To Stand

To stand and then bend in the warrior squat, to feel the burn in the thighs and stand rooted, strong. Ahhhh a grand pose and one I so enjoy. To think of the Maori, Samurai and other warriors and feel the power moving yet rooted in the body. And so I stand. Clarissa Pinkola Estes would call it fierce compassion, the fierce love that holds that which is sacred, the heart, and says to all who would take or harm 'you shall go no further.' To stand as a warrior of fierce compassion.


“Said the river: imagine everything you can imagine, then keep on going.” ~ Mary Oliver

Choice

One a reflection. One a remnant left. Both a reminder of how I, and my heart, will move through this day.

The Gifted and Giver

"Inside yourself or outside, you never have to change what you see, only the way you see it.” – Thaddeus Golas And then to read " Everything in our lives is important. Everything matters. There are no trivial throwaway moments" ~ Norman Fisher. 

Oh to empty our backpacks, or better yet simply to keep them open so they both receive and gift. To open the backpacks of heart and eyes, body and spirit and see what we see, know what we know, feel what we feel, and receive each gift fully. And in the fullness of receiving to be the return of the gift. A grand image, a grand day. To open our eyes and know we are the gift Life wanted to open and then to return the gift. Sweet mercy yes....

True sunrise

The mountains have taught me the true color of sunrise is, in fact, gray. Like the fading of a black quilt washed over the years, the gradual graying is truly the announcement of the new day. That which I long to see, the splendor, the adorning of the sky is but the day's passion ignited by those who embraced the gray.

Recognition

Today, may all my actions, thoughts, words, deeds, work, interactions, and doing know the applause of my heart. All else is perception. To know only the thank you of my heart.

Dance

image from Diane Sinclair & Ken Spaulding

I call out for clarity. "Let me see!" I sit and ask that I might know, the door to open, the clouds to clear, the answer revealed.

And then the whisper comes "to move." Like the chaos of creativity from which the painting of music emerges in dance.... clarity comes with movement. To see one must move. Movement begets clarity.

Yes

Sometimes so many questions. Just have to lay them down like a child, tuck them in and give them a gentle kiss. Then one day, struggling along a mountain lake path, the answer comes, and you whisper "Good morning."

"Only someone who is ready for everything, who doesn't exclude any experience, even the most incomprehensible, will live the relationship with another person as something alive and will himself sound the depths of his own being.”  ― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Bitter End

In many boating knots there is Standing End - which takes the strain, and a Tail - the loose end in your hand. On large ships a shore line is initially tightened with a winch. The tail is then properly called a Bitter End as it is transferred to the Bitts - fixed posts to tie the rope. To do this, a second rope is tied to the shore line with a Rolling Hitch a to take the strain temporarily.

Isn't that grand! The Standing End takes the strain. The Tail is to be held loosely in our hands and when it is tied to something fixed, it is known as the Bitter End. And to the strain absorbed by the Standing End, the Rolling Hitch can take the strain temporarily. To ponder the Standing that takes the strain, absorbs, and holds steady an the Rolling, the flexibility of bending and unfixed that temporarily absorbs the strain and pulls of life. But to hold fast, to attach is called the Bitter End. Oh giggle, isn't that grand! 

To Stand in Life, to Stand and know our security and yes perhaps to roll and always to hold loosely. Better yet, to release all ropes and leave the dock and sail. But when we return home, to Stand and hold loosely.