Tag Archives for connection

Haiku – close silence

adventure baby beautiful blue eyes

Photo by Josh Willink on Pexels.com

~
Find your Middle Ground
Being held in close silence
That is all we need

~

… And what we all need.

I read an article about a retired man who volunteers at a local hospital in the ward for premature babies. All he does is hold babies close to him in silence. Nothing more is needed. In the arms of a loving human being, they thrive.

I get it.

Sharing our whole presence and open heart with an other, is nourishing and healing.

No words are required, just our wholehearted presence.

Perhaps hugs are the short version of this. Next time you hug someone think of it as holding in close silence.

Here’s one coming your way…

virtual hug

Kindling the Inner Fire

“In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should be all thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.”

Albert Schweitzer

kindling candle flame

Accept that there will be low times

Yet we can rekindle inspiration

Spark off each other

Bring fresh awareness of our inner fire

And fan the flames together

Coming together to kindle each other’s spirit

Is simply wonderful.

Thank you 🕯

Long Way Home

LONG WAY HOME

I want to have a conversation
that we can return to without
conclusion, one that lasts for
years, that feels like a walk
that has no end. Until the walk
itself is home.

I want to converse this life with
you, the way the old horse and
the young bird trudge and circle
each other in snow.

I want to reach with you into
the heart of things, where the
stitching of the Universe
shows its golden knots.

~ Mark Nepo*

 

I want to share this beautiful yearning with you.

 

* Nepo, Mark. The Way Under the Way: The Place of True Meeting (Kindle Locations 1471-1479). Sounds True. Kindle Edition.

generosity

A beautiful reflection on generosity from Dhamma Footsteps.
Generosity IS everything.
Thank you T 🙏

dhamma footsteps

POSTCARD#315: Chiang Mai:  Click on ‘generosity’, then click on synonyms for that word, and you get loving-kindness, compassion, empathy, well-being, freedom. You find gratitude, grace, honor, motivation, encouragement.

Generosity is everything. Its nature is to share, recycle, circulate; it can only be given, never taken. With generosity we can accept, we can share, we can forgive. Generosity leads to wisdom – the truth is without bias. There is an understanding of things as they really are.

There is ‘generosity of spirit’, a quality we all possess. Generosity, as a mental, emotional letting go, means releasing the tenacity of holding on to things. All that heavy stuff we burden ourselves with is removed in one single act of generosity.

What’s wrong with being generous, cultivating an inward disposition to give? A glad willingness to share what we have with others – why not? We have more than enough. Give it away…

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Haiku – connection

joy

Source: ©layalina.com

~
Joy in connection.
Noting lightness of being.
Internet is back!
~

We have been hit hard with high winds in the North East US, resulting in major power outages.  Two days without internet, phone or cell reception has been an interesting experience.  As a good friend reminded me, “We are lucky to have this first world problem.” But I do miss being able to reach out easily to others.

Its all about perspective and being grateful for this time and what is within our control. I get to slow down, read and accept, and remind myself of the Serenity Prayer. Don gets to embrace his pioneer spirit, taking charge of the homestead, wife and animals.

The power is still not back on, but thankfully we have a generator which can take care of heat, light and refrigeration…. and my computer.

I’m looking forward to catching up and connecting again.

 

 

Mind is Like …

welcoming living room

AN OPEN HAND

The mind is not a storeroom
with mirrors where we retreat
to convince ourselves
that we exist.

The mind is a livingroom with
windows and more than one chair,
so friends can come and look out
and discuss what they see.

Not a fortress where we frisk and
strip others of what they believe
in order to share our secrets.

More a porch with birdfeeders
and coffee or tea where before
hello, you have to share a story.

Pull the curtains! Open the
windows! Brew the coffee!
Put out a sign: Other Views
Wanted!*

~ Mark Nepo

 

I love this analogy.

Let our minds be places for sharing and enjoying with each other.

Let us explore together and welcome each other into our  homes.

Put your sign out and see who appears 💛

 

* Nepo, Mark. The Way Under the Way: The Place of True Meeting (Kindle Locations 996-1006). Sounds True. Kindle Edition.

