Haiku #22: The Greatest Gift

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haiku

   The Greatest Gift

Dawn brings awareness.

The mind, like a flower’s bud

Blossoms in found light.

Help Me Create Something Wonderful Lord!

(An imagined conversation with nO religious intent.)

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Help me create something wonderful, Lord!

Are you afraid?

Yes. I am very afraid.

Help me create something wonderful, Lord!

Will you resist?

Oh yes. I will resist. I’ll resist a lot – especially when I get scared.

Still…help me create something wonderful, Lord!

Will you find excuses?

Excuses? Of course!  I will find lots and lots of excuses.

Please help me create something wonderful, Lord!

Will you look for things to divert you from your dreams?

Sure. I always have. I’ll look everywhere.

But still…help me create something wonderful, Lord!

Will you minimize who you are and how much you can achieve?

Oh yes! I will doubt myself all over the place.

Oh PLEASE help me create something wonderful, Lord!

These things only have power as long as you let them stop you.

But by seeking help

And by daring to move forward anyway

Step by tentative step

As long as it takes

As daunting as it may at times seem

Despite doubts and fears and countless diversions

Learning and growing as you go along…

Well then my dear tortured human being

The magical creation process has already begun.

And even if you can’t see it yet…I can! 

With love,

The Lord

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(Please note: This imagined conversation was conceived and intended in a totally secular way. I have yet to knowingly receive any direct messages from a greater power.  But if they do come, I will let you know for sure!)

Joy and Peace Come from Within

One more random thought that came to me the other day. I will let it stand on its own:

Joy and peace come from within. We don’t need to wait for others to create it for us. We don’t need to blame others when we don’t have it.

Namaste.

The Edge of the Wall

Icy gnarled fingers

Troll the edge of the wall

A slow macabre dance

Creeping ever so tentatively

Around that corner

Poised at times like question marks

Then releasing with a great sigh…

To embrace the vast emptiness?

(Or maybe at long last to grasp truth.)

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Yes…I know this isn’t my usual type of post. But as my header warns: “Thoughts. Spinning. Lots of ‘em.”

These were brought on by a recent conversation I had with a woman friend who is 97 years old and still lives on her own!

We should all be so lucky. Not that she always feels lucky since everyone she ever loved is now gone and she is alone. As another friend often says “These are our choices?”

And so, thinking about all this I was moved to write this poem. In the end, no matter what else happens we have ourselves for as long as we live. And it is with ourself, I think, we must make peace. And it is also within ourself we must ultimately find the joy.

Letting Go: Just U and Me

OK, Universe. This is just between you and me.

For the last 7 years of the Bush administration you’ve provided me with more than ample practice letting go. Really…I’m grateful. As I watched our government do things that set my teeth chattering, I took it as an opportunity to practice letting go. As I saw things we held so near and dear turned on their heads, I again and again practiced letting go.

Not that I was always successful…but I always appreciated the almost constant opportunity you laid before me. Truly I did.

And now as the primaries unfold, and I once again feel hope surging through my veins, I understand that you, in your infinite wisdom, may once again provide me with generous opportunity as you see fit.

Please don’t think I’m not grateful for all this opportunity…but really, can’t we give someone else this gift for a while? I don’t want to be a hog. You know me…I’m all about sharing.

So Universe, this coming election day, if it isn’t too much trouble, couldn’t we PLEASE let Republicans have a chance to practice letting go? I would consider it our special gift to them. And I promise to keep practicing on my own, anyway. Really. You’ve shown me the way. A lot. I mean a LOT!

Well…thanks for listening. Now back to regular programming.

How Bloggers Like Us Can Help Feed Hungry People for as Little as $5!

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donations, hunger, poverty

I don’t know if this is something that bothers you, but I am just heartsick that there are still so many hungry people in this country. And, despite growing numbers of people having problems feeding themselves and their families, more and more food pantries are finding their shelves bare. Some are even being forced to close for lack of resources. All this in a country as rich as ours.

