acceptance

Meditation for the Day
Be calm, be true, and be quiet. Do not get emotionally upset by anything that happens around you. Feel a deep, inner security in the goodness and purpose in the universe. Be true to your highest ideals. Do not let yourself slip back into the old ways of reacting. Stick to your spiritual guns. Be calm always. Do not talk back or defend yourself too much against accusation, whether false or true. Accept criticism as well as you accept praise.

what do you ache for?

THE INVITATION

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.



It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.
© Mountaindreaming, from the book The Invitation published by HarperSanFrancisco, 1999

the future never comes

getting tired of hearing the current buzz phrase, "live in the moment." even if people aren't doing it they are saying it, "stay in the day." i'm guilty too, telling others to "experience the now." it can get old... and annoying. yes, we know, forget about yesterday, don't worry about tomorrow, just live in today.
i get it.

but i didn't REALLY get it until i read this passage, "All we have is the present. The past is gone forever and the future never comes. When tomorrow gets here it will be today. Am I living one day at a time?" it clicked.... if there is only right here right now...there is no worrying about the future or regret about the past. right now is the present, the past and the future all in one single day. and it is the only one i have, for today, and up to me how to best savor it. worry or regret or love and truth? it's up to me (and my freewill) to choose.

source: AA Thought for the Day, 24 hour book
image credit: The Mountain of Tomorrow's Sunrise by William Crump

donate to my friend Eddie & MADD

please help my friend Eddie walk to raise money for Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Eddie spends his life helping addicts get clean and sober and he does everything he can to support recovery and MADD. here is his information:

go to: www.walklikemadd.org
go to: Houston
go to: donate to a walker
then: enter "Eddie deRoulet"

thank you

atomic energy

why i came here, i know not:
where i shall go it is useless to inquire -
in the midst of myriads of the living and the dead worlds, stars, systems, infinity,
why should i be anxious about an atom?

-Lord Byron

eternal point

when there is no more separation between this and that, it is called the still point of the Tao. at the still point in the centre of the circle one can see the infinite of all things. -Chuang Tzu, China

inspiration comes when it comes

can't always say where it is going to find me - but inspiration comes when i'm ready to grow. sometimes in nature, or places like a secluded winter island, an old barn holding memories, fields of poppies, in people, in painting, or writing, and in love.

what to do when inspired? wish i knew. feel it i guess. let it be. see what comes to the surface. let inspiration penetrate you deeply in space and time you are unaware of. perhaps a creative spark ignites something new, or who you really are. or just quiet contemplation of a better, more authentic path. if inspired then turn to it, face it, and decide to walk down it.

don't always wonder where it could lead.

Trust yourself, then you will know how to live. -Goethe (1749 - 1832)

three things about life

three things cannot be long hidden - the sun, the moon, and the truth. -Buddha

life isn't about finding yourself. life is about creating yourself.