We share a joyful love for flowers
Making and eating gingerbread with lemon sauce
Negotiating extended days for family gatherings
And unexpected tears to acts of kindness

We might have never found each other casually
Though we have become trusted family over the years
While living life together in community
She does not seem 80 and yet that is where we are

She is thoughtful, creative, reflective, determined, kind
What an amazing life we have lived together
I like to think we have learned from each other
Most importantly, we learned to work things out

She loves and cares about our family as I do theirs
All together we are family having lived and loved together
Talking, relying, negotiating, appreciating and feeling blessed
Though truly I never thought I’d have a sister and yet, here she is

In between times, he wrinkles and yawns
Stretches and kicks, reaches and grabs
Adjusting, exploring this place where he has landed
With these new people he is getting to know

He is a perfect wee miniature of us
And yet, a daily amazing reminder
Of the Creator energy among us
Of the extraordinary miracle of Life

We have all changed profoundly
With his timely arrival into our lives
We coo and rock, gesture and cuddle
We have found our gentle hearts refreshed

We are charmed by his very presence
We are reminded to be our best selves
We are insistently needed to care for another
While each being blessed in perfect ways

He is an ever present reminder
That all of life is Sacred
That we can’t begin to fully grasp
The power of Divine Source

We are all called to help raise the children
They are so little and without knowing
We are the ones to bring the Light
To every little one among us

A Sacred tiny being with so much power
He brings the goodness and miracle of birth
Uprooting all of us as he inserts himself
Right into the middle of our lives

Reminding us that we too are powerfully loved
That patience with self and others is ever needed
That gentleness is always rewarded
That kindness is miracle energy worth cultivating for us all

Your perceptions of the possible are limited 
By surroundings, thoughts, experiences, and your humanness

What you have not experienced, you do not imagine can be
What you are afraid will happen to you, overrides the possible

Your mind is strongly responsive to what has been
You must escape the mind to imagine the Infinite

The mind deals wonderfully with what can be seen
The heart deals wonderfully with all that is unseen

Dreaming with conviction of what could be is freeing
Imagining wholeness is a step to manifesting wholeness

However you need to begin by thoroughly slaying the constrictions
The mind holds as inevitable and its misperceptions of what is

To go beyond helplessness, you must command it out
You must create a clean slate for creating your heart’s desire

All then is possible even that which was impossible the minute before
All can then work together with Divine Source to manifest your wholeness

Thousands of hours of seeking and meditating later
I know that hope and rigor have been my true companions
When deeply sad, angry, frustrated or out of sorts
I learned in Silence to search out hope

Hope was a little spark among the heaviness
It grew out of making my mind go to gratitude
It grew out of the determination to clear the darkness
Again and again, I learned that facing the dark feelings worked

I tried for years to ignore all problems, fastidiously
I could make myself really believe I was not angry or sad
Especially when I was most indeed angry or sad
Or when I thought that ignoring my feelings could work

Usually I exploded with some unkind response to my family
Before I began to realize that I thought I was being good
By ignoring the heavy emotions that accompanied my life
But I was really just letting them fester until they burst forth

Ugh! So much nastiness got sprayed on those around me
Before I realized I could take the hard stuff into Silence
That I could bring my feelings to that eternal table
That I would actually be heard and my feelings could transform

First I had to wrestle with having the right to ask for help
Then I had to work on being worthy of being heard and responded to
Then I had to learn to trust that the healing coming in would be enough
Then I learned to be grateful for something I never ever thought could happen

Where is my strength and stamina?
Where do I find my way back to normalcy?
I feel lost and depleted in these endless dark days
Where death, hatred, and violence dwell side by side

I could never have imagined such loss and sorrow
I could never have written this script we are living
What does it all mean, really?
Have we uncovered the hornet’s nest and it is life?

I remember days of laughter and exploration
I long for a dinner in a lovely restaurant
Celebrating anything really, celebrating goodness
Celebrating joy, life, free time, and loved ones

I find that I am bereft, without hugs, without seeing smiles
I go about my days wondering if we will ever emerge
From the scourge of the virus, deaths, and denials
If we will ever find our way back to wholeness for all

We are so into darkness that the Light seems dimmed
The hatred among us keeps erupting into violence
The desire for dominion over all looms as a boon
Then transforms into gnarled, twisted anger and rage

I fall on my knees and deeply seek Divine deliverance
We have gone beyond the ability to heal ourselves individually
We profoundly need Divine Presence among us, now
We need clear lights, clear minds and loving hearts

We need solace, kindness and the strength to hope
We call for a way out of the viciousness and corruption of power
We call forth a new path for every person who has ears to hear
We call for the past to heal deeply enough for the bulbs to bloom again

Learn from all your mistakes, especially those accompanied by shame
Forgive profusely and completely, meaning truly set down the conflict
When tempted to lie, stay with the truth and hope for the best
Face all your anger with the intention to defuse it for yourself

