Dancing with the Darkness

Dancing with the Darkness

I wish I could say I have never been depressed,
faced the darkness in my life,
had to move through the storms,
or encountered any challenges in my life,
but I would be lying.
One thing I have learned in my journey,
is that the journey to the light
requires walking through the darkness.
The journey is not an either or,
but a both and
journey to the light
and peace
which surpasses understanding.
The journey there however,
is never easy
and filled with those moments
that break us,
tear things away from us,
challenge us to
overcome what lies before us
and move through it
over it,
and passed it.
It is never about the darkness,
but how we dance with it,
what we learn from it,
how we allow it to bless us,
and help us grow.
It is not just a dance with the darkness,
but preparation for the master class
with the light.

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Failing & Winning

Failing and Winning

“What did you fail at today?”
That was a question my father would ask me.
His goal was not to make me feel bad,
rather it was to encourage me to try.
Failure was never about the outcome.
It was about the effort.
I could not win without failing.
My Bubby,
his mother,
taught me a similar lesson.
She who fails to fail, fails to succeed.
I cannot win,
if I do not fail.
Failure has taught me to forget
what I thought it was
and embrace the beauty in it.
Sometimes even when I appear
to be failing,
I am in the process of winning.
I can fall,
but if I get back up
I am winning,
because I did not quit.
I tried.
As my father would say
winners never fail
they may lose,
but they also win.

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Being Open

Being Open

There are so many questions which guide
and encourage me these days.
Why not?
If not me, then who?
What do I have to lose?
Or the wisdom of my Bubby
She who fails to fail, fails to succeed.
Or my father’s question
how did you fail today?
Each in their own way encourages
me to be open to new opportunities,
new possibilities
and to rise above that which
I might normally reject.
I won’t ever know
if I do not try,
so I am opening myself
to the riches,
experiences
and opportunities
the world has to offer me.

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Contemporaries of My Soul

Contemporaries of My Soul

“Who are my contemporaries?”
Juan Gelman asked himself.
So often, for me
it is not the people I know
in the here and now.
There are a few
with whom I resonate in unexplainable ways.
More often, however,
it is people long gone,
people I have never met,
people who left me a wisdom
and a legacy which resonates with my sould
and makes me feel as if
we knew each other in a way
that transcends understanding.
It's poets like Lao Tzu,
Pat Parker,
Adrienne Rich, and
Audre Lorde.
It’s spiritual teachers like
Ram Dass,
Toltecs,
Thich Nhat Hanh
and Osho.
It’s the paintings of Jesus and Buddha
on Phoenix Island.
Cat Stevens singing about
The Peace Train
John Lennon
asking us to imagine,
Malala Yousafzai
fighting for women’s rights, and
Jhan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
who worked for peace and healing
There are my contemporaries
of the soul.
Who are yours?

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Loving the Leper Within

Loving the Leper Within

I remember reading a writing from
St Francis of Assisi who wrote about
“loving the leper within us.”
It took me a while to comprehend
I must do more then love what I like about myself,
I must love what I don’t like.
I must love the parts of me
I want to hide,
I am ashamed of,
I want to deny,
I want to ignore.
When I learn to love
the leper within myself,
then I learn to love
the ones others view as lepers
around me.
It allows me to show compassion to all.
It enables me to open my heart
and my table
to those who society has labeled the other,
the least of thee,
for those who have been excluded and
those who fear I will not embrace them.
When I learn to embrace all of me,
then I have learned how to
embrace all of you .

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My Personal Ukranian War

My Personal Ukranian War

For the last few weeks,
I have been watching the war
between the Ukranians and the Russians.
On the one hand,
I hate what I am seeing.
I cringe over the lack of respect
for human life,
I pray for the courage of those
fighting for their freedom and democracy.
I grieve at the destruction
and with those who have lost loved ones.
At the same time, I see myself in this war.
I see how in my own life,
I have to face my demons.
I have to face them with a vision for my future.
I have to remember to give thanks for what I have
and to daily work to maintain a humble heart.
I cannot run from the demons within me
because to try to avoid them,
simply challenges them to
make themselves even more present in my life.
 Like the Ukrainians,
I must tap into my own inner warrior,
pick up the gauntlet
and face my demons.
When I don’t, I am inviting them
to continue to haunt me,
torture me,
and reduce me.
I have to be the warrior of change
in my own life.
I am the one fighting daily
for my own freedom,
my own growth,
my own evolution.
This war with my demons
is not always pretty
or easy,
but it is about securing
my freedom
and peace

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Letting Go

Letting Go

I remember one of my professors
selling his boat,
which he loved passionately.
He explained he spent
so much time and money
maintaining it,
he had no time to enjoy it.
It saddened me, but also made me glad.
I would rather he spend his time enjoying,
than working.
How often in our own lives
do we spend so much time working
that we miss out on that
which we love most in life -
the people,
the places,
and the hobbies
which bring us the most joy.
What do we need to release
to restore in us that
goodness and peace.

