Month: October 2010

Holding the heart open

Karl Duffy9 Comments

Had a beautiful stroll this morning on a trail in a forest. The leaves on the trees were  shades of red and orange and yellow and the sun was shining brightly. Suddenly not far away on the trail I saw a deer. They come down into  this part of the forest because it is a refuge, safe from hunters. It stood and watched me carefully, with big bright eyes. I was full of tenderness toward this timid creature, but it turned away, afraid to trust any human.

The human heart is like that. We want so much to connect, to relax with others, but we wait to see and test if they can actually hold our hearts and our fears. We seem to continually be on the alert for danger. Frequently we have moments like this encounter – with people or with events in our life – when we are faced with a choice. Do we keep the heart open or do we turn away? Can we stay open to all we encounter, knowing that everything we meet can be worked with. I know I find this hard and often say “no” to life as it presents itself in this moment and I contract and pull away.

Stand firm

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Doing yoga this morning. The warrior pose. Widening the heart. Being open to all possibilities. We can often identify ourself with who we want to be, or could be in the future, or who our worries say we are. We can forget the strength we actually have and who we really are. The present moment is the only one we have. It is there our happiness is worked out. We lose so much of life by refusing to stay in it, preferring to live in our fears and our worries.

Throw away all thoughts of imaginary things

and stand firm in that which you are.

Kabir

Waiting

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It’s a transformative experience to simply pause instead of immediately filling up the space.

By waiting, we begin to connect with fundamental restlessness as well as fundamental spaciousness.

Pema Chödrön

Watching it all flow by

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Somedays we find ourselves with confusion in our lives. We are not clear about things or wish for more direction. When that happens I often find that I rush to impose order, in order to make me feel better. But confusion often prompts thoughts, worrying and stories about the future. Staying close to the present moment in nature can ground us and give perspective.

 

I awoke to the confusion of a new day,
The scraps of dreams, memories of yesterday,
And new cravings creeping onto awareness,
The sun spilling its light over all but the shadows and a cacophony of sound.
From outside and in.
What to make order of? What to let go?
And who makes the choice?
I think I will go down to the river and just watch it flow,
It’s been a long time since I have done
something really important.

David Sluyter

An Autumn poem

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One of the most beautiful in the English language. In ancient Celtic myths the swan was associated with music, faithfulness and with purity. They frequently symbolized the inner life or the soul. They were especially associated with this time of year and with the Celtic Feast of Samhain, celebrated at the end of October. In the poem they lift off dramatically, migrating and moving on, inspiring us by their beauty but always, ultimately,  out of reach.

The trees are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty Swans.

The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.

I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.

Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.

But now they drift on the still water,
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake’s edge or pool
Delight men’s eyes when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?

We can develop how content we are

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Until recently, psychologists believed that the degree to which a person can naturally experience happiness, referred to as a “set point”, was innate and unchangeable. We now know that, like weight, it’s more of a predetermined range of potential rather than a single fixed number. Genetics influence about half of a person’s total happiness level and circumstances another 10 percent.

But the other 40 percent is affected by “intentional activity”, meaning anything we do consistently and on purpose, whether a positive habit, such as regularly meditating, or a negative one, such as drinking excessively every night

Terri Trespicio, “Thank-You Therapy”, Body & Soul Magazine, Spetember 2008