Two Poems

I wanted to link to two poems that I read on Saturday that really helped me:

“Perhaps It Would Eventually Erode, But…”

“A Morning Offering”

Both are from a beautiful blog called A Year of Being Here. Enjoy!

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A Year of Being Here

I highly recommend this blog for a daily poem on mindfulness!

A Year of Being Here

Each poem has a picture, and is beautifully formatted. Thank you to the creators for their continued hard work and beautiful collection of poetry!

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For a New Beginning

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

By John O’Donohue

 

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Oracle Cards

Oracle cards are often beautiful, true representatives of our innermost thoughts. Below are my favorite decks:

Earth Magic Oracle Cards by Dr. Steven Farmer

The Enchanted Map Oracle Cards by Collette Baron-Reid

 

Wisdom of the Hidden Realms Oracle Cards by Collette Baron-Reid

 

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David Whyte: What to Remember When Waking

I recently purchased this beautiful audio set by David Whyte, a poet whose language is rich and deeply moving, yet still accessible. He speaks of awakening not just to each new day, but to ourselves and our continual rebirth as something and someone new.

Here is the poem titled What to Remember When Waking:

In that first
hardly noticed
moment
to which you wake,
coming back
to this life
from the other
more secret,
moveable
and frighteningly
honest
world
where everything
began,
there is a small
opening
into the new day
which closes
the moment
you begin
your plans.

What you can plan
is too small
for you to live.

What you can live
wholeheartedly
will make plans
enough
for the vitality
hidden in your sleep.

To be human
is to become visible
while carrying
what is hidden
as a gift to others.

To remember
the other world
in this world
is to live in your
true inheritance.

You are not
a troubled guest
on this earth,
you are not
an accident
amidst other accidents
you were invited
from another and greater
night
than the one
from which
you have just emerged.

Now, looking through
the slanting light
of the morning
window toward
the mountain
presence
of everything
that can be,
what urgency
calls you to your
one love?  What shape
waits in the seed
of you to grow
and spread
its branches
against a future sky?

Is it waiting
in the fertile sea?
In the trees
beyond the house?
In the life
you can imagine
for yourself?
In the open
and lovely
white page
on the waiting desk?

~ David Whyte ~

(The House of Belonging)

 From panhala.net 

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My Renewed Obsession: Gabrielle Bernstein

Although I picked this book up nearly a year ago, I find that recently I have begun to develop a slight obsession with it all over again. Gabrielle Bernstein is down-to-earth and makes the teachings in A Course in Miracles accessible. I have also been listening to some of her lectures via iTunes, where you can stream them for free.

Bernstein speaks very clearly about recognizing and releasing negative thoughts. Whenever you have a fearful thought like I’m not good enough, or I will never get that job, stop, record it, and then release it. In her lectures she offers many ways to release the fearful thoughts. I personally feel these thoughts physically, so when I am in a fearful mindset, my body literally feels heavy and painful. I like to get to the source of the physical pain and ask it to relax. When my body relaxes, my mind can as well, and the fear is released.

Bernstein is also coming out with a new book, Expect Miracles, in January 2013. I can’t wait to read more of her wise words!

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Living in the Light by Shakti Gawain

 

Recently I was at a metaphysical bookstore, Lantern House, and Shakti Gawain’s Living in the Light jumped out at me. I had read Creative Visualization during the summer, so I was excited to see another title by her. I highly recommend this book. The language is simple and accessible, yet the concepts she discusses take a lifetime to work on. This is her second edition of the book, and according to Gawain, she spends more time talking about our shadow sides. She argues that we cannot live in the light if we cannot also accept the darkness. It is so true. Many times we want to live in peace and happiness and forget about the “bad things.” That is impossible. We must accept our shadows, whether they be anger, sadness, fear, or anything else. This is the key to healing.

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Rumi, The Book of Love

One of the best wedding presents I received was The Book of Love, a collection of poems by Rumi. My friend went through the book and placed Post-It notes on her favorite poems. I’d like to share some of the lines she noted:

The minute I heard my first love story

I started looking for you, not knowing

how blind that was.

Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.

They’re in each other all along.

 

I open and fill with love

and what is not love evaporates

 

Reason has no way to say

its love. Only love opens

that secret.

If you want

to be more alive, love

is the truest health.

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Tiferet Journal

Tiferet, a journal that contains spiritual poetry, is a beautiful resource for everyone on a spiritual path. You can join the community for free, and submit to the community blog. You can also subscribe on a monthly basis and receive a subscription to Tiferet, access to archived issues, and many more great resources! Tiferet also offers courses and keeps you updated on news/events in the poetry world. Check out the community blog for a re-post of my article on David Whyte, and enjoy browsing the website!

 

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Seth Speaks and The Nature of Personal Reality

I am currently reading The Nature of Personal Reality: A Seth Book by Jane Roberts. Although it says it is “by” Roberts, it is actually a series of channeled sessions with a personality named “Seth.” The book is over 500 pages long, and is transcribed by Jane Robert’s husband. For more information on the channeling sessions, you can visit The Seth Learning Center.

I previously read Seth Speaks, which was also written in the same nature. Both contain fascinating information about our perceptions of reality. Seth’s main message is that “you create your own reality.” Below are some quotes from The Nature of Personal Reality which I found especially illuminating:

“The great creativity of consciousness is your heritage. It does not belong to mankind alone, however. Each living being possesses it, and the living world consists of spontaneous cooperation that exists between the smallest and the highest, the greatest and the lowly, between the atoms and the molecules and the conscious, reasoning mind.”

“When it seems to you that others are observing you, you are observing yourself from the standpoint of your own projections.”

“Your environment is the physical picture of your thoughts, emotions, and beliefs made visible. Since your thoughts, emotions, and beliefs move through space and time, you therefore affect physical conditions separate from you.”

These books are both incredibly complex and extremely accessible. Whether or not you believe that information from another dimension can be channeled through a human being, the content of the books is very informative. Everything we see around us, no matter how solid, real, frightening, or wonderful it may appear, is a reflection of our belief system. When you let go of limiting beliefs, you then can experience a limitless existence.

A funny thing happened to me in Grand Central in New York City about a week ago, connected to my reading of these books. I was standing in the main terminal, waiting for a friend, and there was a man who appeared to be homeless about six feet away from me. He suddenly began speaking to me. My first thought was to move away from him, but I decided to stay where I was. At first his words were not terribly clear, then he looked directly at me and said, “So, you are finally realizing that your thoughts create your physical reality.” I have goosebumps right now writing this. I have no idea where he came from or why he was inclined to say that, except that it is true. My concentration on this concept somehow informed his words to me. It was a strange, yet affirming experience. I recommend reading these books, and exploring these concepts on your own. Anything could happen!

Image via The Seth Learning Center

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