Finding the Holy

Finding the Holy

It was one of those conversations,
where people make you realize,
just how different you are.
Where does your inspiration come from?
From everywhere.
From what I see around me
the sounds I hear,
the sensations I feel
the food and beverages I taste,
the aromas and odors I smell,
from everything.
Not from the Bible?
Sure, but also everything else I read,
books,
other sacred writings,
emails,
poems,
text messages and more.
Those are not Holy.
For some the Holy is found
in specific times, books and places.
For me, the Holy is anywhere
I see God’s presence,
I experience God’s guidance,
in all that helps lead me,
and in all in which
I see the sacred in everyday life.
Where ever you experience God is holy.
Your holy is yours
and mine is mine.
Where ever we find it is holy.

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Seeing the Sacred

Seeing the Sacred

My life is crap.
I am really struggling.
I can’t catch a break.
Give thanks for what?
In the midst of the storms,
it is hard to see the sacred.
Hidden in the everyday,
in the ordinary,
are moments of sanctity,
beauty,
blessings,
and awesomeness.
I can taste it in the sweetness of my tea.
I can feel it in the warmth
which radiates through me,
as I sit and hold it in my hands
and sip my tea.
I can experience it in the comfort it gives me
like a warm blanket hugging me
inside and out.

I smell it in the fragrance
which floats through our windows
from the freshly cut grass
perfuming my world.
I am surrounded by the sacred
hidden, yet not,
visible, but not,
quietly telling me I am here
with you and for you.
No matter what you are going through,
you are still surrounded by the sacred.

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Stop!

Stop!

Stop in the name of love,
just stop breaking your heart,
your mind,
and your soul.
We are the ones who inflict
some of the worst punishment
on our lives.
So stop!
There are enough people in the world
who strive to inflict pain in our lives,
there is no need to contribute to our own
so stop!
Stop putting yourself down.
Stop diminishing yourself.
Stop doing,
saying,
thinking
or behaving in ways that
diminish your overall well being.
Stop harming yourself
and start loving yourself.
Stop the negative energy
and start the positive
and once you start
don’t stop!

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Connect the Dots

Connect the Dots

Twinkle, twinkle little stars,
we used to sing as we stared at them,
my parents and I.
Connect the dots
That is how you see the wonders.
You think you just see little stars,
but there are constellations
you see when you connect them.
Connect the dots
they would say
as I stared at a sheet of dots
then, like the stars,
I would connect them
and see the wonder before me.
Connect the dots
it is what I still do
When I do I see I am
part of something larger
and like as a child I see something
deeply wondrous
all because I remember
to connect the dots.

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Triggers

Triggers
I cannot blame them
for my unhappiness.
It is not the person or place,
the smell, the sound, or the taste
or the season or the date
that triggers me,
it is me.
I may not like them,
or how they make me feel,
or the memories that emerge from them,  
but I give thanks for them.
They are blessings in disguise.
Through them I see my reactions
and where I need to heal.
My triggers ,
force me to respond
to my emotions.
Through them I grow and heal.
I release the past
and embrace the present,
all because I deal with
my triggers

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I Break Free by Yuanyuan Li

I break free from the doubts in my head,
No longer bound by the words they’ve said.
My mind is vast, my vision clear—
I claim the power that’s always been near.
I rise beyond the fight or flight,
I choose my path, I own my light.
With purpose strong and heart aligned,
I build the life I once designed.

Yuanyuan is a former student of mine, who allowed me to share this with the world

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Stop Listening

Stop Listening

We all have people in our lives
we need to stop listening to,
starting with ourselves.
Our ego fills us with fear and insecurities.
We lie to ourselves about how important we are,
we fill ourselves with fear and insecurities
or speak words to move us to
a state of denial and avoidance.
We are not the world,
just part of it.
We are not what we have.
Our possessions do not define us.
We are not what we do.
We are more then any act or achievement.
We are more then what others think about us,
we are not their beliefs,
we are ours.
When we stop listening to the ego within,
we realize we are more then what we have
or do not.
When we stop listening to the ego,
we listen more to the Ultimate
who lives within us
and through us.
When we stop listening,
we focus on being a part of the world,
not thinking we are it.
May we stop listening to our ego
and start sharing
with each other.

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Just Ask

Just Ask

You have not
because you ask not.
My father,
who passed 20 years ago today,
drummed this into my head.
Just ask!
Not just for my prayers to be answered,
but to learn.
Anytime I did not understand,
he would say,
just ask!
Ask about what you do not understand!
Seek clarification!
Do not make assumptions, ask!
He would paraphrase a scripture
and say
you know not,
because you ask not.
He taught me how to be a scholar.
How to enjoy learning
and want to study.
That is his legacy to me
just ask!
Ask the Ultimate,
ask your friends and family,
ask others who are studying
ask people to help you
ask people to teach you,
ask people to share with you,
but most importantly
be prepared for others to
come to you and
ask.
Ask of others,
he would say,
as you prepare for others
to ask of you.
Just ask!

