When I took time today to heart-reflect, I realized that the loved ones I take for granted could use a bit more true presence from me. I wouldn’t say it was a “calling out” so much as an ah-ha moment where I realized sometimes I put them on auto-pilot.
I don’t understand the question enough
to even begin to find an answer.
I don’t know what is calling out for my care . . .
if I really wanted to
I could pull out all my past pain and review it
like last year’s finances,
but today
I have no desire to revisit old pain
and I’m tired of the new and chronic pain.
I want to paint my face and wear flowers . . .
I want to dress up and dance to those who have gone before me.
I want to thank them for making me,
sending me out into the world
to see what kind of difference I can make.
I want to honor their efforts . . .
they did the best that they could.
We all do the best that we can.
It must be enough.
Self care needed for today. Still trying to be supportive to friends and family dealing with losses or near losses. Went for a walk near Narragansett Bay on this chilly but sunny day and then went out to get soup at our local grocery store. 🌞 🍂
My heart is calling out for tender self care these days. I’m walking through significant losses, a very close friend died unexpectedly on 9/8. Then about 2 week ago was informed by my dearest neighbor of 30+ years that she’s is moving. I can’t imagine her not being 3 doors away from me. I’m trying to be supportive what will be a good new beginning for her in her late 70’s. Am working on acceptance and supportiveness to her. A younger cousin just passed from breast CA. Unknown is there’ll be a celebration of her life outstate. I roll my collar up to protect me from fall’s wind. Gentle Dia de los Muertos…. Those we’ve Loved walk nearby. 🧡🕯️☮️🫶🏽
Yes,
dear Carla . . .
tender care
is indeed needed for your aching heart today . . .
I wish you gentleness and kindness
as you celebrate those you have loved. ♥
Please take care of yourself, dear Carla and know that Love remains. My heart goes out to you and I will light a candle and place it in my window for you and your dear ones you mentioned. May you find light and warmth within and around, brightening up your soul these days.
The people i am with, and the people i care for, the ones loved, and the cute boy of whom his mother asked me to look after during his bold traveling alone for many hours by train while only 8 years of age; presence here at this forum, reading the sutra i had to put in the background for a little while, keeping my heart open for this heart- and soul-nourishing truth; music which unfortunately i probably will not be able to perform today…
The god of your understanding,
dear Johann,
can be anything you relate to.
You don’t have to choose the judgemental old man with a beard . . .
I didn’t. ♥
When I turn my attention to my heart, peace and remembrance of lost loved ones calls out. I am not Mexican, but I absolutely LOVE their holiday of Dia de los Muertos – such a beautiful tradition.
My neighbor is Mexican and she invited me today to visit and see the altar to the dead she created for today. It was very touching and I could feel the loving energy present there.
This question reminds me that I need to work more on my Paw Mu Zen goals. One of my biggest fears is having my branch becoming too powerful too quickly which can lead to incompatence and loneliness too although with the laddar not being my biggest fear but makes it harder for those closest to me to see. This combines one of the quarterly zen goals Sean and I have in detaching from our ways and taking responsibility. Beside, my “Loc Down” brand growing too fast would destroy the collective root Paw Mu planted for me years ago that works favorably in more traditional collective settings, especially when Ngoc’s not around. Like I’ve said before, no matter how different the trunk and branches may be, Paw Mu and I still share the same root.
As far as the petting and cuddling from the grown ups go from these parties, it’s quite babyish on the surface. Now that I see it further thanks to the question and the PM foundation being the opposite of my brand, there’s an indirect benefit. It doesn’t show up immediately but somewhere down the line. I’ve mentioned the 2 women before many times who are besties I also met at the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind School being the same place I met Paw Mu. One woman is like a wolf who went great lengths just to have me with the other one like a sheep who’s 2-faced, cheerful, and charming like Big Island. Both had a natural sweet voice and long hair, especially the 2nd one. I’m in a much better place now, but the old ghost still shows up from time to time with random updates emerging, because the book does come out when least expected. Therefore, the cuddling and petting from those grown-ups may appear awkward but they benefit me later on keeping triggers under control, especially at night, during winters, or either when Ngoc’s not around or busy.
