compassion

"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves."
- Carl Jung (1875-1961)

Years ago, when I first read this, it changed my life. I became more compassionate, not only with others, but also with myself.

wisdom

"Love everybody.  Don't hate.  Don't gossip.  Take care of your own business.  And take care of your body. " - Eddye Williams

entre recuerdos y sueños

me visto de mares y cielos profundos,

nado entre recuerdos y sueños,

me pierdo y me encuentro en tu mirada


from my journals

joy

detail from mixed media, circa 2004

"JOY is the HOLY FIRE
that keeps our purpose warm
and our intelligence aglow."

- Helen Keller (1880-1968)

...and where do we find our joy?
It is everywhere - we only need to be awake to sense it...

from deepest conviction

"A 'NO' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble." - GANDHI



laugh at the sky

"When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.” - Buddha

laugh

"What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul."
- Yiddish Proverb


so laugh
make someone laugh
it feels so very good...

peace

"Any time anyone complains of worry, anxiety, depression, fear, hatred, jealousy - whatever it is - let him sit back and analyze the cause. If he is really sincere, he will find out that what he wanted something for himself. Selfish desire causes all the problems. Do things for the sake of others, not for yourself. That is the simple and practical way to find peace."

excerpt from "The Golden Present"

Daily Inspirational Readings by Sri Swami Satchidananda

Beloved Gurudev's wise words...Om Shanthi, Shanthi, Shanthi...

His Holiness Sri Swami Satchidananda

Sri Gurudev playing with me, circa 1973
The circle calls to me.

The sun has not risen, but I have.

I celebrate beloved Gurudev, today and always...

soul work

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."
- Picasso


art is my soul's work...

more

"Risk more than others think is safe. Care more than others think is wise. Dream more than others think is practical. Expect more than others think is possible." – Cadet Maxim

liberated

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

- Marianne Williamson (b. 1952)

This quote sits on my altar and is tucked in the pages of my journals..

trust the perfection of the universe

I meditate upon this song,
and I move and dance to change, to life itself...
as I realize and trust the perfection of the universe...

Cambia lo superficial
Cambia también lo profundo
Cambia el modo de pensar
Cambia todo en este mundo

Cambia el clima con los años
Cambia el pastor su rebaño
Y así como todo cambia
Que yo cambie no es extraño

Cambia el más fino brillante
De mano en mano su brillo
Cambia el nido el pajarillo
Cambia el sentir un amante

Cambia el rumbo el caminante
Aunque esto le cause daño
Y así como todo cambia
Que yo cambie no es extraño

Cambia, todo cambia
Cambia, todo cambia

Cambia el sol en su carrera
Cuando la noche subsiste
Cambia la planta y se viste
De verde en la primavera

Cambia el pelaje la fiera
Cambia el cabello el anciano
Y así como todo cambia
Que yo cambie no es extraño

Pero no cambia mi amor
Por mas lejos que me encuentre
Ni el recuerdo ni el dolor
De mi pueblo y de mi gente

Y lo que cambió ayer
Tendrá que cambiar mañana
Así como cambio yo
En esta tierra lejana.

- Julio Numhauser

sacred circle dream

She dreamt with art.

She dreamt with him.

In sacred circle she sat and provided the fire.

The light came through her flame.

She dreamt with silk and pearls.

She dreamt with him.

Where was he? What had he become?

excerpt from journals

altar

a stone buddha head found in a new york flea market,

a river rock that spoke to me,

a strand of seeds from the sacred valley of the incas,

an ancient necklace my brother gave me,

what is on your altar?

mother's prayers

"I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. 

They have clung to me all my life."

- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

children loving our children

"Our babies cried when we left them and we cry when they leave us. Echoes. Proud almost to arrogance then, we pushed them about in their carriages. Dutifully, wearily now, they push us about in our chairs.

Our children don't know us as we are now. Less do they know us as we were. Oh, how I wish they could have known us as we were. Do you think they would recognize their young selves in our young selves? I wish they could have seen us in all our clumsiness and selfishness, which is so like their own clumsiness and selfishness right now. There's another echo for you.

We believed the fairy tales we told our children and we loved them beyond reason even when we were green and bungling about it. We were children loving our children. And that's who we are still."

