A Tree and Me

Who asks the tree...

How much will you grow next year?

Have you decided what color your leaves will be?

And what about lightning?

Aren't you afraid of getting struck?

You'd better check to make sure your insurance policy is up to date!

Do you need more coverage against global warming?

Hey, will your seeds bear fruit?

How far will your roots spread?

You'd better drink more water.

And look, that tree over there is growing taller than you!

It's leaves are a deeper orange.

What's wrong???

No.

The tree IS the tree

It can be nothing else

The divine energy of the cosmos

fills its cells

just like mine

It illuminates life

or not

And we accept that

as the cycle of life

We see its splendor

eat its fruit

seek refuge in its shade

burn it for heat

never lamenting what it is not

never berating it for not being more

How is it that you

trust the tree

to just BE

but not

me?

September 2011

Journal Entry

Following Bliss

"If you follow your bliss,

 you put yourself on a kind of track 

that has been there all the while, 

waiting for you,

and the life that you ought to be living 

is the one you are living. 

Wherever you are—if you are following your bliss, 

you are enjoying that refreshment, 

that life within you, 

all the time."

~Joseph Campbell

Liberation

Lokah Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu

OM Shanti, Shanti, Shanti

May all beings everywhere

Be happy and free

And may the thoughts, words, and actions

In my own life

Contribute in some way

To that happiness

And to that freedom

For all.

OM Peace, Peace, Peace

* * * 

As long as space endures

As long as sentient beings remain

May I too abide

And dispel the miseries of the world

~Shantideva

* * * 

Until my last breath,

I will practice compassion.

~H. H. the 14th Dalai Lama

No Place Large Enough To Contain It

So Much Happiness

It is difficult to know what to do with so much happiness.

With sadness there is something to rub against,

a wound to tend with lotion and cloth.

When the world falls in around you, you have pieces to

pick up,

something to hold in your hands, like ticket stubs

or change.

But happiness floats.

It doesn't need you to hold it down.

It doesn't need anything.

Happiness lands on the roof of the next house, singing,

and disappears when it wants to.

You are happy either way.

Even the fact that you once lived in a peaceful tree house

and now live over a quarry of noise and dust

cannot make you unhappy.

Everything has a life of its own,

it too could wake up filled with possibilities

of coffee cake and ripe peaches,

and love even the floor which needs to be swept,

the soiled linens and scratched records...

Since there is no place large enough

to contain so much happiness,

you shrug, you raise your hands, and it flows out of you

into everything you touch.   You are not responsible.

You take no credit, as the night sky takes no credit

for the moon, but continues to hold it, and share it,

and in that way, be known.

~Naomi Shihab Nye

Birthday Love

Today is the 44th anniversary of my birth.  It is a magical day of celebration and reflective gratitude.  With this past week's infusion of amazing Summer Solstice energy, I am still riding a wave of bliss that carries me delightfully through my days.

Three weeks ago, when I drove up to Lakeside, I listened to an oldie but goodie CD in the car.....
"The Touched By An Angel" soundtrack!  (I *loved* that show!)

I had forgotten the array of wonderful songs on the album, especially those pertaining to the theme of LOVE.

Indeed, LOVE is something about which I am learning and experiencing a great deal lately ~ on many levels.  There appears to be some radical love infusion coming into my life and, at times, my heart is bursting so wide open that I am brought to the verge of tears.

If there is one gift you could give me for my birthday, it would be for you to find a copy of this book and read it.  Chapter Seven is one of the most profound descriptions I have ever encountered on what it truly means to say the we ARE love.    It is the eternal essence of our being.

Here are some excerpts:

"Somehow we must begin to recognize that we live now and eternally as love.  I believe we are in this world only to learn and teach love.  The lengths of our assignments vary, but what each of us gives and is given is the same:  love....


As long as our bodies are alive, our job is to use them as a means of extending love in a form that others can recognize and receive.


We love another when we see that our interests are not separate.  This is always a union of higher minds and not an alliance of egos...


When we are giving true love, our concern is not with our own or anyone else's behavior.  We feel natural because we recognize that love is our natural state.  We are not aware of limitations.  We don't question the possibility of devotion, and we are not preoccupied with time.  We are only conscious of now and all it contains.  When we are extending love, we are free and at peace.  Attitudinal Healing shows us how to allow ourselves to experience this kind of love ~ the only love that is eternal."




Now, if you'll indulge me, here are some tunes from the soundtrack!  ENJOY!  :-)

This Pilgrim Journey

Here we must deal with awe, fascination, and terror,

with ignorance, shot through with the lightning of certainty,

and with feelings of exuberance, love, and bliss...

~Francis Huxley

"In each of us dwells a pilgrim.  It is the part of us that longs to have direct contact with the sacred.  We will travel halfway around the world and endure great sacrifice and pain to enter the sanctuary, whether it is a temple, shrine, cemetery, or library.  

This is the way that is no way, but a practice...

Your practice is your path.

"The Way is uncontrived," as Lao Tzu said.

It is simply the way of seeing,

the way of hearing,

the way of touching,

the way of walking,

the way of being,

with humility."

~Phil Cousineau

in The Art of Pilgrimage

The Sun Dance

"Our sun our star that shines so bright

that gives us life, that brings us light

tonight we celebrate your name

tonight to dance with you we came

from near and far, from east and west,

from north and south, and what is best

is that we bring ourselves to thee

to give and take in harmony

your blessings on this holy night

in gold, in light, in truth, and right.

You shine upon us, golden bright

you shine in day, you shine in night,

and our hearts reflect your shine

true golden hearts be yours, and mine.

True golden hearts, true golden mind,

true golden body all combined,

now ready to make work and love,

empowered by our star above,

our center, our immortal soul,

that holds us safe and makes us whole,

our center, heart and soul of gold,

our riches, powers, love untold

And as the sun shines on our land

so do we fully understand

that each of us is born a star

a sun is who we really are

a sun that blesses, shines so clear

brings life and love to far and near

So let us celebrate the sun

so let us step into the sun

so let us draw the power of the sun

and now the sun dance has begun ..."

~StarFields

Happy Solstice!