My lower back and all that is emotionally stuffed down there is calling for my care. It sneaks up on me. I will feel good with little tension back there, and then suddenly it’s painful and stiff for what seems like no reason as my routine hasn’t changed. But it’s deeper than the physical. I’ve been working with a yoga therapist, but I realize I haven’t done any homework lately, despite some of it being part of what’s already in my routine. I think I’ll incorporate some of the specific things into the class I’m teaching later this morning.
My lower back taps me too from time to time. Sneaking up on me too! I am grateful for my gentle yoga practice which keeps me mobile and often pain free🧘♀️
My Ngoc, your answer reminds me of the conversations we had on care with technique. People with mental health conditions especially, are like those cute little secular plants you mentioned.
The only way to get change is not through the courts or — heaven forbid — the politicians, but through a change of human consciousness and through a change of heart.
Change is what is happening and it’s always of course happening even when we don’t want it to or think it is .
What’s calling out is the world 🌍- I mean the universe heart/mind itself ! In order for us to live peacefully and happily I must change myself. We already live in heaven or nirvana. Happiness is here and now exactly in this moment. When I let go of my human. Mind world which is full of falseness only wisdom lives forever.
I’m happy to care for the garden of Truth which is being cared for right here and now by the universe.
I’m so grateful that I have been discarding my pictures that I held onto for so long that were filled with frames of mind . Now I can truly bloom and spread happiness and freedom so we all can coexist! Thank you 🙏 so much universe!
Antoinette, We know that the creation story in Genesis is a myth but myths teach a lot. As I read your beautiful reply to today’s question, I thought of a poem I wrote in honor of my cousin Dave and his wife Judy. They died in 2018. Your words “…caring for the garden of Truth”…pictures filled with frames of mind…” “…We already live in heaven or nirvana…” I share a Morning Meditation I wrote shortly after their deaths.
Morning Meds, April 4 2018
Good Morning, I attempted to watch the news last night and immediately felt like I was on overload. Have you noticed that so many of the stories are about power struggles—
Every one wants to be in charge, in control, no matter what the cost to others or to the planet.
Earlier this week, I didn’t get around to closing the Roman Shade on the living room window until after the darkness of night had set in and when I approached the window, I realized it was a full moon. I thought of St. Francis and the phrase “Brother Sun, Sister Moon.” Where would the Moon be without the Sun? What would happen to this beautiful ball of reflective light that adorns the night sky b without the warmth of the sun’s light?
We are all made from the dust of stars. We are sparks of light, little suns—siblings of Brother Sun and Sister Moon. I ask myself: Is my light rooted in fear or love? What kind of a reflection does my light produce? Does it nurture my life and the lives of others?
I was reading quotes on fear this morning at Jonathan Lockwood Huie’s website:
A life lived in fear is a life half lived.
– Anonymous
Fear defeats more people than
any other one thing in the world.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Fear is the root of the tree of suffering.
– Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Many of you know that I have always struggled with anxiety but over the years I have learned to be a participant observer. I have learned the futility of giving my fear-filled anxiety free reign. Experience and the counseling of many wise folks has taught me the futility of attempting to fight or flee from it; I’ve learned to face it, name it, and reclaim the energy it is attempting to rob from me. You see, I want Sister Moon to rise in my life. Whether she is just a sliver of reflective light or a flood of the sun’s reflective light, I want to go with the flow and encourage her to shine the light of love into whatever darkness my anxiety produces.
There will be a memorial service tomorrow evening for my cousin Dave and his wife, Judy, one of our Morning Meds’ readers. I can’t be there but I leave you with a quote from my cousin Dave that I have no doubt will be shared at the memorial service.
“We never left the Garden. We just think we did.”
I share a poem I wrote several years ago based on his quote:
CLEAR SEEING
WE ARE PILGRIMS ON THE JOURNEY.
WE SEARCH BUT ALL PATHS LEAD NO WHERE.
WHY? BECAUSE WE NEVER LEFT THE GARDEN.
WE JUST THINK WE DID.
AND WHAT WE THINK MANIFESTS.
AND WHAT MANIFESTS BECOMES OUR REALITY —
A REALITY THAT DENIES OUR BIRTHRIGHT
AND IMPRISONS OUR VERY SOUL.
SO LET US RE-MEMBER, RE-CLAIM THE GARDEN.
GATHER BENEATH THE TREE OF LIFE.
