Thomas Moore: The Key To Seeing the World's Soul

The key to seeing the world's soul, 

and in the process wakening our own, 

is to get over the confusion by which we think 

that fact is real and imagination is illusion.

 
― Thomas Moore, Original Self: Living with Paradox and Originality

 

Wayne Muller: The Gift

Your life is not a problem to be solved 

but a gift to be opened.

― Wayne Muller

 

Honoring the Summer Solstice: The Sun by Mary Oliver

 The Sun

Have you ever seen 
anything 
in your life 
more wonderful

than the way the sun, 
every evening, 
relaxed and easy, 
floats toward the horizon

and into the clouds or the hills, 
or the rumpled sea, 
and is gone– 
and how it slides again

out of the blackness, 
every morning, 
on the other side of the world, 
like a red flower

streaming upward on its heavenly oils, 
say, on a morning in early summer, 
at its perfect imperial distance– 
and have you ever felt for anything 
such wild love– 
do you think there is anywhere, in any language, 
a word billowing enough 
for the pleasure

that fills you, 
as the sun 
reaches out, 
as it warms you

as you stand there, 
empty-handed– 
or have you too 
turned from this world–

or have you too 
gone crazy 
for power, 
for things?

- Mary Oliver

Brené Brown: Cultivating Love

We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust, respect, kindness and affection.

Love is not something we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow, a connection that can only be cultivated between two people when it exists within each one of them – we can only love others as much as we love ourselves.

Shame, blame, disrespect, betrayal, and the withholding of affection damage the roots from which love grows. Love can only survive these injuries if they are acknowledged, healed and rare.
 

― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

Take a Stand For Love

We live in a time the prophets have spoken about for eons.
This is not a time to ask "what will happen to me/us?"
This is a time to fully commit to the wisdom of your
wide-open heart. 
Not to wait for it all to change, or for him/her to change,
but to take a stand for love, no matter what.

~ Chameli Ardagh

 

from Awakening Women Institute

Paul Hawken: Grace, Justice, and Beauty

When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world.
 

― Paul Hawken

 Photo by Peenbuiker

Rev. Maureen Killoran: Mothers Come In All Shapes and Sizes

Mothers come in many shapes and sizes.
There are warm mothers, soft and round, likely to be found with flour on their nose, and always ready to pour you a glass of milk to go with the cookies on your plate. These mothers are increasingly rare.

Some mothers are like bubbles of champagne; they surprise your senses, leave you giggly, but when you least expect it they erupt with an unexpected 'pop'.

There are sharp mothers, all edges and not easy to hold on to. They don't mean to, but it often seems like when you need them, their hands come up toward you away. Then there are grouchy mothers, stressed mothers, exhausted mothers ,their faces lined with worry and their spirits tired and grey.

Other mothers are wise and reliable; they are not prone to many words or to a lot of noise, but in your heart you know that when you need them, they'll be there.

There are fierce mothers, the ones you count on to be on your side and to love you even when you've gone wrong.

There are absent mothers, whose memory shimmers in the air, so that it seems you'll catch them if you could just be quick enough to turn around.

There are distant mothers ... cruel mothers ... loving mothers ... giving mothers ... there are walk-away mothers ... save-the-world mothers ... too-busy-to-bother mothers ... mothers you cry for because you lost them, and mothers who make you cry because you can't ... 

May we hold in our hearts the mothers we have known ... those who loved us ... and those who tried ...
May we forgive the mothers who didn't get it right ... and release the knots of disappointment ... anger ... grief ... pain.
And may we remember always that mothering — nurturing — is a task not just for some, but for us all.

Whether you are young or old ... female or male ... may you make extra room for nurturing in your heart ... may you hug a baby ... smile at a stranger ... May you hold back just a little in traffic and, just this once, let an extra pushy driver squeeze right in.

May you say something real to a harried store clerk ... pat a kitty ... give a co-worker a genuine compliment ... take time to listen deeply to a friend.

Mothers come in many shapes and sizes.
So does 'mothering'.
May there be room in our hearts to receive nurturing and to give.

~ Rev. Maureen Killoran

Photo: Louis Fleckenstein

from Awakening Women Institute

I Am Breathed By You

I take just one breath 
and you fill my lungs.
But how wrongly 'put' that is!

I AM BREATHED BY YOU
And when I stop to watch
and FEEL your power,
deep inside . . . .
following You,
merge with every cell of mine, 
I realize I am not alone.

I am not an Island,
But I TOO am the Ocean.
My cells are not my own . . . 
I am your vessel . . . 
A small boat upon this Ocean of life.

I try to go my 'own way' 
but your current is SO Strong - 
not demanding, however-

but gently pulling me
towards you,

We are ALL pulled gently
towards YOU.

~ Pip Leslie-Rowe

 

from Awakening Women Institute

Derek Walcot: Love After Love

Love After Love
 
The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,
 
and say, sit here.  Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine.  Give bread.  Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
 
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
 
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit.  Feast on your life.
 
 - Derek Walcot 

 

Brené Brown: Only When We Are Brave Enough

Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.
 

― Brené Brown