Inspiration – Gratitude and Yoga

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers and yoga students 🙏

Photo from Yoga Journal

Gratitude and yoga go hand-in-hand, and both are essential to well-being.
Yoga teaches us to be grateful for the present moment.
It reveals to us how the union of body, mind and spirit can come together through our breath, postures and meditation.
It allows us to appreciate the full spectrum of life, from pleasure to pain and joy to sorrow.
Through the practice of yoga, the darker moments in our lives allow the lighter times to glow ever more brightly.
When we acknowledge each other with the word Namaste we are expressing our gratitude for the connection that we have with each other and the light that shines within us.

I am grateful for every moment of my life and for sharing the transformative practice of yoga with you.

Namaste

Greatness of Being

the universe within you

“The world encourages us to look from the limited sense of personhood – a very unstable standpoint from which we always try to find balance on very shaky ground. But you must learn to look from your source Being.

Your Being is vaster than sky, greater than space – and it is already here.

Look from your stillness, not from your agitation. You don’t have to go more than a fraction of an inch away from where you are right now to find the silence and stillness of your Being. And from here you can observe the energetic streams that are pulling your attention to go out into the field of noise and personhood, where beings are suffering from person-poison, from the toxicity of the ego.”

~ Mooji

In times like these, it’s so easy to get caught up in our personhood, or separateness and to be drawn in to arguments between “them” and “us”.

We forget that we all share the same essence of being within us. I believe that it is up to those of us who have touched this source Being, (whether we name it Universe, Presence, God, Divine, Spirit or Love) to share our energy with others who are struggling.

Only through our awakening to a shared consciousness and inter-dependence on each other and our precious Earth can we hope to survive and evolve as human beings.

May we all awaken to this humble loving greatness of Being.

Namaste

Opinions about Opinions

When I was young I wanted to be grown up and have opinions. I believed that adults with opinions knew what life was about. And that’s what I wanted. I wanted to know things and feel secure in that knowledge, rather than being unsure and insecure.

And so I became opinionated.

I took on a lot of the same values and judgments of my family. But I also went against some of their ways of seeing other people and the world.

And so I formed my own opinions.

Then one day I asked myself  Do my opinions really matter? Do they make a difference or help others … or is it just a facade?  What was behind my opinions?

This is what I discovered.

We strive for knowing in an unknown world. Underneath we still feel insecure and unsure, but we believe that we are right about things. That makes us feel better.

As long as we are attached to our opinions, and how the world should be, our minds remain closed. We become prisoners of our opinions.

Our preferences prevent us from being open to the moment, and can take us off on a wild goose chase to feel more knowledgable, in control … and opinionated.

Opinions about how things should be, keep us hooked on specific outcomes. It takes us out of the present and prevents us from seeing alternatives and exploring new ways.

We judge others as ‘wrong’, when they don’t share our opinions. This increases separation rather than connection and understanding. We become more self centered.

Opinions are an expression of an evolved ego, not an evolved human being.

Of course, that’s just my opinion.

 

 

 

Compassion and Connection – Just like me

just like me

When you find yourself judging, blaming, criticizing, resenting, or being frustrated and annoyed with an other person … here are some phrases to bring to mind.

“This person in front of me has a body and a mind… Just like me.
This person in front of me has feelings, emotions and thoughts… Just like me.
This person in front of me has in his or her life, experienced physical and emotional pain and suffering… Just like me.
This person in front of me wishes to be free from pain and suffering… Just like me.
This person in front of me wishes to be healthy and loved… Just like me.
This person in front of me wishes to be happy… Just like me.”*

All people have similar needs, wants and desires. Fundamentally we act in order to protect ourselves and what we believe matters to us.
We all wish to be happy.
Others may go about it differently, to what we would want for ourselves.

Yet who are we to judge…. Our thoughts tell us that our way is the right way, but that is the small ego mind trying to stay in charge.

When we remind ourselves, that other people are just like us, we can pause and come from understanding instead of a righteous ego.

May we all find more acceptance and understanding in challenging times with difficult people.

Namaste

 

* Taken from Search Inside Yourself by Chade-Meng Tan

A fun Meet Up

Don and I are taking a short vacation in Boston to take in a Red Sox game and more! This afternoon, who do you think I met up with?

The beacon on Beacon Street is a clue…. 

That peep car is a giveaway.


Ann Koplow and I found time to meet near Boston Public Gardens on a beautiful afternoon.

Thanks Michael for hanging out with us and taking some great photos for the annals of blogging history.

It felt like meeting a dear old friend 💛

Thanks Ann for taking the time out from your busy about-to-move schedule!!