That Space, That Silence

It has been another long day. I am not always a politically correct person in the way some want. I struggle to say what the dominant group of the moment wants everyone to say. A reason we have polarization in the world is we want others to agree with us sometimes without giving reasons for it to happen. I might agree, but what about those who are not present?

That invisible space between us–

Between our truths

Sacred ground

Till it gently.

That silence you hear–

Almost imperceptible;

It is reverent

Hold it gently.

That space,

That silence,

Emerge magically

No recipe needed.

That space,

That silence,

Easily chased away–

Shhh…

Here is a good way to begin the day.

What to Remember When Wakening

It was a long day. I was up at 5:45 AM, on a flight at 11:30 AM, and just wrapping up my day in a different time zone than the one I began the day in. Again, I had a great day and will find time to speak about it as the days move on. I am doing an Art of Hosting workshop and the first day was pretty incredible. It speaks to the David Whyte poem about thing coming to life even when unplanned and only need nourishment and nurturing to come to life.

In that first hardly noticed moment in which you wake,
coming back to this life from the other
more secret, moveable and frighteningly honest world
where everything began,
there is a small opening into the new day
which closes the moment you begin your plans.

What you can plan is too small for you to live.
What you can live wholeheartedly will make plans enough
for the vitality hidden in your sleep.

To be human is to become visible
while carrying what is hidden as a gift to others.
To remember the other world in this world
is to live in your true inheritance.

You are not a troubled guest on this earth,
you are not an accident amidst other accidents
you were invited from another and greater night
than the one from which you have just emerged.

Now, looking through the slanting light of the morning window
toward the mountain presence of everything that can be
what urgency calls you to your one love?
What shape waits in the seed of you
to grow and spread its branches
against a future sky?

Is it waiting in the fertile sea?
In the trees beyond the house?
In the life you can imagine for yourself?
In the open and lovely white page on the writing desk?

This sounds very much like Marcel Proust’s quote of seeing the world with new eyes rather than recreating the world. I wonder if I woke up each day with these intentions what the world would be like?

Stay Human My Friends

I ready for my Sabbath break. Yesterday morning, this Bizarro cartoon was in my blog reader. Todd’s posts are short and provocative, so the link is to his site for those who have not been there before. He gives me pause to think.

I shared this cartoon with a circle of acquaintance. We discussed the Most Interesting Man in the World advertisements for an adult beverage. I am an abstainer so the ads are humourous, but there is no chance I will buy the product.

What about a broader message? Instead of closing with “Stay Thirsty My Friends” or “Stay Filthy My Friend”, we could say, “Stay Human my Friends”?

Thich Nhat Hanh reminds me, “find the ordinary in the extraordinary.” I often miss those things which make me most alive and human. I find, in the ordinary so often missed, the extraordinary and live a mindful life.

Stay human my friends

Be one with the universe

Be compassionate.

This struck a chord with me. It is a play on the most interesting man in the world part of an advertising scheme by a beer company. You only have to Google most interesting man. What if we each thought of what makes us the best that we are and stayed that each day? A good dry cleaner would send clients off this way; a good teacher might say “stay curious” and so on. Stay curious, my friends.

Todd Lohenry's avatarBright, shiny objects!

Bizarro Blog!

Get more at: Hot Guber Fish Filth.

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Witness

Denise Levertov wrote this beautiful reminder for me. I awaken and grow aware of the world I live in and with. I only need make the effort to open my eyes, my mind, and my heart

Sometimes the mountain

is hidden from in veils

of cloud, sometimes

I am hidden from the mountain

in veils of inattention, apathy, fatigue,

when I forget or refuse to go

down to the shore or a few yards

up the road, on a clear day, to reconfirm

that witnessing presence.

These are inspirational words to begin the day. As a blue tree, everyone can see me and know I am there without being pretentious.

Hear from the Heart

Silently–

Listen closely,

Differently–

What do you hear?

Pause–

Be open–

Allow momentary glimpses–

Here,

Hear from the heart;

Who do you hear?

The true self–

Breathe a soft invitation;

Surrender to spacious solitude;

Be with one’s self–

Be one’s self–

Oh, so gently.

Yesterday, I wrote about this arrival in this moment. This appeared in my reader and spoke eloquently in two short sentences.

Ganesh's avatarKnown is a drop, Unknown is an Ocean

There is only one time when it is essential to awaken. That time is now.

~ Buddha

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