ROOT OURSELVES IN ITS AGELESS WISDOM
AND BECOME WHAT WE WERE MEANT TO BE.
WHOLE, WHOLLY, ONE WITH NATURE
ONE WITH ALL CREATION,
WEATHERING ALL THE SEASONS OF LIFE WITH GRACE,
AND GRATEFULNESS FOR IT ALL.
Ahhh, I needed this. Thank you, Carol Ann🙏
I glimpse the moon last night, as I was coming home late from work. It wasn’t where I expected it to be, but I was glad to see it, and I was grateful for its illumination.
What an exquisite reflection,
dear Carol Ann,
on how we make our way to learn
that the journey is the goal.
I too,
am willing to move forward
with grace and with gratefulness for it all. ♥
Thank you so much for sharing this CAROL ANN CONNER, it’s exactly what I mean when I say let go of all of our thoughts- let go and grow become Truth. Thank again so lovely dear sister. 💓🌱🙌
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When I took time today to heart-reflect, I realized that the loved ones I take for granted could use a bit more true presence from me. I wouldn’t say it was a “calling out” so much as an ah-ha moment where I realized sometimes I put them on auto-pilot.
I don’t understand the question enough
to even begin to find an answer.
I don’t know what is calling out for my care . . .
if I really wanted to
I could pull out all my past pain and review it
like last year’s finances,
but today
I have no desire to revisit old pain
and I’m tired of the new and chronic pain.
I want to paint my face and wear flowers . . .
I want to dress up and dance to those who have gone before me.
I want to thank them for making me,
sending me out into the world
to see what kind of difference I can make.
I want to honor their efforts . . .
they did the best that they could.
We all do the best that we can.
It must be enough.
Certainly it must be enough.
Thank you,
dear Joseph,
for this . . .
I was floundering a little
and not sure where to go. ♥
Self care needed for today. Still trying to be supportive to friends and family dealing with losses or near losses. Went for a walk near Narragansett Bay on this chilly but sunny day and then went out to get soup at our local grocery store. 🌞 🍂
My heart is calling out for tender self care these days. I’m walking through significant losses, a very close friend died unexpectedly on 9/8. Then about 2 week ago was informed by my dearest neighbor of 30+ years that she’s is moving. I can’t imagine her not being 3 doors away from me. I’m trying to be supportive what will be a good new beginning for her in her late 70’s. Am working on acceptance and supportiveness to her. A younger cousin just passed from breast CA. Unknown is there’ll be a celebration of her life outstate. I roll my collar up to protect me from fall’s wind. Gentle Dia de los Muertos…. Those we’ve Loved walk nearby. 🧡🕯️☮️🫶🏽
Sending you love, Carla 💜
Thank you for your support 🫶🏽
Un tranquilo Dia de los Muertos is well advised dear Carla.
Gracias mi amigo, Joseph 🫶🏽
Yes,
dear Carla . . .
tender care
is indeed needed for your aching heart today . . .
I wish you gentleness and kindness
as you celebrate those you have loved. ♥
Sparrow, I’m grateful for your supportive words.🫶🏽
Yes please take care of yourself. I am dealing with also a bunch of sad situations. Takes time when hard things hit us all at once🙏
Dear Robin Ann, we walk shoulder to shoulder 👥. Thank you 🫶🏽
Please take care of yourself, dear Carla and know that Love remains. My heart goes out to you and I will light a candle and place it in my window for you and your dear ones you mentioned. May you find light and warmth within and around, brightening up your soul these days.
Ose, thank you for lighting a candle, and your supportive thoughts and words that bring warmth too.🫶🏽☮️
The people i am with, and the people i care for, the ones loved, and the cute boy of whom his mother asked me to look after during his bold traveling alone for many hours by train while only 8 years of age; presence here at this forum, reading the sutra i had to put in the background for a little while, keeping my heart open for this heart- and soul-nourishing truth; music which unfortunately i probably will not be able to perform today…
”music which unfortunately i probably will not be able to perform today…”
. . . hopefully tomorrow,
dear Ose. ♥
Well, today being Sunday, I think my heart needs some exercise, and, some time to sit and listen, and see what comes up.
Saying No to Spirituality Pushed on My Stained Soul. Do you truly know God? Then stop pushing Him onto my psyche.
The god of your understanding,
dear Johann,
can be anything you relate to.
