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Seven Daffodils

April 9, 2015 //
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This week our family celebrates Peggy’s birthday. With winter lingering the arrival of her special flower is delayed, but its significance is seldom absent whatever the month.

Daffodils have accompanied our life together, the gift of a Limeliters’ song some fifty years ago.

I do not have a mansion. I haven’t any land. Not one paper dollar to crinkle in my hand. But I can show you morning on a thousand hills, kiss you and give you seven daffodils.

I do not have a fortune to buy you pretty things, but I can give you moonbeams for necklaces and rings. And I can show you morning on a thousand hills…

Seven golden daffodils shining in the sun, light our way to evening when the day is done. And I can give you music and a crust of bread, a pillow of piney boughs to rest your head.

With the color of sunlight and its cyclical profusion this simple flower reminds us of earth’s bounty and the life-giving riches that sustain body and soul.

The romantic dreams and meager means of youth have seasoned. We saved a few paper dollars and with the generosity of many acquired some land. The home built by friends and our sons is a mansion to us. Each morning the view encompasses several hills. Music and singing join our three generations. Peggy’s home baked bread nourishes us well beyond the crust of necessity. Now a perch for resting birds, the piney boughs wave above their hillside neighbors.

Most amazing, perhaps, is the bouquet pictured above. It greeted us as we arrived on the land the spring we broke ground. There were no other flowers in sight. Their origin remains a blessed mystery, as does the fortune we celebrate this April birthday.

Categories Inspiration, Spirituality

Love the good that is.

February 19, 2015 //
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At our 50th high school reunion almost five years ago, several of us found ourselves at dinner together. Connected that night by the promise in our conversation more than memories of our adolescent past, we agreed to stay in touch. Since then we have had over thirty conference calls and several in-person gatherings.

An email this week from one of our group struck home. At its core was a simple and profound call to action in our attitude. It is particularly poignant for those of us elders facing the passing of peers and the loss of capacities we once took for granted.

My friend is a gentle, strong, persistent, mindful and very caring individual. Her husband has been battling cancer for the past twelve years, and she has been by his side every step of the way. Taking advantage of a positive energy plateau in his treatment cycle, they are right-sizing. Her email describes sorting through and disposing the accumulated stuff of many years. She notes that the most difficult aspect in letting go of “things” is the memories associated with them, and she shares some examples.

And then she says, “I remind myself – love the good that is, not what is lost.”

What a great reminder to each of us personally and professionally: tune our attitude to focus on that which is going well, the beauty around us that awaits only our attention and the love that asks only to be received. It is a matter of mindfulness for the moment rather than what was or might have been.

Categories Growing Older, Inspiration, Leadership

At the Threshold

February 12, 2015 //
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How often each day do you cross a threshold? Probably many times, when you stop to think about it. Every door you pass through is a threshold from one space to another.

In the familiarity of our daily routines most of us don’t pause to think about it. Even when we close a door to achieve privacy or to contain a pet, stepping across sills doesn’t rise to our awareness. That is, until we come to a new one.

A threshold grabs our attention either when it beckons us with opportunity or threatens us with adversity. Leaving home for the first time called to many of us, as did committing to a relationship and pursuing our dream. Something compelled us to leave our zone of comfort to embark on a path of learning. For others of us the loss of a loved one or a job or the arrival of an invading disease impelled us into a new realm of discovery.

We know we are on the verge of a new possibility or threat when it involves risks and it demands our response. Our fear buzzer goes off. Adrenalin rushes to mobilize us, our signal that what we are facing is significant down to our core. We are at a defining moment on the brink of action. There is no turning back.

What is the threshold before you today – Defining yourself anew after ending a relationship? Committing to another day of sobriety? Taking that next step forward on a postponed path of heart? Whatever it is, embrace it with the knowledge that retreating may be safer in the moment but in the long run debilitating to the person you could be. And, remember, there is a company of sojourners who will support you over the brink and beyond.

Categories Inspiration, Leadership, Personal Growth, Spirituality

Seeker’s Prayer

May 21, 2014 //
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Steven Charleston posts weekly on FB and is a source of inspiration to me and many others. Here is today’s post.

Here is a seeker’s prayer, offered for all who are searching for the Spirit, not inside the walls of faith, but outside, in the open sky of questions, among the uncertain souls who bear the scars of conformity, in the company of mystics and dreamers, religious nomads wandering the far corners of ritual, looking for a truth worth believing, believing goodness is out there, undefined but no less sacred, beneath the moonlight, among the whispers of innocent hearts, a holy hope carried like a gift, brought to the place where God promised to meet us. May all seekers be blessed. May they discover what they seek. May they be heralds of light.

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Categories Inspiration, Spirituality

Waiting

December 17, 2013 //
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The green tendrils are extended, waiting. Months go by. Hope fades with little sign of life. Is it but a plastic imitation?

December is the cold season of waiting. Is it our losses that populate our darkness – a loved one? our health? a job? Is it the passage of time and our aging we grieve, as we await earth’s turning and the arrival of new light?

Is our inner landscape really desert dry, or is the impatience of waiting the signature of a gestation that one day, unannounced, delivers a cascade of sunrise pink blooms and a rebirth of possibilities?

Categories Inspiration, Personal Growth, Spirituality

To Start All New…

January 1, 2013 //
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The following is a New Year’s FB post from a young woman I know and admire. Her courage and spirit continue to surface while waiting for a four-organ transplant. May her message inspire you the way it did me to begin the year, and, whatever your spiritual practice, may you hold her in the energy of light and love.

Tonight, I hope all of you have a wonderful time, whether you go out or just chill at home. It’s our chance to start all new, see big things happen and say, “2013 was a _____ year, wasn’t it?” Let’s make that word positive.  Do things for others you wouldn’t normally do; spend more time with people you may not stop to think of much; stop to be in the moment; walk in other people’s shoes for a second or two!

