“Self-care” Bah humbug!

Rave of the age

Is to have ‘self care’

Put yourself first

Take care of you

And all can be well!

How?

Carve out time for you

Take a walk

Take a bath

Read a book

Do what speaks to you!

Yes notes of sarcasm

From the queen of self care

As all we are doing is running

Running from the negatives

Awkward situations

Stresses of life

The inescapables

And so the so called problems

Accompany you everywhere!

It’s the noise between the ears

The constant chatter

Clatter of thoughts

Fueling the emotions

Of anger, fear, jealousy and doubt

These you carry

Never abandon

To these thieves

We open the doors of our mind and heart

They counsel you

Convince you

Tell you your worth

Then they raid and rob you

Leaving you soulless

In despair, with frustration and anxiety

But there’s a larger vault

Deep, much deeper within

Which when opened

Releases a power

Gentle and expansive

Second to none

No matter where you stand

You can smile with understanding

Laugh with joy

And feel vibrantly alive

To recognize this gift

Lifts a veil

And the thieves then must scamper

From the generosity of the Giver

Comes these teachings of a lifetime

What a fortune to listen

To absorb

To feel, to understand

Just a little each and every day

Angelic Presence

Thank you Diane, holding this ornament has given me a beautiful moment in time to feel the lost physical contact with Dipak, my precious brother.

Light as a feather 
You must have become 
 
As mostly I smile 
When I think of you
Mostly I feel
Comforted, when I am reminded of you
 
Is this what it means
When you know 
Your beloved departed ones
Have grown their wings
 
Brother dear
I feel a gentle breeze
As I know I feel you 
Looking over me
 
With your visits, your presence
Through memories
Of laughter 
And love and more
 
And now our souls 
Have found a new dimension 
So never are we to be lost again
As the love I feel is deep, true and resilient 
 
May you rest with peace
May I live with a grace
May we share the knowledge of true bliss
In both life with and without wings

Ancient Beads 


From a simple ritual
To the practicing yogi,
The one hundred and eight beads
Constitutes a time for intentional focus.

Initiated in the 8th century BC,
These spiritual beads in Hinduism
Now are used through Islam, Christianity
Buddhism, 2/3rds of the world’s population. 

Whether wood, seed or stone
They shall deliver
Properties of healing, protection
And most commonly, spiritual practice.

I gift this to you,
So you can intentionally 
Breathe 108 times
With vitality, feeling vibrancy.

Speak a mantra
Drawing you inwards.
Feel the earthly element 
Connecting you to Mother Earth.

Simply put, I wish you
108 blessings,
108 guardians,
108 freed moments 
Each and every day.

May you hold this mala
With the clarity it was made,
With the love it is sent,
And wisdom with which you shall use.

Breath

A simple puff of air
More magnanimous 
Than the greatest 
Of grandest gestures
 
You hold the essential
Of all that is
All that was 
And all that will be
 
Present as a mere undertone
An undercurrent 
Rarely front and center
Yet there is no me without you
 
Your ebb and flow
My love and joy
Your to and fro
My gift and glow
 
Within this cycle
Lays all that can be
Right here, right now
Not before nor after
 
So thankful for the reminders
So grateful for the chances
To feel present in letting go
To feel held in bowing low

Butterflies

Art by Svetlana Yunusova


The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering ..

~ Ben Okri ~


To rise past all

That’s dares to smoother

The layers on layers

Commitments and constraints

 

To float above

The threat that tugs

The ties and chains

Of bonds and relations

 

To fly over

The snares invisible

The smoke and mirrors

The lies and illusions

 

Ah what relief

When the truth be known

To free my wings

To uncage my heart

Interdependence

What a virtue, what a trait

Independence!

Encouraged, applauded

Even envied

To stand on your own feet

To make and pave your own way

To rely on not a single soul

What an accomplishment!

But wait a minute!

Do you even open your eyes

Unless the sun

Comes peeking at your window

Bringing you a new day

How would you even get to bathe

Had the clouds not emptied

Or the snow not melted

So the streams could run and reservoirs rise

How would you smell your morning coffee

Had the sub-equatorial lands

Not grown and reaped the beans

Ground and brewed in your Keurig 

What clothing would you don

Had the cotton not been picked

The yarns not been spun

Garments not been stitched

So in true essence

Are we really ‘independent’?

Or are we ‘interdependent’!

And if so, what have we understood?

Do we accept and realize

Our co-existence

Our co-dependency

Our inherent need for allegiance

With the natural world

The countries we have created

To our neighbors

To our own selves!

Taken for a ride

By the good old ego

We pride ourselves

With a claim to independence

Yet looking deeper

Within and around

We are part of a whole

Where even a breath

Is not under our control

The gift of all gifts

Sent magically into your being

Silently with no fanfare

It’s time to question

Time to ponder and reflect

What an incredible existence

Where everything is so magnanimous postured

That blinded we have become

To the interconnections

That’s serve to sustain

Our universal existence

Time to wake up

Not to just smell the roses

But care for the roses

And all else on this blue planet

Floral Gifts

Unequivocal beauty

Blooming grace, like a dance 

Drawing riches from the terra 

Your petals defy the science 

Fluttering delicately 

Like wings of the butterfly

Yet with the strength of an army 

You win each battle for my heart

How gloriously you entrance me

Leading back to simplicity of gratitude 

Smiling outside and inward

Warmth of omnipresence made tangible