Tag: light

With Gratitude As Our Teacher.

I was lucky to have grown up in a ‘giving’ household. Every weekend was marked by a flurry of activities, as my mother worked tirelessly to prepare for the guests who might visit.

We never knew who might drop by, though rest assured, there was always a space left open at the table. Even if only symbolic in nature, this practice of generosity and openess served as the focal point for the home. For me, it served as an essential beginning – a place of rest in an often unforgiving world.

Even today, when I feel myself succumbing to the stress – I take a breath, close my eyes…and rest knowing that this moment is never without compromise.

Try as we might, it’s often difficult to disentangle the role of actor and observer. In a perfect world, our presence would be umarred by inner dialogue – our experiences deepened by the subtle things which stir our soul. In time, we’d learn to place the long breath of gratitude before the bias of ego.

In his poem, The Waking, Theodore Roethke presents an avenue for self-exploration:

“Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me, so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.”

To some, the light defines – fixing itself upon the crisp edges and thereby limiting. While, to others, the light enriches – offering new ‘paths’ ripe for discovery.

For me, the light of gratitude has – and shall always be – my greatest teacher.

In peace, sweet friends..

Namaste ❣

Just As You Are.

You are beautiful just as you are, my loves.

With just as much might as a tiny pinprick of light piercing through the depth and shadows of night.

You are the morning star ushering twilight home; even in silence your grace is profound. And, everything that surrounds? A reflection of all that you are and do.

Oh darling, please rest assured – the world shares its magic in the most subtle of ways: your light, your beauty, your sparkling perfection.

Happy Valentine’s Day, my sweet friends!

In peace and with much love…

Namaste ❣️

In Frost Covered Fields.

I passed a frost covered field on the way to the hospital this morning. And though my heart felt constricted, for a brief moment its radiance brought me peace.

In the middle of the field, a lone oak stood tall casting crisp shadows with its gnarled, aged limbs: somehow, even its sharpness shares a welcomed grace.

The light misses nothing – neither crack nor crevice nor ‘tucked away’ pain. Rather, it meanders and shifts until it finds its way – leaving only a hint of its memory in ambered grain.

In peace, my friends…I pray my words find you well.

Namaste ❣️

In This, We Are Connected.

There’s a beautiful teaching relayed in the pages of the Talmud; one which softly underpins the necessity of our connection.

“How do we know that dawn has arrived?” a Rabbi once asked of his students. After a long silence, one of the students finally replied, “When you can tell a sheep from a wolf?”

The Rabbi shook his head no.

“When you can see a blue thread upon a mottled green cloth?” another asked.

Again, the Rabbi shook his head no. After some discussion, the students finally conceded their loss. “Tell us, Rabbi – how do we know that dawn has arrived?”

The Rabbi replied: “When you can see yourself reflected in the eyes of another, and realize that that we belong to one another – *that* is how we know that the dawn has arrived.”

There’s a dawn that extends beyond the first light; one which unifies and empowers. It is the dawning of our love, and the blessing of our birthright. Within which, we find the spaciousness to become ‘whole’. And through which we discover the freedom of these ‘bindings’.

Though sadly, we tend to suffer the malady of our distinction; a barrier born of ego’s plight.

When in reality, are we not all manifestations of the same endless light?

A little something to consider, my friends…

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

Embracing Our Multitudes.

When I first left home, I struggled with loneliness. I missed my parents, my room – the familiar lull of the tree frog’s crescendo. At times, this loneliness turned to a panicked desperation as the miles between grew longer still.

I’d been accepted to a program in the South Pacific; a remote university boasting one of the most advanced marine biology programs in the world. The application process was quite rigorous; only the best of the best were granted inclusion. Only a fool would have abandoned such a glorious opportunity. Though there I was, just a few months later standing alone at an airport turnstile.

I felt defeated and ultimately unprepared for my new adventure. It was the first time fear had kept me from my purpose; and I worried what ‘the others’ might think upon learning of my ‘failure’. And, sure enough, they took no mercy in their chidings.

Many months later, I ran into an old colleague and dear friend. “Sometimes, we reveal the path – but, more often, the path reveals us,” he shared.

In just a few short words, I was gifted with an entirely new perspective. Life is a composite of many multitudes of ‘journey’. In that process, we live…we breathe…we learn and we grow.

Just as a fine wine is encouraged through the earthiness of an old, barreled oak; we are similarly revealed. Everything we experience – the good, the bad…the uncompromising challenge – all serving the fundamental essence of our one human spirit.

Imperfect? Yes, though, gloriously so; these multitudes becoming the facets of our newfound light.

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

In Perfect Balance.

This life is yours, my loves – and with it the power to influence your fate.

To reach beyond the vast complexity of knowing; to listen…to trust…to begin again.

Though the path ahead may lay wild with uncertain shadows, still the radiance of life will find its rightful place…watching over, guiding our way. As the trees stand as sentinels, ‘breathing life into bodies of earthly flesh’.

And closing our eyes to their whispered breath, we advance into the subtleties of shadow and light. Knowing only, where there is contrast- the forest will thrive.

Until, at once, it begins again – from seed to soil, in perfect balance.

In peace…

Namaste ❤

This Extension of Light.

They say we must praise those who labor this journey; that they, alone, have enriched our view.

And, serving to affirm our purpose; to align our hearts to greater good.

Yet, still – we curse their errant stumble; and to the benefit of whom?

Can you not yet see? That the application of our humanity extends through the supple grace of tempered hand.

For, even in darkness our light attends.

In peace, my loves…

Namaste ❤

Becoming What We Envision.

How do we engage that aspect of self that isn’t yet as willing? To effect a ‘calm within a storm’, to draw our awareness inward?

It’s not always easy facing the fullness and complexity of our own truth. We may struggle to understand the play of light upon shadow; determined to draw yet this outline of self. And we may feel this light initially unforgiving. Though, in time we realize – that which lends, likewise reveals.

Even the tiniest of crystals will shine like a diamond in the moonlight. And, capturing the artist’s gaze may become that which it has always been.

The fated heart knows no obstruction.

“Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul.” We are, as they say, that which we envision. And, it is only through this sharing of light that we may begin to understand the distinction.

Just as the artist, we become the observer; just as the artist, we become all things.

In peace, my loves…

Namaste ❤

Into the Light of the Divine.

“By your stumbling, the world is perfected,” Sri Aurobindo once wrote. It is by our imperfections that this world is made whole.

Yet, how infrequent the allowance – the willingness to simply be. That we face the fears of another’s judgement, or – worse yet, that of our own mind’s meandering.

“But few are those who tread the sunlit path;” he shared. Have we become accustomed to the illusion of our perfection? Have we relinquished the last real connection to our humanity?

Having suffered previously, this thought of error – we lean into the ‘absolute’, the space of non-reconciliation. Do we fear the harsh contrast of our own internal light?

Or, are we simply afraid to recognize that which is real?

Because, aren’t we all, my dearest loves – a living, breathing, shimmering, radiant manifestation of the Divine?

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

In This Light, We Dance.

Life is an ever changing prism, my loves – a casting of light through shards of ‘broken’ glass.

Within which we find our faith restored, an offering of love beyond imagination.

Even through misted fog, the colors dance – revealing the promise of newfound perspective.

It is the mind which freezes to physical form that which is intended to be free-flowing.

And, who are we to dare to to presume or qualify the goodness of Divine?

We find ourselves within these castings, a cherishing of life through subtlety of vision.

In peace, my loves…

Namaste ❤️