Hopefully if we change the world’s attitude to more grateful and happy about just being healthy and being here, then more people awaiting transplants like me will get them and that will give more opportunity to make even MORE happy and grateful for what they got.

Categories Inspiration

…to keep dancing

February 17, 2012 //
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As is often the case, our clients are our teachers.  One of the individuals whom I coach introduced me to Mark Nepo.  As part of his healing process from cancer, Mark wrote The Book of Awakening, a collection of daily meditations.  Today’s message danced across his pages to this post.

Death pushed me to the edge.  Nowhere to back off.  And to the shame of my fears,  I danced with abandon in his face.  I never danced as free.  And Death backed off, the way dark backs off a sudden burst of flame.  Now there’s nothing left, but to keep dancing.  It is the way I would have chosen had I been born three times as brave.

Categories Inspiration, Personal Growth, Spirituality

Bless This House

September 18, 2011 //
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Peggy and I attended a special house-warming yesterday.  Our friends Alan and Johnathon are artists, teachers, writers and coaches.   Johnathon has just accepted appointment as Director of Opera at the Boston Conservatory.

We met them in 2006 when we attended three workshops that Alan facilitated on clarifying one’s purpose in life and moving fully into living that purpose.   Those workshops shaped the direction that Peggy and I have been pursuing ever since.  Alan directs the Center for Transformational Presence, and I highly commend him, his books, his training, his coaching and his singing!

Most who attended were former clients who live in the region and some of their new neighbors.  We came to bless their home with music, poems, reflections, rituals, food and libations.  It was a joyous occasion.  While Peggy and I knew a few people whom we had met when we did our training, most folks were new to us.  Except they weren’t.  It was like having a family reunion and meeting relatives for the first time, only, connecting deeply with them right away and wishing you could spend more time with them.

One person brought a hymn that we sang.  The words by Louis Untermeyer describe the space that Alan and Johnathon have created, even in the two short months they have lived there.   It is the kind of energy that Peggy and I seek to create for our home.  As you read them, may they bless you and the sacred spaces of your dwelling.

By faith made strong, the rafters will withstand the battering of the storm.  This hearth, though all the world grow chill, will keep you warm.

Peace shall walk softly through these rooms, touching our lips with holy wine, till every casual corner blooms into a shrine.

With laughter drown the raucous shout, and, though these sheltering walls are thin, may they be strong to keep hate out and hold love in.

Categories Inspiration, Spirituality

The Cheapest Room in the House

June 15, 2011 //
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I just returned from another wonderful workshop with students in the Touched By A Horse certification program.  The weather blessed us with the light and warmth of Colorado in late spring.  There was also much joy as we celebrated the graduation of five members of our human herd.

In contrast, while I was filled with admiration for the work that individuals did with their equine partners, I departed with a shadow brooding on my shoulder.  Why do so many of us hide our talents?  What are the fears that keep us from moving forward?  As a coach, how can I help others move beyond their fears into the fullness of their gifts?

If we are honest with ourselves, each of us can acknowledge that when we turn over the boulders that block us, we find our fears lurking beneath.  None of us is immune.  So, how do we let the sunlight shine on our dark places in order to shrivel our fears?

One small place to begin is to find some sources of inspiration in poetry, prose or pictures and for a few moments each day open ourselves to messages from the universe.  Do you know the 14th century prophet and poet, Hafiz?  If not find The Gift translated by Daniel Ladinsky.  Among other things his playfulness and outrageous humor poke holes in our pretensions and discouragement in order to let the divine spirit enter.

For starters here are some verses from Hafiz to my friends whose fears are keeping them from stepping fully into their light.

Fear is the cheapest room in the house.  I would like to see you living in better conditions, for your mother and my mother were friends.  I know the Innkeeper in this part of the universe.  Get some rest tonight, come to my verse again tomorrow.  We’ll go speak to the Friend together…

God wants to see more love and playfulness in your eyes for that is your greatest witness to Him.  Your soul and my soul once sat together in the Beloved’s womb playing footsie.  Your heart and my heart are very, very old Friends.

Categories Inspiration

The Grace Card

May 28, 2011 //
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One of the lessons I have learned from coaching is how many of us undervalue our talents.  There may be many reasons from the past why this is so…parents who compared us unfavorably to siblings, teachers who didn’t expect more from us, peers who built themselves up by tearing us down.

Regardless of the source, however, it is up to each of us whether or not to accept these diminishing messages.  We can choose to hide our gifts under a bushel, or we can acknowledge them, bring them to the light and offer them to a world that has been waiting for them.

Here is a personal example.  I offer it to remind myself and my clients that each of us probably ends up teaching the things we most need to learn.  In my current life I am apt to devalue my music.  My stories go like this.  “My repertoire is too narrow and out of date.  I haven’t yet learned how to play a solo when we’re jamming and therefore don’t have much to contribute.  My voice is not in range. etc.”  In reality many people probably enjoy my music because they see, hear and appreciate my intention to share, express myself and play.

My friend and colleague, Melisa Pearce, produced a card deck based on the wisdom of the horses with whom she partners in her healing work.   (See www.touchedbyahorse.com)   The card I drew today was Grace.  May these words remind each of us to honor our gifts and step into the fullness of their power.

…many natural gifts have been bestowed upon you.  Now is the time to heighten your awareness of all the ways grace shows itself in you and your life.  Note that some are small distinctions, while others show up as talents beyond measure.  Your grace is uniquely your own.   Additional aspects of your personal grace remain unknown to you at this time.  Now is the moment to explore and discover more of them. 

Today is your perfect time to honor all with which you are naturally blessed and to stand in gratitude for it.  Appreciate grace.

Categories Inspiration
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