Forever Now
The Essence of the roaring rapids,
ever-present, ever-flowing…
A continuum of currents that
connect us with what has been,
what is, and what will be…
A sanctuary for the Stillness of
our being,
who we are in the moment,
forever now.
Our Essence
Awareness, Compassion, Loving Kindness,
Being in the Present Moment,
Free from our judgmental, reactive, ego-driven minds,
Able to Witness and Observe
our words, thoughts and reactions…
As individual waves are the ocean
and the ocean, the waves,
we become one with all,
and, our boundaries dissolve…
Bringing Awareness into This Moment,
we come into the fullness of our Being…
We are one with the Creative Essence
that breathes life and wholeness into life itself.
A Moment of Stillness
The sun brightens the leaves…
The ocean surf creates an undercurrent
of background sound…
The fragrance of Rose and Cedar
brings the sense of smell to life…
The breeze serves as an adhesive
merging the sun, surf and fragrances together…
A sense of stillness lives in such a moment…
The distinct uniqueness of each living entity serves
as a reminder of how differences
form bonds of interbeing that sustain all
on life’s journey towards our respective sunsets.
The Gift of Sight
Seeing forms, colours, shapes, sizes…
Viewing the calls of beauty,
moments of kindness,
caring, empathy and love…
Transfixed by the atrocities of torture,
rape and genocide…
Abuses of neglect and disdain,
attempts to exert various forms
of control over others…
This one sense,
a portal to all of life’s offerings…
A means to experience humankind’s seasons
of enlightenment and empathy,
as well as
moments of decadence and disregard…
A momentary reflection
while awaiting a loved one’s return.
They Know Not the Difference
Pollution, poverty,
political disdain for human rights…
A nation of sheep being led to the slaughter…
Anesthetized by ignorance…
Common folk being propagandized by untruths…
They know not the difference…
Unconsciousness,
the driving force that leads to extinction.
The Journey From Reactivity to Response
The Journey from Reactivity to Response
is lifelong…
It involves the twists and turns of experience,
lessons learned, lessons lost,
feelings of assurance and
feelings of confusion and doubt… all
blended into a thought-filled stream of uncertainty…
To navigate this shadow-filled, trancelike
pathway through life
requires courage and loving-kindness
towards oneself…
The mystery of this journey is due to its
non-doing nature…
Our doing gets in our way…
The key is to simply Be,
to bring our awareness into
the present moment…
Our awareness is that part of ourselves
that witnesses and observes our thoughts,
feelings and bodily sensations,
our egos and actions…
As we are able to be one with our awareness,
we are able to bring acknowledgment
to our suffering… the pain, shame, the guilt,
the anger, anxiety, depression…
Our sense of being incomplete and
attempting to fill our inner void
interferes with our simply being at one
with ourselves in the moment…
The more we try to do, the more
we continue in the cycle,
reacting to pain, perceived injustices, abuse,
disregard; to unmet needs,
along with all of the conclusions
we arrive at through creating
storylines that, over time,
come to define who we are…
Our storylines are incomplete snapshots
of reality… the five-year-old who concludes
that she is responsible for her parents arguing…
And the scar that such conclusions create
leaves an indelible imprint
on how she perceives herself,
others and life itself…
The truth is that our storylines are lies,
and the identity we create for ourselves
as a result of our storylines is also a lie…
Our storylines create thought-distortions
that plague us until we wake up from our
ignorance-fuelled trance…*
Instead of reliving the past and preparing
for the future, being lost in thought and fantasy,
we need to come back home to ourselves…
The journey from reactivity to response
begins with awareness,
with our awareness that we are reacting…
To make that simple acknowledgment
brings us back to ourselves in the present moment…
Once we are in the present moment,
we are able to respond to what is…
And so, our journey is complete, until it begins, anew.
*a term used by Tara Brach, Ph.D., in her book True Refuge: Finding Peace and Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart.
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