According to the New York City Coalition Against Hunger (NYCCAH), about 1 in 6 New Yorkers do not always know where their meals will come from. This is a sin in a city like New York filled with wealth and wonders of all kinds! And this is not just true in New York – too many people all over the United States are hungry and unsure of something as essential as food.

Psst! 20 Things that Aren’t So Secret. Pass It On!

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Law of Attractiion, negative thinking, negative thoughts, The Secret

Since I wrote about what bugs me about The Secret and all the focus on cleansing our lives of negative thinking and negative thoughts, I thought it only fair to offer an alternative. So here are the 20 things I would include in my fantasy book “Psst! It’s Not a Secret!“:

• Be positive – but still allow your thoughts to run wild.
• Be open to people and ideas of all kinds.
• Don’t be afraid of negative thoughts. “The earth is not flat” was once one of those.
• Love yourself as you are.
• Let your voice be heard, but also listen well to others.

The Law of Kenahara

I was raised to believe that there are some things we shouldn’t say out loud – maybe shouldn’t even think. I call this the Law of Kenahara (also spelled kenahora). It warns that if we show too much pride in looks or material things, we will attract the evil eye.

So rather than saying “Isn’t my baby the most beautiful baby you’ve ever seen?” you might instead say “Eh. She’s ok.” or “At least she doesn’t have her grandma’s cross-eyes.” This way she can go on and grow up to be beautiful without any curses befalling her. (I believe Snow White’s parents could have benefited from this thinking.)

But if you do want to say something nice about this amazing baby, you must add the word “kenahara” to keep her safe. “She has a pretty face, kenahara.” Now it’s ok.

But the Law of Kenahara applies to the way we think about our own lives, too.

A Little Secret About The Secret (and the Law of Attraction)

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Law of Atraction, negative thinking, negative thoughts, positive thinking, The Secret

Read this and see how it makes you feel:

Negative thoughts are destroying our way of life and if we don’t do something about them, we will be overcome by what they do to us! Luckily we have the power to say no to negative thoughts. We have the power to fight against negative thoughts. We have the power to banish negative thoughts from our lives. We just won’t allow them near us. We just won’t allow ourselves to associate with them. And wherever we see them, we will work to eliminate them. For once these negative thoughts are gone, our lives will be everything we ever dreamed.

Now substitute the word “Jews” or “Muslims” or “Christians” or “Blacks” or “Immigrants” or simply “people who don’t agree with me” for the words “negative thoughts”.

Despite its beautiful wrapping paper, the whole Law of Attraction (LOA) thing, at least as some people practice it, is based on a similar kind of thinking. We found an enemy (negative thoughts in this case). If we eliminate this enemy, all will be well. It’s the same underpinnings, just with a pretty bow. And ironically…it’s a negative way of looking at the world!

I Don’t Know

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Wayne Dyer

My friend Richard and I were just talking the other day about how great it feels to say “I don’t know” and then the concept came up again last night as I was listening to Wayne Dyer’s “Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life” on PBS. Although I am not especially one of his fans, I thought he gave a fascinating presentation based on the Tao Te Ching, probably written by Lau Tsu in 6th century BC China. It affected me deeply. There’s a lot I heard that I’m still absorbing.

At another time I may talk more about this book since I plan to spend some time with it, but for today I just want to talk about one of the things Dyer spoke about: the wisdom and freeing nature of “I don’t know.”

Three Things We All Want

“To be loved. Attention paid. And to be respected.”

I just heard Mike Farrell on Tavis Smiley’s radio show on PRI say those words. Tavis asked Farrell how he wound up becoming the political and social activist he is, in addition to being an actor (best known as B.J. Hunnicutt from the TV show M*A*S*H.)

Farrell told of a time in his life when things were falling apart all around him (I think after a divorce) and he was told about a non-profit program at the time called the Manhattan Project* that helped heal troubled people. In his case, he says, it helped him find out who he was and why he was here on earth.