You don’t have to choose the judgemental old man with a beard . . .
I didn’t. ♥
Johann, May you find the God of your Understanding.
When I turn my attention to my heart, peace and remembrance of lost loved ones calls out. I am not Mexican, but I absolutely LOVE their holiday of Dia de los Muertos – such a beautiful tradition.
Peace and love to all today ☮💗
¡Feliz Día de los Muertos
https://nationaltoday.com/day-of-the-dead/
My neighbor is Mexican and she invited me today to visit and see the altar to the dead she created for today. It was very touching and I could feel the loving energy present there.
I agree,
dear Michele . . .
Dia de los Muretos
is a beautiful,
joyous tradition.
I would love to see it practiced more where I live. ♥
Thank you for sharing I did not know of this national day
This question reminds me that I need to work more on my Paw Mu Zen goals. One of my biggest fears is having my branch becoming too powerful too quickly which can lead to incompatence and loneliness too although with the laddar not being my biggest fear but makes it harder for those closest to me to see. This combines one of the quarterly zen goals Sean and I have in detaching from our ways and taking responsibility. Beside, my “Loc Down” brand growing too fast would destroy the collective root Paw Mu planted for me years ago that works favorably in more traditional collective settings, especially when Ngoc’s not around. Like I’ve said before, no matter how different the trunk and branches may be, Paw Mu and I still share the same root.
As far as the petting and cuddling from the grown ups go from these parties, it’s quite babyish on the surface. Now that I see it further thanks to the question and the PM foundation being the opposite of my brand, there’s an indirect benefit. It doesn’t show up immediately but somewhere down the line. I’ve mentioned the 2 women before many times who are besties I also met at the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind School being the same place I met Paw Mu. One woman is like a wolf who went great lengths just to have me with the other one like a sheep who’s 2-faced, cheerful, and charming like Big Island. Both had a natural sweet voice and long hair, especially the 2nd one. I’m in a much better place now, but the old ghost still shows up from time to time with random updates emerging, because the book does come out when least expected. Therefore, the cuddling and petting from those grown-ups may appear awkward but they benefit me later on keeping triggers under control, especially at night, during winters, or either when Ngoc’s not around or busy.
My lower back and all that is emotionally stuffed down there is calling for my care. It sneaks up on me. I will feel good with little tension back there, and then suddenly it’s painful and stiff for what seems like no reason as my routine hasn’t changed. But it’s deeper than the physical. I’ve been working with a yoga therapist, but I realize I haven’t done any homework lately, despite some of it being part of what’s already in my routine. I think I’ll incorporate some of the specific things into the class I’m teaching later this morning.
Happy Sunday, all!
My lower back taps me too from time to time. Sneaking up on me too! I am grateful for my gentle yoga practice which keeps me mobile and often pain free🧘♀️
I wish you could come to my gentle yoga class on Tuesday mornings 🙂
You might indulge in a massage,
dear SunnyPatti . . . ♥
Mmm… maybe for my birthday! It’s right around the corner 👀
To enjoy the moments with family and friends. To be aware of the expectations I put on myself and others and release them.
Yram, the part on family, I’ve got work to do on that too. We’re in this together.
My cute succulent plants deserve some water… 🌿
You have inspired me,
dear Ngoc,
to give my houseplants some special care today too. 🙂
My Ngoc, your answer reminds me of the conversations we had on care with technique. People with mental health conditions especially, are like those cute little secular plants you mentioned.
I am in camp EJP this fine, cool early morning. Rest and some self care sounds like a plan for this gift of another day. Peace & Love.
I don’t have anything to read! I have a list from my book 📖 club that I will bring to a library that’s open Sunday and get myself a few!
The only way to get change is not through the courts or — heaven forbid — the politicians, but through a change of human consciousness and through a change of heart.
Change is what is happening and it’s always of course happening even when we don’t want it to or think it is .
What’s calling out is the world 🌍- I mean the universe heart/mind itself ! In order for us to live peacefully and happily I must change myself. We already live in heaven or nirvana. Happiness is here and now exactly in this moment. When I let go of my human. Mind world which is full of falseness only wisdom lives forever.
I’m happy to care for the garden of Truth which is being cared for right here and now by the universe.