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U Can't Pluck This

U Can’t Pluck This

Woke up hearing MC Hammer
U can’t pluck this.
We live in a time where forces are trying
to pluck the goodness and kindness out of us.
My response in all situations is
u can’t pluck this.
You can’t pluck the goodness out of my heart.
you cannot pluck the kindness.
You cannot pluck the joy.
You may pluck things which affect my happiness,
but there are somethings to which I consistently say
U can’t pluck this.
I may pluck some kindness to share with you,
but that is me cultivating with you,
not you plucking out of me.
Kindness is easy to share
and propagates in others.
It spreads happiness, and
makes people feel loved.
Kindness begets kindness.
We can pluck it to share,
but it is ours to pluck out
or not.
Others can take the external
but they can never pluck
our kindness
Like MC Hammer
we need to rap,
I told you, world
You can't pluck this
Yeah, that's what we believing, and now ya know
You can't pluck this.

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Freeing Forgiveness

Freeing Forgiveness

We live in a time
where we hold on to grudges,
hurtful words,
harmful acts, and
feelings and memories
and actions and attitudes
which do nothing in our life
but poison us.
It is not that I want to forget,
but I do not want to keep drinking the poison.
I have the ability to spiritually divorce myself
from all things poisonous.
I see others who are so unforgiving
all they do is ingest poison.
It is about how they poison
their heart, body and soul.
The inability to forgive,
leads one to retaliate,
to seek revenge,
and blame others.
We blame others
for the poison we feed ourselves.
Then we make our poison seem so amazing
that we invite others to drink with
and ultimately die with us
Forgiveness does not mean forgetting.
It just means we
forgive and let go
We forgive and
fight for freedom
from all the poisons
that come to us and
try to move through us.
Freedom comes with
our forgiveness
and the healing to
set others free.

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Are You Ready?

Are You Ready?

There was a moment,
we were like seedlings
starting off on a journey.
We start off in a small pot,
 thinking we may never leave.
We become so comfortable,
that we fear being transplanted
then it happens.
Life moves us from one pot to another
we grow and evolve over time,
knowing it is time to like a seedling move
from one pot to another,
until our roots are so strong
and staying where we are
is keeping us from growing.
Sometimes we need to leave the pots.
Leave the containers, off all sizes.
which have held us for so long.
We need more then a pot.
We need a plot of land
where we can grow and evolve.
The pots were what we needed
while we were in them.
Pots, can inprison us,
constrain us,
and keep us from evolving.
Plots can be scary and liberating.
They offer the space we did not know
we wanted or needed.
It is our time,
our season
to spread our roots
and grow beyond
anything we had previously
imagined,
whether we feel ready or not.

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I Am Sorry

I Am Sorry

I am sorry,
I periodically feel the need to say.
Apologizing can be healing.
Apologies come from reflecting on the past
and the trauma which still exists today.
Others experience the trauma of the past,
even today.
Some still walk the trail of tears
and mourn for the memories.
Some still walk with the memories of slavery
and live with the chains still worn today.
Apologies do not wash
the sins of the past away,
but they help to heal.
Apologies require recognition,
reflection,
and a willingness to acknowledge.
Saying we are sorry
is like sweeping the cobwebs
off our soul.
It means we recognize the harms
we have contributed to
intentionally or not.
It means we recognize our complicity
in the perpetuation of those harms.
What if we also recognized
our complicity as well.
What if we apologized to each other
for the ways we have hurt each other
intentionally or not,
recognizing the pain we have created
and releasing the pain we hold
and giving others the chance to release
theirs as well.
Apologies come from the ability to forgive.
It means we release the need to
retaliate and seek revenge.
What if we could say I am sorry
and contribute to an environment
of love and compassion
and not of hate and harm.

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By Any Other Name

By Any Other Name

The golden rule is clear,
do unto others,
as you would have them do unto you.
It is not as they have done unto you.
Violence is violence,
no matter what you call it.
Acts against humanity
by any other name are still that
acts against humanity.
Redemptive violence,
they called it,
is still violence.
Call it by any other name,
but it is still violence.
Calling it redemptive,
does not minimize the harm done by it.
Calling it redemptive
does not minimize the pain.
You can call it by any other name,
but violence is violence
and pain is pain.
Redemption does not come from violence,
it comes from forgiveness,
from hope,
a need to make amends,
a desire to change, and
to bring about transformation.
Call it by any other name
redemption is about that,
not violence.

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Desire for Love

Desire for Love

What draws you into relationships?
Whether it is with your friends,
teachers, or
heroes and sheroes,
What draws you towards them?
What you desire,
is what draws us on a journey to
your best self,
to becoming the best person you can be.
Love,
the desire for it,
makes us want to be worthy
not just to others,
but to ourselves.
We desire in others,
what we want to discover in ourselves
Our desire to love others
is about learning how to love ourselves.
Love is a reciprocal exchange where
we help each other
become more loving people
and give each other the
love we desire.

