I am grateful for this community of friends I wake up to every day. I participate with you and for you. By being part of this circle, I feel firsthand evidence we are one. Sharing heart-centered space demonstrates the commitment I have made to myself to unfold my truths within. There is no distance in space or time. I know each of you whether I just met you or have known you for years. This knowing is an incredible blessing.
I see your inner light of love which can’t be denied no matter where you are each day. Your tears and doubt are welcomed. Your joy and contentment are welcomed.
Each of us walks a path with memories and desires to belong, to be needed and to share our gifts, insights and willingness to participate in life in whatever way we choose.
No matter our stories, we share a common good, and that is to be part of the whole, to be counted and included. To know we are not alone. To be validated and embraced as a part of the whole.
We are an incubator. Every day in this extraordinary time of 2020, we are rewriting history. As we sit in silence, we sit in the presence of I AM, the essence of who I am, who you are, who others are. We watch and listen to our wisdom whether it’s tears or joy. Our emotions are our teachers not our enemies. Our doubts are our discerners. I welcome my pain and listen to its story. I welcome my joy and dare to experience it fully. I welcome the I Am and practice over and over acknowledging the truth she holds. Namaste I say to myself in the mirror. I honor you.
Silence holds the element of love.
Love is at work healing the pain of my past, rewriting my thoughts and beliefs and offering me an opportunity to rise up against my less-than beliefs to hold on to the power of I AM. Nothing is stronger than love.
Silence holds the key to unlocking my mysteries within.
Patience is the magic carpet I sit upon as I go into silence never knowing where I will be taken, trusting the vessel I inhabit holds me as I pursue the paths I choose.
Love is the slow, steady water wheel, gathering more for the next turn, exuding the power it takes to make the next step, with a strength that sustains.
We are extraordinary participants living in extraordinary times. Stay steady and true to yourself like the water wheel, knowing the next turn brings more insights and light.
Stay together, Friends. Don't scatter and sleep.
Our Friendship is made
of being awake.
The waterwheel accepts water and turns and gives it away, weeping.
That way it stays in the garden, whereas another roundness rolls through a dry riverbed looking for what it thinks it wants.
Stay here, quivering with each moment like a drop of mercury.
Participants’ Reflections:
The visual of the waterwheel was profound for me this morning. I often visualize a circle in my breathing during the meditation in order to come back and come back, but I never really pictured that. At first, my wheel was going around, and the water was coming in and the water was going out. And then I realized the wheel was me, and I wanted to keep some of that water and not get rid of it on the next turn. So I started on the way up—almost like an affirmation—things I wanted to keep that were going to seep into the wood of the wheel and they weren’t going to leave. And then when I got to the top, I would think of something that I would like to shed. And each time, I added something and I would take my time. The little bucket on the wheel—almost like a Ferris wheel—would stop and I would really think about that affirmation, it wasn’t just a word, what does it really mean and how do I demonstrate that. And then I’d get to the top—and every time I would have to add one. That was amazing. Thank you for that.
And don’t forget that that waterwheel is generating power. It’s interesting because it’s generating power while half of the buckets on the waterwheel are out of the water and not contributing to it. And the fact that it’s never ending—what a powerful metaphor.
I think if you had paintbrushes in your hand this morning, you painted the hope I have, and the words and phrases seemed to embrace that. It reminded me of a song our choir sings “There’s Hope.” In one of the verses, it talks about it not costing a thing to smile, thank god for that. (lyrics here sung by composer)
What came to me was an old Girl Scout song we used to sing around the campfire. It’s called Peace and it uses the image of an old river, calling on it for peace and serenity, and calling on the mountains for strength. Your image of the waterwheel was perfect. Thank you.
The phrase that resonated with me was ‘inner light of love.’ To recognize our own inner light, and the challenge is to recognize the inner light of love in others, especially those who don’t share my point of view. You mentioned ‘common good.’ For the common good, we have to look into the eyes and heart and into the light of love in other people in order for us to be motivated for the common good.
Thank you for your reading. I realized as I sat down, I hadn’t heard a thing. Couldn’t pull up even one sentence you said. I thought it’s important to own that. My mind is not quieting down this morning. Leading up to here, I’ve done pretty good, and today there are other feelings at work. I want to acknowledge that and keep breathing through it. I am going to stay willing to whatever comes up today.
I heard something yesterday that blew my mind and I will write about it. We know of the four elements: fire, water, air, and earth. And there is a fifth element, and it is called love. Love is not just an emotion. It’s an element that has power. And the thought of that is mind-blowing to me. In order to ponder that, my first thought was a mother’s love—because that is my experience—the fierceness that I have in my love for my child will move a mountain. Love as an element makes sense. I found that idea profound.
I’m pondering that idea. When you said in the meditation, “nothing is more powerful than love,” I thought about this idea of love as an element. It’s a challenge to get my head around that. But I remember that air used to be nothing. They used to think there was nothing around us. It wasn’t until Joseph Priestley invented air—see the book The Invention of Air. With his experiments, air’s essence became understood and defined. And maybe that’s the same with love: as an element, it is something that is ill-defined still in our knowledge and it will take some time to understand what it means for it to be an element. A beautiful thing to contemplate.
And when we think of praying with love, sending love, it takes the concept to a whole different level.
One of the things I do on my daily hike in the morning is to wave to every car that comes by. It’s my feeling of pay it forward: if the first thing that happens to someone when they leave the house in the morning is to see someone smiling and waving, it might help them have a better day. About a week ago on my hike, I was in a nature reserve. The path was heavy layers of pine needles. There on the trail, someone had made a huge heart by scrapping away the pine needles. So I started doing that every day: I make one heart out of pine needles. This morning, I ran into a friend and I told her about the pine needle heart and I found out it was she that started this. It’s a small thing, but it’s my challenge to everyone. If you are in a place where there are pine needles on the ground, make a heart of the needles.
Thank you. I love the metaphor when you were talking about ‘don’t let the wheel roll out of the garden.’ Let it stay, let it stay. Build up energy. I loved the share about what do I keep, what do I let go. Often times, I ponder too. I was blown away by yesterday’s share (see Nov 4 blog). As I was meditating holding pictures of my young self, at one point I questioned ‘where are you?’ I was diving deep into my heart saying where are you. And what hit me was that I wasn’t looking for them, I was looking for the maternal aspects of myself. I need the maternal aspects of myself that can protect me, feed me, love me, encourage me. So yesterday, I realized that’s what I need to find. I have a poster with a quote from a poem by Emily Dickinson saying “Love is all there is, is all we know of love.” My first example is from my husband’s first cancer surgery. He went in very early in the morning and came out very late in the afternoon. I was with him and some friends who came when he woke up. His friend leaned in close to give him a hug, but he recoiled a bit by my husband’s bad breath. Then I leaned in to kiss my husband, and for a nanosecond I smelled what he smelled, but right after that, I smelled my sweet husband. That’s what love can do. It’s energy. It transforms, it transmutes.
If we are talking about love quotes, I have to add Edna St. Vincent Millay’s line in a poem “Love in the open hand, no thing but that.” I put it on every card I give to people.
When I struggle with God, I transform that Emily Dickinson line to “God is all there is, is all we know of God.” When I try to define God, I get screwed up.
Thank you. To waterwheels and all that we’ve discussed today. Thank you for your presence and your ears for listening and your eyes for seeing and your heart for feeling this space between us. I hope you have a gentle day.