Yielding

Yielding and moving on.

To me, yielding is not a passive thing. It is holding in awareness things just as they are and letting action spring naturally from that, instead of reinforcing struggle and division.

May we find what we need to be able to hold our life, and all life, with awareness and compassion.

Peace 

Till we can sing again

In the sweat lodge, we sing traditional Lakota ceremonial songs, in the Lakota language. They're very beautiful, and singing last night is what prompted me to write this poem.

We help each other: when one of us is not strong, we help to hold them, until they're well again, and when we're not strong, someone helps to hold us. We help each other. What other work is there? 

Peace 

For my mom and dad

More ducklings 

https://youtu.be/j4A_rxj1T2c

Barefooted

I've been harvesting and prepping all day for my farm sale. Yeah, my feet are not so dainty. They're farmer feet, dirty and wide from feeling the earth all day long. I almost never wear shoes in the summer. So now that it's the end of the day, I'm taking a little time to put up my feet and hang out with the cats and flowers and the humming birds who come to the flowers. 

Words matter

I was unaware that using the word "commit suicide" is laden with shame and blame and basically ends up stigmatizing those suffering already. It makes sense, and I'm grateful I now know better.

Our words really do matter. Something that we say in passing, without much thought, can be meaningful in a way we didn't intend to someone else. The only thing that helps is open conversation and receptivity to each other. We can learn so much from each other and help each other, or we can become defensive and isolated.

Here's an article that explains more about it:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.huffpost.com/entry/mental-health-language-committed-suicide_l_5aeb53ffe4b0ab5c3d6344ab/amp

Devastated

I am devastated by today's news of one of our friend's daughters committing suicide. 

How to explain this to our children who knew her and were friends with her?

I have nothing right now, except to say please help others and if you're suffering, please seek out support and let others help you.

We've got to do better as a society, at helping and lifting each other.

Rest In Peace, Grace, and may your family find peace!

Mirrors

This slight shift is our hardest and most important work.

Image: Pixabay

Peace 

Choiceless choice

I wanted to believe

things happened for a reason 

But then I came to see 

That sometimes,

Things just happen

Life has no need to conform 

To our reason or our expectation 

And yet,

It's also true 

We have a role to play 

It's up to us to weave 

Whatever happens 

Into the narrative of our life

To create meaning

From the meaningless

This choice

can be more powerful

than any reason 

Peace 

Emotional safety

I want to share this quote from an important book on how our bodies respond to stress and trauma, by Psychiatrist Bessel Van Der Kolk: 

"Being able to feel safe with other people is probably the single most important aspect of mental health.

...

Social support is not the same as merely being in the presence of others. The critical issue is reciprocity: being truly heard and seen by the people around us, feeling that we are held in someone else's mind and heart."

May we all feel seen, and heard, and held in someone else's heart.

Peace 

Love this cover

Chris Cornell: Thank You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi3i5nQhBaI&list=RDMMHi3i5nQhBaI&start_radio=1

Reprieve

Matched

On the surface, there are so many ways to divide and alienate us from each other. But look underneath, and you will find basic human needs for safety, acceptance, love. Whenever we feel like we don't understand someone, going back to those fundamental needs will clear things up.

Aiyana and I in New Haven 


With my parents in the little sanctuary I created 


Peace 

Thank you!

Thank you so much, friends! Your feedback helped me a lot in deciding which poems to submit to the poetry competition. My final selection is in the link below, if you are interested.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/1P5nzPJC7mgI7ELXDAWTxRG3YWbiYjYUM/edit?usp=docslist_api&filetype=msword

I am truly moved by your generosity, taking time out of your weekend to help me with this.

Peace

Dear friends, I need help making a decision by tomorrow!

I am entering a poetry competition and I am only allowed to submit 4 poems, but I am having a hard time deciding which four. I have narrowed my choice down to 12 poems. Can you give me your opinion which 4 out of the 12 below you would choose? You can respond just by listing the poem numbers, such as # 2,6, 9, 10, for example. Or, if you have other suggestions from poems of mine you've read in the past, please let me know.

Don’t worry about criteria for selection, etc. Just let me know which 4 you would pick based on what you like best. I need to decide this by tomorrow (competition deadline is on Monday). I am really excited and want to thank you so much if you’ve read this far.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11Jo7lpeiV6q3ZRmtSL9SRta-k-nmP97-/view?usp=sharing

Love to watch her

Aiyana has been coming up with different arts and crafts projects. Here she is on our front porch, redecorating a lamp shade from her room with different beads, and listening to her audio book. She is so engrossed in her project, and I love watching her. It brings me peace and joy, and reminds me of when I was younger.

Peace 

Ask the seed

This beautiful sunflower inspired me today.

Peace 

My little café

I am so happy with this little corner I've created, my little café, as my mom calls it. I just planted a whole bunch of flowers, and I barely spent any money. A lot of the plants were started from seeds I saved myself, or from cuttings. All the pots were reused, saved from the plastic pile at a local nursery, which would've ended in the dump otherwise.

So, our ugly-ass concrete porch is now turned into a little sanctuary, with shade and light and color and lots of buzzing from the bees, birds and butterflies that come to the flowers.

This is another flower area by the farm sign, which is drawing in lots of pollinators.

We can always create something beautiful. No matter how tough things get, remember that we always have that. And that, right there, is enough!

Peace 

Not the problem. Not the solution to the problem.

In a world full of problems and those too eager to sell solutions, give advice, tell you what to do:

Peace 

Emergence

Godel enraptured and gone crazy
Because he understood
That we can't understand
And he let go

Peace

Godel rocked us to the core

Know that we can't fully know. Still, we must seek to know, while at the same time abandoning the idea of certainty.

I find this liberating. How about you?

I also find this similar to Camus in some ways. Camus said that when faced with the absurd, which is the nature of life, we must respond with our revolt, our freedom and our  passion.