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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The J Words

The J Words

Give thanks for everything,
my Bubby would say.
I used to disagree with her,
especially when I felt jealous.
Jealousy, has always been like one of those guests
I never invited,
but always seemed to show up.
Jealousy, when I gave thanks for it,
became the pathway to joy.
It became a gift from the Ultimate.
Jealousy, went from being something I tried to hide,
even when it refused to be hid,
to something which
helped me celebrate in myself
what I saw in others.
Jealousy became a gift
when I began honoring
my talents and abilities.
when I gave thanks for the opportunities
in my life.
Jealousy has been a guide
on my spiritual journey
helping me to grow, evolve,
celebrate my blessings,
and leading me to feelings of
joy.
Joy which freed me from being jealous of others
to a place of feeling nothing
but joy
for your blessings and mine.

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Because I Love You

Because I Love You

Because I love you,
is what I say to my wife,
to my friends
and to all those I truly love
when I want them to know
that our relationship is about unity.
It is about my honoring all they are feeling.
Because I love you,
I want to share the joyous moments in your life,
but I also want to stand by you in your moments of fear,
of worry, and the moments you just want to cry.
Because I love you,
I stand by you
in all life brings us
and guides us through.
I am with you
on the days you are healthy
and on those you are not.
Because I love you,
I know when you need
that little something
that warms your heart and soul.
Because I love you,
I work to understand you
and honor all your feelings.
Because I love you,
I face everything with you we rise.
The intimacy we share,
is because we honor each other
and journey with each other.
I know you do this because
you love me and
I am present
because I love you.

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Keep and Until

Keep and Until

The older I get,
the more I appreciate the wisdom of my elders.
Like learning to stay focused on something until.
Keep working on it,
until you understand it.
Keep failing
until you succeed.
Keep and Until
those are the words
which motivate me even today.
It's boring, I said once.
Spend more time with it
Keep with it,
until you find something about it which is interesting.
It was the same with people.
Keep getting to know them
until you find something to love about them
Keep being of service,
until all have been helped.
It is these words
keep and until
which keep me being loving and kind
in my daily life,
because I am still meeting others
who need to be loved
Because of this,
I will keep touching the hearts of others
until I run out of hearts to touch.

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Cleaning Windows

Cleaning Windows

Sometimes I hear the words of this song
floating through my head
reminding me that
I can see clearly now
the rain is gone.
My Bubby would tell me
Rain is God washing the world
so I could see clearly.
Sometimes I feel like that is what
I do in life.
I wonder if perhaps I am
a janitor for spirit
as others are a janitor for me.
Are we wiping the windows of our worlds
and of others
so we can see clearly
and help others see clearly
for themselves.
Are we working together
to help give ourselves and others
a clearer vision
so we can see all the obstacles
in our way.

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Getting Accustomed

Getting Accustomed

I remember when we moved in together.
As much as we loved each other,
it took time for us to get accustomed to living together.
Life is filled with seasons
of getting accustomed to
people,
places, and
situations.
Like those moments
you walk into a dark room
and your eyes get accustomed to
the darkness and then you begin to see
the beauty and surroundings
you could not see before.
It is in these moments that I see
God in the darkness and the treasures
I have not yet begun to see.
Sometimes we have to get accustomed
just so we can survive.
I grieve as I watch my son
get accustomed to being in jail.
In this darkness,
I find myself becoming accustomed
to being the mother of a child
I no longer know or recognize.
I am becoming accustomed to
the arms of the Ultimate
who comforts me as I grieve and
seek how to keep us all able to see
the light in the darkness of
the jail system.
The one who encourages me to
get accustomed to modeling love and beauty
in the midst of my son’s darkness
and never becoming it,
but getting accustomed to being,
to always being,
the light in the darkness
and at the same time giving thanks
for all the harsh realities
I have never had to
get accustomed to myself.

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Smiles

Smiles

There are moments, sometimes days
when we are distracted by life and
more focused on the past, the future and
the people, places and things distracting us.
I try to stay focused, balanced and centered,
but sometimes I lose it.
Then I start over,
pulling out my spiritual art supplies,
I begin by painting myself being securely and loving held
in God’s hands.  
I coat myself in a blanket of
God’s infinite love.
I keep looking and feeling
the presence of the Ultimate,
until I can feel it’s smile
washing over and through me.
The Ultimate’s smile fills me with
happiness and well being.
My body relaxes and pleasure
begins to flow through me.
The smile of the Ultimate
is not something I just see.
I feel it,
sense it,
experience it
and am as mindful of
its presence,
as I am of it’s absence.
Distractions limit my ability
to smile and to see the smile of the Ultimate.
Staying focused,
allows me to smile for myself
and to experience
the smile of the Ultimate.

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No More Pollution

No More Pollution

So many people are concerned about climate change,
as am I.
We have done so much recently
to protect the environment,
the air,
the water,
the earth,
and so much more.
All that is important,
but how about the pollution within us?
How about the negative thoughts and energy
which pollute our mind, body and soul
with negative thoughts and energy?
Maybe we need standards to stop the toxicity
in our selves,
in our relationships,
in our homes,
our workplaces,
our schools, and
sadly even our places of worship.
What if we end this year
and begin the new one
committed to cleansing our lives
and our worlds
of toxicity
and work to end the
emotional and mental pollution in this world.

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Spiritual PMS

Spiritual PMS

It has been quite some time since
I have experienced a biological PMS,
however, there are still days where I feel them
emotionally,
mentally, or
spiritually.
PMS for me has taken on a new meaning.
it is a reminder for me
to do 3 things
in those moments when I am feeling
less then focused, balanced and centered.
PMS now is what helps me through
because it reminds me to
Pause,
Meditate,
and be Silent.
In the midst of the craziness in my life.
I stop and step away from the situation.
I take time to just sit and meditate
and let the universe give me a new perspective.
Then I just sit in silence
and allow the peace and blessings to
wash over me
restoring me to a place of calm
where I no longer feel like I am pmsing
because I took the time to
pms.

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