I’m so grateful that I have been discarding my pictures that I held onto for so long that were filled with frames of mind . Now I can truly bloom and spread happiness and freedom so we all can coexist! Thank you 🙏 so much universe!
Antoinette, We know that the creation story in Genesis is a myth but myths teach a lot. As I read your beautiful reply to today’s question, I thought of a poem I wrote in honor of my cousin Dave and his wife Judy. They died in 2018. Your words “…caring for the garden of Truth”…pictures filled with frames of mind…” “…We already live in heaven or nirvana…” I share a Morning Meditation I wrote shortly after their deaths.
Morning Meds, April 4 2018
Good Morning, I attempted to watch the news last night and immediately felt like I was on overload. Have you noticed that so many of the stories are about power struggles—
Every one wants to be in charge, in control, no matter what the cost to others or to the planet.
Earlier this week, I didn’t get around to closing the Roman Shade on the living room window until after the darkness of night had set in and when I approached the window, I realized it was a full moon. I thought of St. Francis and the phrase “Brother Sun, Sister Moon.” Where would the Moon be without the Sun? What would happen to this beautiful ball of reflective light that adorns the night sky b without the warmth of the sun’s light?
We are all made from the dust of stars. We are sparks of light, little suns—siblings of Brother Sun and Sister Moon. I ask myself: Is my light rooted in fear or love? What kind of a reflection does my light produce? Does it nurture my life and the lives of others?
I was reading quotes on fear this morning at Jonathan Lockwood Huie’s website:
A life lived in fear is a life half lived.
– Anonymous
Fear defeats more people than
any other one thing in the world.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Fear is the root of the tree of suffering.
– Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Many of you know that I have always struggled with anxiety but over the years I have learned to be a participant observer. I have learned the futility of giving my fear-filled anxiety free reign. Experience and the counseling of many wise folks has taught me the futility of attempting to fight or flee from it; I’ve learned to face it, name it, and reclaim the energy it is attempting to rob from me. You see, I want Sister Moon to rise in my life. Whether she is just a sliver of reflective light or a flood of the sun’s reflective light, I want to go with the flow and encourage her to shine the light of love into whatever darkness my anxiety produces.
There will be a memorial service tomorrow evening for my cousin Dave and his wife, Judy, one of our Morning Meds’ readers. I can’t be there but I leave you with a quote from my cousin Dave that I have no doubt will be shared at the memorial service.
“We never left the Garden. We just think we did.”
I share a poem I wrote several years ago based on his quote:
CLEAR SEEING
WE ARE PILGRIMS ON THE JOURNEY.
WE SEARCH BUT ALL PATHS LEAD NO WHERE.
WHY? BECAUSE WE NEVER LEFT THE GARDEN.
WE JUST THINK WE DID.
AND WHAT WE THINK MANIFESTS.
AND WHAT MANIFESTS BECOMES OUR REALITY —
A REALITY THAT DENIES OUR BIRTHRIGHT
AND IMPRISONS OUR VERY SOUL.
SO LET US RE-MEMBER, RE-CLAIM THE GARDEN.
GATHER BENEATH THE TREE OF LIFE.
ROOT OURSELVES IN ITS AGELESS WISDOM
AND BECOME WHAT WE WERE MEANT TO BE.
WHOLE, WHOLLY, ONE WITH NATURE
ONE WITH ALL CREATION,
WEATHERING ALL THE SEASONS OF LIFE WITH GRACE,
AND GRATEFULNESS FOR IT ALL.
Thank you for this offer from your heart, dear Carol Ann.
Ahhh, I needed this. Thank you, Carol Ann🙏
I glimpse the moon last night, as I was coming home late from work. It wasn’t where I expected it to be, but I was glad to see it, and I was grateful for its illumination.
What an exquisite reflection,
dear Carol Ann,
on how we make our way to learn
that the journey is the goal.
I too,
am willing to move forward
with grace and with gratefulness for it all. ♥
ps. I hope you are feeling better today.
Thank you so much for sharing this CAROL ANN CONNER, it’s exactly what I mean when I say let go of all of our thoughts- let go and grow become Truth. Thank again so lovely dear sister. 💓🌱🙌
Beautiful! Your poem is a keeper. 🥰
Beautiful, Carol Ann. A simply beautiful read. Thank you Carol Ann and Antoinette. Namaste.