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Loving & Serving

Loving & Serving

The thing which brings me the greatest joy
is serving others.
One of the lessons I learned early on
is to love everyone,
serve everyone
and remember God is in everyone.
When I love others,
I am loving God.
When I serve others,
I am serving God.
When I remember God,
I am remembering to look for
God in everyone.
Serving and loving others
is not always easy.
I have to do so knowing
there may be no reciprocity.
I have to do so knowing
whether others love me or not,
I am loving the God in them.
Whether others serve me or not,
I am serving the God in them.
Serving and loving everyone
it is not about them,
it is about my willingness
to love and serve the Ultimate.
It is about loving and serving
the one whose love for me
is unconditional and
loves and serves me
even in the moments
I am not.

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Mercy

Mercy

As I look back,
I find myself giving thanks
for the people in my life
who have been like
heat sinking missiles
landing on and exploding
my most sensitive of areas.
Their presence has saved
me time and money in therapy,
as they have drawn my attention
to the areas
in need of the most healing.
I show them mercy
as I know others have shown me
when I have been
the heat sinking missile
in their life.
it is not that I want
these experiences in my life,
but that I need them.
They are the impetus for my growth,
my humility,
my reminder to be merciful
and to receive the mercy of others.

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Unique & Precious

Unique and Precious

There is not,
never has been
and never will be
anyone like
who we are.
We are unique and precious
just as we are.
I wish I could remember who said that to me
but it has stuck with me for decades.
It reminds me to look for the uniqueness
in everyone I encounter.
I try to remember
I too am unique.
As I used to preach
I am Divine by design
because I was
designed by the Divine.
The same is true
for each of you.
We are all
Divine originals
unique and precious
just as we are.

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Look Deeper

Look Deeper

I am always grateful to my ancestors,
and the wisdom they left me.
My Bubby and my mother,
both taught me about love.
There was one thing
both taught me to not say.
I hate you.
Those words,
they would say
are not of love.
Hate is not of love.
I could hate the action,
the behavior,
but not the person.
I think about that lesson today
with the political,
social,
civic,
and economic unrest.
I can hear them reminding
me that even those
contributing to the unrest
are of the Ultimate.
In the midst of the unrest,
I radiate love to all,
including those whose actions
I disdain.
However, rather then say I hate them,
I hold on to the wisdom
of my ancestors
and look deeper for the fragment
of the One who
created them as well.

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Peace

Peace

It is amazing what happens
when you are able to
bring peace into your life
and stay in the peace.
There is a magic which seems to happen
when we rest in our own peace.
We encounter people, places, and things
which are led to us,
but only because they too
are at peace.
So we meet people who
were led to touch and inspire us.
We are able to see things
in ways that move beyond
what they appear to be.
We get to see the mystery,
the magic,
and the secrets unlock before us.
Each person, place and thing
reveals itself for more than it appears to be.
In the midst of this peace,
we see glimpses of the Ultimate
in all we encounter.

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Silence

Silence

Silence,
it is one of the nouns
I give my students
to describe me.
Silence
is what I was taught to do
if I didn’t have anything nice to say.
Silence
is what I was taught to practice
if what I wanted to say was not
truthful,
necessary, or
kind.
Silence
in my own mind and soul
is what enables me to hear
the symphony of the Ultimate.
It is only in my self-silencing
that I hear the pins drop
and the guidance for my life and journey.
Silence
is not about not having anything to say,
but being mindful of the words I speak
when I break my silence.

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Alarms

Alarms

Alarms go off on our clocks, phones
and all kinds of devices
to remind us it is time to do something.
like get up, leave, or go to a meeting.
Alarms go off for so many human life things,
but what if we had an alarm reminding
us to pray.
this year I started a new habit of setting my alarm
to go off at lunch time
with the reminder to pray.
It is easy to remember to give thanks when we
are waking up
or going to sleep,
but why don’t we stop mid-day and
give thanks for getting us up and going
and moving through.
What if we set an alarm
to take a lunch break
and while giving thanks for our food,
we gave thanks for our day as well
What if our alarms
were not reminders of what we have to do
but reminders of what we get to do.
We get to wake up.
We get to go to work.
We get to give thanks.
We get to meet with others.
If we see alarms as a blessing,
then perhaps the next time
we hear an alarm,
we give thanks because it is
what we get to do.