It was in that program that he learned to get to the basics of what a human wants – any human including himself. And, in his words, those basics were the things I listed above: “To be loved. Attention paid. And to be respected.” He says, from there, once he knew who he was and that he was just like anyone else at the core,

What to Do When Life Shovels Dirt on You

“One day a farmer’s donkey fell down a dry well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway. It just wasn’t worth it to him to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw.

The Power of Hope. Pass It On.

Tonight SurfaceEarth posted a short, seemingly simple post about Hope. And yet there is almost nothing more powerful – except maybe faith. For me the two go hand in hand…but they are not the same thing.

Faith can bring us peace and a sense that things will work out – somehow. But hope…aaah! Hope can move us to act. A truly amazing power.

Faith: Confidence or trust in a person or thing.

Hope: The feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best.

As I struggle with challenges in my own life that at times seem insurmountable to me, the one thing that pushes me forward – the one thing that spurs me on to try again – the one thing that moves me to have faith in myself enough to break through to spiritual healing – is hope. At least that’s where it starts for me. Certainly I also have to have faith that somehow I’ll find a way, but at the very heart of change is hope.

Hope. Something too many people are without too much of the time. I promised SurfaceEarth I would pass it on. And so now I’m doing just that.

Hope can lift us up. It can fuel dreams. It can resurrect lives. It can heal wounded spirits. It can change the world one person at a time. And best of all, it costs absolutely nothing for us to share with others. But oh the wonderful things it can do!

So…here’s a thought: If at all possible, let’s take a moment or two out of our day today to offer someone hope. In whatever way feels right. And to take this one step further…if we can also think of ways to help people to have faith in themselves as well as hope…well then miracles can truly happen.

Please help me pass this on in whatever way you are moved to do so. With faith and hope, we can start to make a meaningful difference!

The Two Wolves: Which Wolf Do You Feed?

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feeding the wolf, the one you feed, two wolves story, wolf who wins

I found this wonderful Cherokee story about the two wolves and the ever-so-familiar fight they are having inside all of us, and I want to share it with you:

The Two Wolves

A Cherokee elder was teaching his grandchildren about life.

He said to them, “A fight is going on inside me… it is a terrible fight between two wolves.

One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, hatefulness, and lies.

The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, humbleness, kindness, friendship, generosity, faith, and truth.

This same fight is going on inside of you, and inside every other person, too.”

The children thought about it for a minute. Then one child asked his grandfather,

“Which wolf will win?”

The Cherokee elder replied…

“The one you feed.”

So the question is…which wolf do you feed most often?

This ancient wisdom speaks loudly to me. And, as I think about it, I must admit that lately I’ve been feeding almost equal parts of each wolf – sometimes even letting them feed each other. And that leaves the spirit in disharmony. Not a great thing.

Luckily we have the power to choose, at any given time, which wolf to feed more often. And today, I start by choosing to share this beautiful story of the wolves with you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Aaah! The second wolf is smiling.

Wolf Sound (click to hear the wolf)

Free Wolf Photo

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Have $5 to spare?

Read how you can help a hungry person!

How Bloggers Like Us Can Help Feed Hungry People for as Little as $5!

November 24, 2007 by Ronnie Ann (updated 2013)

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Who’s Driving Your Life?

My cyber-pal SurfaceEarth asked me to write something about how we find the courage to change the way we live. Ah! A challenge. She was responding to my post Energy, Fortune Cookies, and Life where I wrote about what I found in a fortune cookie that day:

“Energy is equal to desire and purpose.”

A message maybe from the universe telling me I should accept no less, despite all those temptingly easy diversions from a path I could truly embrace and – dare I say – love. Feed the inner chi by attracting the universal chi, eh?

Well, I must admit her “simple” question about where to find courage to “accept no less” was not one I could readily answer. I too ask the same question when faced with tough challenges. The one thing I’ve learned in my life, is the best way to find an answer is to first believe there is one.

And to this point, I happened to find Christen Resmo’s blog The Law of Attraction and a post called What is the Law of Attraction?.