PRESENCE

"Life isn't as serious as the mind makes it out to be."

~ Eckhart Tolle ~

The sweetness of life comes through when we are fully present,

Engaged in the moment,

With a quiet mind,

And all sensations

Fully awake. 

It's always there, but mostly, we miss it. 

FEELING ANXIOUS

"It came to pass."

(Appears 727 times in the King James Version of the Bible)

Anxiety is newly alive in my physiology,

Beating my heart,

Gulping my throat,

Tensing my muscles.

And much as I'd like it to depart,

It seems to have a will of its own,

So the best I can seem to do these days is to

Let it be there

And stop hating it, fighting it, fearing it, fueling it...

It's just a feeling-

A reeling feeling that comes

And comes

And comes,

And then, 

quietly,

goes...

Until it comes again. 

I take the dips and flips in stride.

THE JOURNEY

"People say nothing is impossible but I do nothing every day."

~ Winnie the Pooh ~

The journey feels long,

And hard.

But maybe it's not.

Maybe the place we are aiming for

is actually the

Place

We are aiming

From. 

I am open to the possibility that things may not be exactly how they seem. 

THE THINGS WE SHARE

"No matter where you go or what you do, you live your entire life within the confines of your head."

~ Terry Josephson ~

We have disempowering stories that we tell ourselves,

And share with others. 

We enroll them in our sad tale.

It strengthens our case.

We feel empowered to be disempowered,

And it makes life a trudge.

But we're the one initiating the story!

And we can flip the script

Any time

We choose. 

I have the power to inspire or depress my experience. 

It all depends on what I say.

POWER

"Your arm's too short to box with God."

~ James Weldon Johnson ~

Our power lies not in our ability to 

manipulate people and situations in the manifest world, 

but within,

Where truth is,

And God,

And the Light.

Power isn't something that comes TO us.

It's the 

SOURCE

Out of which

All things 

Arise. 

I breathe, and breathe, and breathe again. 

THE PEACE WE SEEK

"I am that."

~ Nisargadatta Marahaj ~

Many things in the universe are out of our control,

Yet we think we can control them anyway-

People, circumstances, flooding rains, the future...

When we STOP trying to control the things we can't control anyway,

We experience relief,

And peace. 

And it's the same with enlightenment.

Beyond the surface noise of our egoic identity,

We are ALREADY enlightened,

But we don't know it.

We think it's something we have to work for,

Meditate to earn,

Achieve by struggle, 

Or grace. 

But enlightened being is WHO WE ARE.

Not knowing it doesn't change the fact.

When we realize this truth that is already true,

Just by seeing it...

We realize that

We ARE the peace we have been seeking.

The search is over.

We have been there all along. 

I am. 

THE PLAY OF GRACE

"All are but parts of one stupendous whole, whose body Nature is, and God the soul."

~ Alexander Pope ~

Some things in life happen as the result of great effort,

And others come easy, like a breeze on a hot day,

But in both situations, 

Grace has its play,

And we are guided and re-directed,

And stopped,

And stalled,

And released,

And rewarded,

And renewed,

Like trees through the seasons, and when they first bloom

in the spring.

We belong to the journey and the journey belongs to us.