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Overcomer

Overcomer

Have you ever had one of those moments
when your own words come back to heal you.
I just finished writing about how even the hard times
are a source of wisdom,
and then today I got to process
and move through more hard times.
Yet the timing was impeccable,
because before the hardest of the news came,
I was listening to a training on mindset.
The news was not easy,
and I am not thrilled with it,
but I kept focusing on my mindset
and giving thanks.
Thanks for the fact that I know what I have to do.
Thanks that I was given an answer to this prayer
months before I ever knew I would be praying it.
Thanks for the word mindset which
has been in so many things I have
heard or seen today.
Thanks for the lesson from my Bubby,
who told me when I can see
the good in a tough situation
then I will be ok.
So today I give thanks for my mindset and
for the intentional energy I am using
to stay positive and focused
and to offer up prayers of thanksgiving
and prayers for rejuvenation.
Tomorrow is a new day
and all will be well with my soul,
because my word for this year is
overcomer

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Do Unto Others

Do Unto Others

I can hear my mother’s voice now
as she continues to remind me
to do unto others,
as I would have them do unto me.
What does that look like and feel like in my life?
Do I cause harm to do others
when I do something that benefits myself?
If I had an opportunity for a better paying job,
do I not take it because someone else may need it more?
Do I accept the invite to host a party for someone,
because I would want them to do that for me? 
What if they don’t?
I come back to that teaching
and remember it is how I would want them to treat me,
now how they will.
I have to do what I know to be right,
whether others do or not.
I do not have control over the choices of others,
only myself,
This new year, as I write my last poem of this year,
may I remember to live and practice
the golden rule,
regardless of whether or not others do.

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Today

Today

I woke up this morning
and for that I give thanks.
As I think about those who did not,
it makes me ever more grateful
for the gift of the day.
I woke up
and so I am blessed.
From the moment I opened my eyes
and knew I was handed the gift
of yet another day
I knew I was blessed.
Everything after is a blessing.
Even if nothing else went well today,
I am alive.
I woke up
one more time.
I was given yet another day to be of service.
Today is another gift to me
from the Ultimate.
Today is a gift;
an opportunity to give thanks,
to be of service,
to appreciate all I have been given,
and to give thanks
because as I have been reminded,
not everyone received that gift today
and I did.
Today is a gift
and I plan to approach it and
appreciate it for what it is.

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Wealthy

Wealth

I used to think I wanted to be wealthy.
What I meant was that I wanted to have lots of money
and own things
Now, it’s not that I do not want to have wealth,
but that I know my wealth no longer comes
from what I own,
but what I have.
In some respects, I am struggling,
working three jobs to pay my bills.
At the same time, I am incredibly wealthy.
I am surrounded by people who love me unconditionally.
I have a roof over my head,
clothes on my back,
food in my pantry,
and doctors who always work to help me
stay healthy.
As I stop each day and count my blessings,
I am reminded of the riches
which fill my life
and how wealthy I truly am.
I may never be on some list
for the wealthiest people on earth,
but I have a wealth which comes
from the Ultimate
and I never have to worry about
losing.
I am grateful to be so wealthy and
to be on this journey with others
who are also wealthy.

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With You

With You

Each morning I take a moment to
reflect on that which bought me joy
the day before.
I think about the people,
the places,
the smells,
the tastes,
the textures,
the sound
and the feelings.
What I notice from my joy journal
is that much of my joy is
with you -
my friends,
my family,
my students,
my hosts and consultants,
my clients
and with the Ultimate.
What brings me joy is not
so much what I do,
but sharing that experience with others.
My enjoying something may start
as an individual experience,
but the full enjoyment comes
with sharing it
or experiencing it
with you.
So much of what I love about my life
comes from my time and memories
with you.

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Goodness

Goodness

There is good in everything and
when I can see the good
I can see the Ultimate.
So often we take things for granted
and do not see the good or the God.
Do you feel it i
n the warmth of your cup of hot cocoa on a cold day?
Do you taste it
in your coffee made just like you like it?
Do you see good in
the water which allowed for it to be brewed?
Do you smell it
in the fresh fall breeze?
Do you hear it
in the joyful expressions of others?
The goodness of the Divine surrounds us and
comes to us in ways we tend
to ignore or forget about.
May we begin to experience the goodness
in all the ways we experience it
and from all the sources and situations
from which the goodness flows.

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