-Marlena De Blasi

I am holding my child as I type...I kiss his delicious cheeks and am just overwhelmed with gratitude and a sense of both humility and honor...I am his mother, his mother...

a new world is born

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born." -- Anaïs Nin

unraveling mystery

goddess of silk from the east,

plummeting cocoon in tea...

unraveling mystery...

from my journals

zen motherhood

sit quietly doing nothing,

spring comes and the grass grows by itself.

- ZEN proverb

Maternal instinct is that protective wild lioness, unafraid to use claws and jaws...unafraid to risk life and strength for her child.

However, sometimes the best protection is allowing our children to learn on their own. Empower them to distinguish danger and yet be unafraid. Show them by example how to get up and stand after a fall.

from my journals

high-energy levels

"Expand your reality to the point where you pursue what you love doing and excel at it. Involve yourself in high-energy levels of trust, optimism, appreciation, reverence, joy, and love when you engage in every activity in your life." - Dr. Wayne Dyer

peaceful grateful life

"Today I am a new person.  I relax and free my thoughts of every sense of pressure.  No person, place, or thing can irritate or annoy me.  I am at peace.  I am a free person living in a world that is a reflection of my own love and understanding.  I am not against anything.  Rather, I am for everything that will improve the quality of my life.  I use my words and my thoughts as tools to shape my future.  I express gratitude and thanksgiving often, and I look for things to be thankful for.  I am relaxed.  I live a peaceful life."
- Louise L. Hay

fragrance & joy

" 'Twas Easter-Sunday. The full-blossomed trees filled all the air with fragrance and with joy." - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

little bird & water buddha

Little Bird hatched from Mother’s ancient crystals with a precious gem balanced upon its beak.

“Why am I here?” Little Bird asked Water Buddha.

Little Bird, you are here to live.
To breathe and to fly.
To laugh and to cry.
Little Bird, you are here to die.

“To die? But have I not just now begun to live? I do not understand.” Little Bird cried.

Little Bird, life would not exist without death.
And really, death is but re-birth.
Little Bird, you have always been and shall always be.

excerpt from short story

morning meditation: a message

"Be patient.  Respond to every call that excites your spirit.  Ignore those that make you fearful and sad, that degrade you back toward disease and death." - RUMI

spontaneous

"There seems to be a law that governs all our actions so I never make plans."
- Greta Garbo (1905-1990)

What are your plans for today?

Are there days where there is no plan, no agenda?

Are you spontaneous?

flexibility

Through breath, I stretch.

With patience, I elongate.

Flexibility is strength.

resistance is not the answer

excerpt from the book, The Art of Motherhood:

"...As daughters, we are brought up to believe we can achieve anything if we work for it, and this assumption, for many, leads to long, high-powered careers in which people do what we suggest...Then comes motherhood. Suddenly, we're not in charge. A tiny thing that can't walk or talk decides when (or if) we get dressed, when we eat or chat, whether we go out (probably not), and where (somewhere with child-friendly feeding rooms). Above all, it stops us sleeping. Resistance isn't the answer. By the birth of my third child, I finally got it: I should imagine I was a reckless student again for a few months, and everything would be fine - no set bedtime, no responsibilities, no deadlines that couldn't be extended, and no career plan. Long lie-ins and little afternoon snoozes; reading novels and watching daytime TV. Dashing from recently discovered coffee shop or gallery to tea at a new friend's apartment. I felt lost and out of my depth, but exhilarated by the sense of a new life unfolding, every relationship being reevaluated, and endless possibilities opening up..."

- Susannah Marriott © 2004


letting go of control

going with the flow

perfect imperfection

reevaluating relationships...for I am no longer the same person

I am a mother now...

originally posted in 2009

songs of change

where are they?
they elude me tonight...
my dreams

the wind whispers
songs of change
the breeze kisses
songs of change

be not afraid
to close your eyes and dream
be not afraid
to dream awake

let us dance to songs of change

excerpt from 2009 journals, the image is from 2006 sketchbooks

yes

"I want to know if you will risk looking like a FOOL for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive..."
 - Oriah Mountain Dreamer