Category Archives: Inspiration

The Healing Pool of Light

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Rainbow
Help us to be ever faithful gardeners of the spirit, who know that without darkness nothing comes to birth, and without light nothing flowers.
May Sarton

Let the space between your thoughts expand. Notice the calm, open silence behind the words and emotions in your mind. Let those cloudy thoughts clear, leaving only open space. Breathe into that space. With each breath, take in the space around your body. It is part of you. You are part of it. Flow into it.

Prism colors of broken light roam the stillness of a quiet pool, a murmuring rainbow of forgiveness and compassion. Purple cradles your tears and opens your compassionate heart. Blue gives you confidence. Red fires your passions. Orange tickles joy. Green calms you. Yellow offers forgiveness. Drop your thoughts and fears into the pool and watch them disappear into its cool darkness.

Soft willow branches wait patiently in their free falling fountain as you let fears flow from you. You let your limbs go limp and droop down to rest in the soft, mossy grass surrounding the pool. You flow into you.

Now jump into the pool and splash everyone around you!

Wind Chimes

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Wind Chimes at Sunrise
Thoughts on time
in tones of blues
or orange, bright
pearls of sun
drip down these tubes,
while air slips through
their purple scales,
random chance, dares,
wishing only for harmony.

Wind chimes remind us of the persistent nature of change, and teach us to make music with lessons learned from impermanence.

Click here to hear the chimes of a “Balinese” scale hanging near my house.

I have several sets of medium to large chimes hanging around my garden. Their scales are neither happy nor sad, but mysterious and questioning. I never tire of hearing them. Their music ranges from one tone lingering across many seconds to a joyous cacophony of 30 bells clanging in response to active wind.

Gratitude

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Though I inevitably suffer from some depression during Winter, I have found ways to maintain an even keel during these shadowed times, to alleviate their unbalancing effects. I allow myself more time to get things done. I allow more “non-directed” time, such as watching TV or just staring out the window, basking in the sun. I forgive myself for not being able to keep up with the world.

Gratitude is another tool for maintaining a positive attitude. A friend of mine keeps a gratitude journal, where he daily notes whatever he can be thankful for. Giving thanks from the heart is healing. It helps us see the glass half full, or even a third full, rather than focusing on what’s missing. With conscious effort, one can reach beyond the natural waves of selfishness which lap at our awareness to a soft place in the heart for offering the gift of gratitude for all that you have.

Gratitude also takes practice! Since it’s given silently from the heart, there’s little discernible evidence that you’ve opened your heart, except to yourself. Those who don’t practice feeling gratitude in their hearts may quickly lose perspective and begin to think they aren’t getting their fair share of happiness, popularity, wealth or love from the world. They can become bitter and poisoned.

Another stumbling block to gratitude is guilt. You may remember your mother telling your to finish your food because children are starving in Africa. Well, it’s true. It’s easy to feel guilty for being selfish, for feeling unable to give gratitude. To that I say, keep it simple. Don’t feel guilty, feel blessed. Just feel blessed.

It’s no wonder gratitude is an integral part of any religious or spiritual practice. In yoga, one says “namaste” with palms together. In Buddhism, one bows with palms together. In Christianity, one prays in thanks with palms together.

So, don’t forget to practice giving thanks daily for what you have. Ask yourself if you are truly giving thanks this Thanksgiving week. Put your palms together to focus the energy of your heart and open the faucet of gratitude. It may squeak a bit at first.

Chamber of Peace

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The phrase “chamber of peace” was coined by a friend, Orbella, during a discussion of methods and meditations on balance and spirit. We all need a place of safety and peace to which we can retreat, either from the world or, in some cases, from our own doubts and insecurities.

Amid the clutter of pots and pans
clanging in the kitchen, caked with dried
leftover soups and liver paté,
leaving rough, raw hands…

Amid brassy pitches
of out of tune bands clamoring
for attention, strident dissonances
shorting the circuits of all switches…

Despite snags and tears,
bleeding cuts and bruises
on body and skin from shards
of bitter thoughts and cares,

paralyzed by leaden fears, clogged
emotions stuck half way
up the pipes, trembling,
wheezing through the fog,

daring not to stare too long
at heavy, brown clouds,
daring not to covet their rain
for its fresh, cleansing songs…

Within these brambles,
these thorned villages
cramped along thin rails,
barely seen amid the shambles,

there resides a place,
cool and hidden, reposed
within the cacophony,
filled with grace.
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