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Did You Miss It?

Did You Miss It?

Growing up, I would hear
"Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert".
Did you not see it?
The question was always about
what I did not see.
I was reminded I missed seeing the new ways.
It was always about what I did not see,
but as I think about the way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert,
I realize I not only missed seeing them,
but hearing them,
smelling them,
and seeing them.
They were not just things to be seen,
but things to be fully experienced.
If I were not present,
I did more then miss seeing them,
I missed experiencing their existence.
I missed things I may have noticed before
like ways in the wilderness,
but also those which were unusual and uncommon
like rivers in the desert.
I missed hearing the water flowing
and restoring life to the land and the people
Did you miss it too?
Did you miss life being restored?
Did you miss hearing the water
and the sounds of it being absorbed
and of flowing?
Did you miss the sounds of those rejoicing
from the rivers that flowed
and the life it bought them?
Did you hear the celebration of those
who could now find their way out of the wilderness?
Did you smell the feast happening in the midst
of the celebration
because they had hope.
What are we missing right now
because the Ultimate is still doing new things?
What ways are you missing right now
that were left to guide you out of your wilderness?
What life are you not quenching
because you missed the river in your desert?
Be present.
Don’t miss it!
See it,
hear it,
feel it, and
experience it.
Be present so
you do not miss it.

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Be Human

Be Human

There are days that I want to be
functioning at a higher spiritual level then I am
and then I remember
I am not the Ultimate.
I am human.
I am ever mindful that my ways
are not the ways of the Divine.
My understandings are not
those of the Ultimate
and when it comes to me trying to be
just like the Ultimate
I stink.
I am not the Divine
and neither are you.
We are,
like everyone else
human.
This day and all days
focus on being the best human you can be.
Being human is not always easy.
We face difficult times,
try to solve real problems,
look for solutions
and sometimes want to blame everyone
but ourselves.
Being human is about being humane.
Speak your truth,
but in love.
Learn the lessons
life is trying to teach
and stay humble.
The arrogant may look powerful
but pride
does not keep one from falling.
So just be you,
be the best you,
the best human being
you can be.
Be human and be humane.

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Spring into Change

Spring into Change

I sit here looking at the snow,
ready to shake off the cold,
and feel the aches in my joints leave.
I am ready for my hands to be warm,
for my thick sweaters to get put away
and the grass to be green again.
I am ready for the world to spring into change.
Are you ready to spring into change?
Are you ready for the grass to be green
and the flowers to bloom?
Is it time for us to spring into change
while we are watching nature do the same?
Is it time for us to shake off
our snow of complacency,
our ice of assumptions
that seasons would come and go
and each spring would be the same?
Perhaps this season,
we too need to spring into change
allowing our voices to bloom
our chirps to be heard,
our aroma to be smelled,
our presence to be felt
and the visions of what
we were created to become.
Together, may we
spring into change.

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Community

Community

We all need
a community of friends.
A community of people who are more then friends.
Those in my community do so much.
They inspire me,
challenge me,
tease me, and
remind me to be the best me I can be.
They are the ones who love me
just as I am,
but also see my potential and ability
and push me with love and kindness
to grow and evolve
and reach the stars.
I am grateful they are my community
and I am grateful to be part of theirs.
Who is part of your community,
and whose community are you in?

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Silence

Silence

Silence,
it is one of the 8 nouns I used to describe me
in an exercise with my students.
Why silence, they ask.
thinking it is because I am quiet
or just don’t like noise.
Silence
is so much more.
Silence is a process.
it enables me to journey to a space
away from all distractions.
Silence
brings me to
a spiritual sauna
where my senses
bathe in the silence.
It is where I hear the symphony
I can only hear in the silence.
I can see the artistry and creativity
I can only see in the silence.
I can taste the goodness in life
I can only taste in the silence.
I can smell scents
I can only smell in the silence.
I can embrace all
I can only embrace in the silence.
Silence
is that space
where all is released and removed
and I am
cleansed, rejuvenated, renewed,
and prepared to live outside of the
silence.

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In an Instant

In an Instant

In an instant,
your world can change.
I know this from my own life.
In an instant,
I felt a pain shoot down my leg
and the next instant was numbness.
Each day reminds me that
in an instant,
I can find the power to love my adversaries.
I can be given the power to accept my failures.
I can grieve loss.
I can endure torture.
I can avail myself
in any instant
of the power and grace
that flows to and through me
from the Ultimate.
In an instant,
I can find peace in the moment,
I can look for the goodness.
I can live like an overcomer.
I can transform my perspective.
In an instant,
I can make a difference
even if I cannot change the world,
I can start with me
and the person I see in the mirror.
In an instant,
I can make a difference
and make this world a better place
one instant at a time.

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