Right Here, Right Now

The Universe keeps sending me little signs and messages, letting me know that I am in the right place, on the right path, doing the right thing.

It is such a gift because I feel so confused and disjointed lately. My ego is having fits while I’m trying to let Spirit take the lead. It’s not excited about the idea of being leashed and obedient, to letting go of the illusion of control.

I don’t want to lead. I want to simply do as Spirit says. Crazy how something so simple is so difficult to do, much less maintain. I’ve started writing a stream of consciousness page or two in the mornings to help me identify the ego’s ridiculous lies and tricks.

I want to let go and let the Universe hold me while I close my ego’s eyes to the world and truly rest.

Tee hee. Being silly is very important to keeping the ego in check. I have learned recently to take being silly seriously… in that I need to honor it and make time in my life for it.

Hafiz’s Gift

I’ve been feeling very tired, emotionally drained and unsupported lately. But something that has been bringing me comfort and moments of joy is The Gift, a book of poetry by the Sufi Master Hafiz. I tend to write down inspiring or touching things that I read. The selections below are all handwritten into my journal; all are taken from The Gift, some are full poems and some just fragments:

We Have Not Come to Take Prisoners

We have not come here to take prisoners
But to surrender ever more deeply
To freedom and joy.

We have not come into this exquisite world
To hold ourselves hostage from love.

Run, my dear
From anything
That may not strengthen
Your precious budding wings.

Run like hell my dear,
From anyone likely
To put a sharp knife
Into the sacred, tender vision
Of your beautiful heart.

…

For we have not come here to take prisoners
Or to confine our wondrous spirits,

But to experience ever and more deeply
Our divine courage, freedom, and LIGHT!

Even
After
All this time
The sun never says to the earth,

“You owe
Me.”

Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the
Whole
Sky.

Like
A pair
Of mismatched newlyweds
One of whom still feels very insecure,
I keep turning to God
Saying,
“Kiss
Me.”

When all your desires are distilled
You will cast just two votes:

To love more,
And be happy.

I know the ectasy of your heart’s wings
When they make love against the Sky.

Something divine happens to the
Heart

That
Shapes the hand and tongue
And eye into
The world
Love.

I cannot sit still with my countrymen in chains.
I cannot act mute
Hearing the world’s loneliness
Crying near the Beloved’s heart.

Love Is the Funeral Pyre

Love is
The funeral pyre
Where I have laid my living body.

All the false notions of myself
That once caused fear, pain,

Have turned to ash
As I neared God.

What has risen
From the tangled web of thought and sinew

Now shines with jubilation
Through the eyes of angels

And screams from the guts of
Infinite existence
Itself.

Love is the funeral pyre
Where the heart must lay
Its body.

Your love
Should never be offered to the mouth of a
Stranger,

Only to someone
Who has the valor and daring
To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife

Then weave them into a blanket
To protect you.

The Vintage Man

The
Difference
Between a good artist
And a great one

Is:

The novice
Will often lay down his tool
Or brush

Then pick up an invisible club
On the mind’s table

And helplessly smash the easels and
Jade.

Whereas the vintage man
No longer hurts himself or anyone

And keeps on
Sculpting
Light.

Indeed God
Has written a thousand promises
All over your heart

That say,
Life, life, life
Is far to sacred to
Ever end.

My Magical Boobs

Here’s an interesting occurence where my body/self-image intersected in an odd way with my spiritual practice/direction of my energy and will/conscious living:

Ever since I’ve slimmed down and gotten in shape again, I’ve felt a bit sad that my breast size was reduced as a result, especially since I’ve got such huge hips. I like to have more fullness at the top to balance things a bit.  I’ve been thinking this recently and at the same time I stopped wearing my bras opting for camisoles instead since I’ve read that bras can contribute to breast cancer.  This has made me more aware of my breasts so I think I’ve been spending more mental energy on them than I used to and they seem to have responded! The past couple of weeks I noticed a tenderness and growth in them.  If it weren’t for the tenderness, I would have thought I was imagining things when I noticed that my breasts suddenly looked fuller and more shapely.  And then my baby confirmed my thoughts by asking this morning if I’d “magicked my boobs bigger.”  Once he said that I realized that, yes I had.

This is pretty amazing to me since I’ve never used my magical powers for physical alteration/augmentation before except for my health and fitness goals and the slight glamours I seem to automatically put upon myself when preparing for a big night out (or any other time I want to particularly impress).

All this seems to be just one more sign of how I’m integrating all the different aspects of my life more completely and also how nicely my body can surprise me if I let it!

‘Arrive at the Silence of Yourself’

Karma Repair Kit: Items 1-4

by Richard Brautigan

1. Get enough food to eat,

and eat it.

2. Find a place to sleep where it is quiet,

and sleep there.

3. Reduce intellectual and emotional noise

until you arrive at the silence of yourself,

and listen to it.

4.

_________________________________________

From The Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster

Universal Heartbeat

I think it’s important to understand that the Universe is conscious and has an extra ordinary sense of humor.

For example: I grew up in Missouri then moved to Pennsylvania and then Washington state.  Now, I have moved back to Missouri but I work on Pennsylvania Ave. and I live (as of yesterday!) on Washington St.

Silly, isn’t it?