“Ten times a day something happens to me like this –
some strengthening throb of amazement – some good sweet empathic ping and swell.
This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know:
that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.”
-Mary Oliver
Own It~
“Own the fact that you are different
Own that you are a deep feeler and thinker
Own that you’re tuned into a different frequency
Own the fact that you sense things others don’t
Own the fact that you want to talk about angels,
energy, miracles and spirituality
Own that you’re done having meaningless conversations
Own that you’re done holding yourself back
Own that you crave freedom to feel the now
It’s ok if your family don’t get you.
It’s ok if your friends don’t join you
It’s ok if the world judges you
It’s ok that you want to dance barefoot upon the earth
and endlessly gaze at the stars
It’s ok that you cry over sunsets and chase moonbeams
It’s wonderful in fact. It’s beautiful
You have come a long way to be who you are
So own it. Own all of it. Love all of you
The world needs you to be exactly as you are
You hold the balance in this crazy world”– Eryka Stanton
Sunsets
& Moonbeams
“I didn’t need to understand the hypostatic unity of the Trinity; I just needed to turn my life over to whoever came up with redwood trees.”
-Anne Lamott
there are placesplaces on earththat are magical.that no words canhope to describe.where your soulempty and drainedis restored.where the whispers of angelsshimmer through the treesas if on a mist.perfectly and peacefully.and gently floatingon the warm spring breeze.drifting weaving.falling on my facefilling me with grace.-Michael Traveler, from “Places”
“The history of life on earth has been a history of interaction between living things and their surroundings.”-Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
“Stillness is vital to the world of the soul. If as you age you become more still, you will discover that stillness can be a great companion. The fragments of your life will have time to unify, and the places where your soul-shelter is wounded or broken will have time to knit and heal. You will be able to return to yourself. In this stillness, you will engage your soul. Many people miss out on themselves completely as they journey through life. They know others, they know places, they know skills, they know their work, but tragically, they do not know themselves at all. Aging can be a lovely time of ripening when you actually meet yourself, indeed maybe for the first time. There are beautiful lines from T. S. Eliot that say:
‘And the end of all our exploringWill be to arrive where we startedAnd know the place for the first time.”
-John O’Donohue
Excerpt from the book, Anam Cara
“You carry Mother Earth within you, She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment. In that insight of inter-being, it is possible to have real communication with the Earth, which is the highest form of prayer. In that kind of relationship you have enough love, strength and awakening in order to change your life.”
–Thich Nhat Hanh
“The dream of my life is to lie down by a slow river and stare at the light in the trees—to learn something by being nothing a little while but the rich lens of attention.”—Mary Oliver, excerpt from Entering the Kingdom
“Out here, no one is talking. Peace of mind is tangible.
A place you can feel your heart take each beat.
A place you can hear your soul sing your song.Sometimes in the absence of noise, we find answers.
In solitude there is healing.”-Paula Krugerud
“Relationships provide us with our greatest opportunities for spiritual growth. Some relationships bless us with love and joy, and others bring challenges that help us grow stronger and wiser. We can be grateful for everyone who comes our way, friend or apparent foe. Ultimately our foes are our friends because they teach us through important experience.Dee and I recently did a real estate transaction. During the process we had a few tense moments in negotiations. Once while we were speaking with our realtor, I got a little hot under the collar and raised my voice a bit. Our realtor, a seasoned professional, did not get upset at all. Instead, her voice became softer and calmer. In contrast to my upset, she became a soothing, healing factor. Ultimately the transaction worked out perfectly for everyone.When other people go low, that’s the time for you to go high. Every relationship is founded on vibrational agreement. You share an energetic match on what you are doing together and how. If someone grows upset with you or insults or attacks you, you may be tempted to become defensive and counterattack. Such a response just keeps going in circles and no one gets anywhere.When you refuse to join another person in upset, you maintain the power to create a successful solution. “Let the one in least fear lead” applies to interactions between people as well as to the part of you that is in least fear. Your greatest power to get what you want and end a conflict is to stay established in your calm center.My friend Jon Mundy used to be a Methodist minister. Then he discovered A Course in Miracles and began to weave its themes into his Sunday sermons. Some of his parishioners did not like the change and they began to complain. Eventually a rift grew within the church. “When I received a phone call from the region’s Bishop inviting me for a meeting, I knew he was going to fire me,” Jon recounted. “As I drove to the meeting, I kept reminding myself, ‘Don’t defend, don’t attack.’” At the meeting the Bishop fired Jon, but Jon went on to develop a new and much more rewarding career as A Course in Miracles teacher. Now Jon has published a number of successful books and he is in demand as a leading ACIM authority.Will Rogers said, “Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it.” If you don’t want to identify people as pigs, you can identify the pig element of the human psyche that finds reward in conflict and separation, and prefers to be right instead of happy. We are growing beyond that mentality. Should you slip for a moment and get into a negative vibrational match, remember Jesus’s teaching, “A soft answer turns away wrath.”When eagles fly at a low altitude, crows sometimes come and peck at them to take away their food. Yet the eagle is much larger and stronger than the crow, with a wider wingspan. The eagle does not fight with the crow. It simply rises to an altitude the crow cannot reach. When crows go low, eagles go high.Life on the planet can be challenging, and it can also be extremely rewarding. The best spiritual tools are the simplest. You have the power to heal conflict by turning to the part of your mind connected to your Spiritual source, and allowing your inner being to guide you.”-Alan Cohen (from August 2022, Easeletter)