Choose to love, champion others, create peace and patience
Strive to reframe the seeming darkness that appears
You live in the heart of Divine Presence always and forever
Keep practicing making that connection in infinite ways

Persistence in service to Love and Joy benefits all
Seeking to make peace with yourself affects all
Service to a higher presence touches everyone
Empathy for yourself creates acceptance and empathy for all

You create your own life regardless of what happens to you
You can be learning every step of the way along life’s journey
You can spend every second of your life reframing it in Love
You will reap unimaginable rewards for these choices, over and over again

I love the sound of the endless waves
I like their reassurance of permanence
I love the blueness and the softness of the sand
I know I am called inward as I walk the strand

I have lived near the ocean all my life
I can’t even imagine living far inland
I need the big water near me even
If I don’t get there as often as I would like

Knowing I can be there in a couple of hours
Is something like knowing I can always enter Silence
And a palpable calmness can be touched to
Silence and the ocean are similar in many ways

They are both filled with the unknown
They are both waiting for me always
One in a soothing form I can touch
One in soothing formlessness that touches me

I am so amazed when I enter into Silence
And a vibration around my heart begins to pulse
It is like nothing on Earth really
It is coming from beyond me, welcoming

The beckoning of kindness
The reassurance of safety
The joining of me wherever my mind is
The total sense of reliability

Both Silence and the ocean have these gifts
They settle me and remind me I am loved
They bring me right into the present moment
Inviting me to let both the past and future go

I am never so connected as when the ocean and I are one
I never feel so loved as when Silence and I have a rendezvous
I return to all life’s challenges with a quiet demeanor
One that carries both the ocean and the Silence within

What brings us each to these places?
What other options do I have?
What other options does my other have?
What do we do when it is all over?

Inner exploration is the only sure thing that works for me 
What triggers me again and again, needs my setting down
My not feeling heard or understood, needs my clearing
My words not seemingly received as valuable, needs my attention

As anger escalates and stays at a heightened, hidden level
The biggest temptation is to bury the issues and the experience
Tiptoe around them and both pretend we do not have
An enormous pink elephant in the room

Pretty soon we are skilled at not addressing anger
We get to a place of lackluster and self-protection
We choose immediate placating and ignoring
Hoping it will all blow over and somehow just disappear

However, when the same issues come up again
The energy is fueled from all the previous times
We have stalked off and pretended we made up
Put on a good face without doing the inner clean up

God of all, help me see what is not at peace within
Help me honor what is not at peace for my other
Help me be brave enough to try again when calmer
Help me be open to what is hurting for my other

I call forth love and kindness for us both
Compassion for my other and for myself
Joy that we are together through thick and thin
Inclusive energy where I don’t get to say, That’s your problem.


Created with a big nod to Thich Nhat Hanh

I did not fully realize that my life
Was organized around looking forward to newness
Seeking all that is sparkly and unique
Escaping from daily life by going out on the town

Isolation is a mighty and strange condition
It brings up sticky issues and feelings
I absolutely do not care to revisit, yet still
Audaciously get right up in my face, uninvited

In the corner awaits the thorny work
Around every block, my frustrations flair
While totally minding my own business
Old pains emerge that I had successfully buried

When all distractions are taken away
The inner work boldly presents to fill the void
Of course, I have to choose to see it
I had become so adept at hiding from it

With an abundance of down time
A total paucity of scheduled events
Prickly issues keep erupting from within
Saying, here I am again, remember me?

You can’t escape me forever
No way girl, I’ve got your number
I am still here, always just hiding
Until you mess up again for real

I am waiting you out in the long game
Sporting infinite patience and perfect timing
With so few distractions at present,
Give that saggy ‘ole self-perception, the boot

Go ahead, give a try at being your best self
Set down that old irritation and anger forever
Spend some more time with the Great Spirit
We have lots more juicy things to talk about

This can set you free
This can cultivate compassion
This can bring you inner peace
This can grow mounds of love

Fears are humanly created
They therefore can be set down
That is profoundly powerful truth
For every single seeking one among you

Go searching for the elusive fears
They frequently show up in dreams
They are imbedded in acts of self-protection
They empower lashing out at loved ones

The constant bubbling up of fear
Is scary even if it your own fear
It parades as being truth
It insinuates that it has power

None of this is true for anyone
In fact, what we focus on grows
What we ignore festers
What we face head-on transforms

You are the one who gives power to fear
You cower in the corner and try to hide
You try to ignore the fear to death
You try to deny the fear just begging to be ousted

Call in your courage of heart and mind
Arm yourself with the mantle of Oneness
You are made in the image of Divine Source
You can slay all that is fearful, bar none

Only love and kindness are everlasting
Humanly created fear is born out of
Disconnection with Divine Source
Reconnect in Silence and inner work

Create a fear free reality that serves you
Deny any power to the fears you discover
Fears resides in every single person
Go after yours and free yourself from darkness!