Hello Love,

For decades I was on the hunt for the serenity of “inner peace”. That peace seemed like an elusive destination.  I didn’t know exactly what that peace would look like, but I assumed I would know it when I got there.   
 
Ends up, the peace I discovered wasn’t anything like my imagined arrival. This peace was alive and engaged; curious and present, bubbling with possibilities. That’s why, after reading this poem by John Roedel, my body softened, and I felt exhilarated. Something true spoke to me through John’s words.  And you are who I wanted to share this poem with.
 
Jump right in with me. Make a splash.
In peace,
Sharon

~*~*~

I used to think that
achieving inner peace
would make my heart look
like a calm lake

I thought being in
harmony meant:
 
no ripples
no waves
no lapping shores

~ just still water
  
it turns out that
serenity isn’t the absence
of movement

~ in fact
 
~ it’s quite
the opposite
 
because the more
peace I feel
  
the more my heart
churns and bubbles
  
like a lake boiling
as a ribbon of lava breaks through
underneath the water
 
I don’t think we were created
out of nothingness to come
here just to let our hearts become
an unmoving body of cold water
covered in standing algae
 
I think the Great Love placed
a fire in us so that our lives will
be a natural spring of swirling
hot healing water that never  
looks the same way twice

the war machine thinks
it is the only thing that can
move and lumber
 
~ and that’s simply not true
  
peace is the most disturbing
force in the universe
 
peace is the tide that washes
away the ancient seaweed of
division that builds upon our shores
  
peace is anything but still
 
it’s a tsunami that can terraform
rock fortresses into open-air chapels
 
my love,
  
I’m starting to realize
that the less my heart moves
 
 ~ the heavier it gets
~ the more dust it collects
~ the less kindness I feel
 
but when I let my heart
constantly stir
like a cotton candy machine
 
~the lighter and
sweeter it becomes
 
empathy is an act of chaos

it takes the narcissistic
scripts we have been given
and rewrites them into
a handwritten gospel
of understanding
 
peacefulness is
anything but still

~ it is pure motion
 
peace is the ripple
that starts in the center of my heart
and rushes out through the faucets
of my eyes, hands and tongue
out into the world
  
my love,
 
ripples
are remarkable
because
 
we aren’t here
to be stagnant
 
 we are here to make a splash

~ john roedel

Beloved One,

Take a moment. Come breathe with me.

Let’s be ease. Nothing fancy.

Simply feel your natural breath entering your body.
Notice how that breath didn’t take any effort.

Faithfully, it’s just there.
Grace is breathing you.

As the breath turns around, take a gentle second or two to hold the air in before exhaling.

And then, as you slowly breathe out, extend your exhale so it stretches out a second or two longer than your inhale was.

Let’s sit like this, together in the stillness. Slowing to the pace of this precious next breath.  Across time and space, let’s sit together as we watch Life and Grace breathe us.

With love and a breath to you,
Sharon

Hello Love,

It’s overtime to gift myself a day like this. How about for you?

Today

Today I’m flying low and I’m
not saying a word
I’m letting all the voodoos of ambition sleep.

The world goes on as it must,
the bees in the garden rumbling a little,
the fish leaping, the gnats getting eaten.
And so forth.

But I’m taking the day off.
Quiet as a feather.
I hardly move though really I’m traveling
a terrific distance.

Stillness. One of the doors
into the temple.

Hello Dear One,

How are you doing? How well are you navigating the chaotic energies moving in the world?

When the outer world is rocking and rolling my nervous system, the way it has been lately, it can be easy to lose touch with my own true self. 

Gratefully, I have learned there is always an opportunity at hand. A door, as Clarissa Pinkola Estés shares in this piece of wisdom –

The doors to the world of the wild Self
are few but precious.

If you have a deep scar,
that is a door.

If you have an old, old story,
that is a door.

If you love the sky and the water so much you almost cannot bear it,
that is a door.
 
If you yearn for a deeper life,
a full life, a sane life,
that is a door.

~ Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Hello Dear One,

This was the good question – “Who is the person you are deciding to be?”   I was asked this on a day when I was triggered; and, as it often goes, it was the perfect question.

Who is the person I am deciding to be?

Who am I deciding to be right now, when someone triggers me?

I decide to make a small change – when someone, with good intentions triggers me. 

That made all the difference. 

Maybe, if I stay curious, I can always find a good intention somewhere, even if it’s buried deep in the under-story of a life.

What difference does it make if this is where I start from?

One small decision. One small perspective change.  Which leads to another and then another. 

Sometimes I think change needs to be big or grand. A major shift.  But it’s the small turnings, or the looking upside down at something, that catches my breath with amazement or gently brings me to something that feels truer.

It’s assuming that under it all there is always grace. I just might not have seen it yet.

Who is the person you are deciding to be?

with grace and an open heart,
Sharon