Reading

Mornings at Blackwater
For years, every morning, I drank

from Blackwater Pond.

It was flavored with oak leaves and also, no doubt,

the feet of ducks.

And always it assuaged me

from the dry bowl of the very far past.

What I want to say is

that the past is the past,

and the present is what your life is,

and you are capable

of choosing what will be, darling citizen.

So come to the pond,

or the river of your imagination,

or the harbor of your longing,

and put your lips to the world.

And live

your life.

~Mary Oliver

Reading

 "May the sun bring you energy by day,

  May the moon softly restore you by night,

  May the rain wash away your worries,

  May the breeze blow new strength into your being.

  May you walk gently through the world

    and know its beauty all the days of your life.“

                                     Apache Blessing

Reading

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest i...n the grace of the world, and am free.
~Wendell Berry

Reading

Awakening Now

Why wait for your awakening?...
Do you value your reasons for staying small
more than the light shining through the open door?
Forgive yourself,
Forgive yourself.
Now is the only time you have to be whole.
Now.
Now is the sole moment that exists to live in the light of your true nature.
Perfection is not a prerequisite for anything but pain.
Perfection is not a prerequisite for anything but pain.
Please, oh please, don't continue to believe
in your stories of deficiency and failure.
This is the day of your awakening.
~Dana Faulds

Reading

Just for Now, without asking how, let yourself sink into stillness. Just for now, lay down the weight you so patiently bear upon your
shoulders. Feel the earth receive you, and the infinite expanse of the sky grow even wider as your awareness reaches up to meet
it. Just for now, allow a wave of breath to enliven your experience. Breathe out whatever blocks you from the truth. Just for now,
...

be boundless, free, with awakened energy tingling in your hands and feet. Drink in the possibility of being who and what you really
are – so fully alive that the world looks different, newly born and vibrant, just for now.
~ Danna Faulds

Reading

Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts,
the depths where neither sin nor desire can reach,
the person that each one is in God's eyes.
If only they could see themselves as they really are.
If only we could see each other that way,...
there would be no reason for war, for hatred, for cruelty ...
I suppose the big problem would be that
we would fall down and worship each other.

- Thomas Merton

Reading

May I be mentally happy,
May I be physically happy,
May I be safe,
May I be peaceful and at ease.

reading

Miracles In The Minutia

Tiny, little specks of
white flecks…
flowers poking
through the crevice
of the public transportation train station.

I was filled with judgment
until that moment…
the things that were not going right,
the person who had not set me up
for success…
the list of my complaints long.
Until that moment.

The flowers were not complaining
that they had to grow
in a crack,
in a crevice
on the edge of concrete
at a station
instead of in a beautiful field
with room to breathe and grow.

They were just being flowers.
Being beautiful
whether anyone cared
or noticed
at all.

I was one big complaint…
until that moment…
when i stooped down
and touched their magnificence
and was humbled to my core.

julia butterfly hill