Let’s take our hearts for a walk in the woods and listen to the magic whispers of old trees.
-Unknown
Month: October 2017
Sunsets…every single day
“There’s a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they’re absolutely free. Don’t miss so many of them.”
― Jo Walton
Friendship is…
Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.
– Khalil Gibran
The Fox Named Anonymous
The Fox Named Anonymous, as in wily and smart.
As I select my favorite quotes and words of wisdom from different collections, the number of words written by ‘Anonymous’ is surreal. How many are actually anonymous words handed down over the generations and how many became anonymous because the author was female? Then I happened upon this…
Anonymous: Prolific female author. Has written hundreds of thousands of books, articles, poems, essays, memos, broadsides, and treatises. Under this name many women for centuries have written, published, or produced art, either deliberately to avoid the problems and punishments awaiting the woman artist or by default because their names were lost or forgotten. – Cheris Kramarae and Paula A. Treichler from A Feminist Dictionary (1985)
The Buddha
Half cut and hammered,
A Buddha under the falls is fallen.
The falls’ waters cleanse the bloodied stone,
Etching vermillion on the bloody floor.
Still the Buddha smiles.
There are tall trees around.
Also dark ushering clouds burgeon.
The lament of a Dravidian girl resonates,
In the breathtaking valley of blood.
Still the Buddha smiles.
The girl, her hair undone, and body too
Sits and weeps in Buddha’s eyes.
Her blood and tears coalesce, yet,
Nobody’s there to hear her requiem.
Still the Buddha smiles.
A queer quietude prevails.
Hunger and thirst too, yet water is there.
Nobody hears the cry of the bloody valley.
Life is still yet there is no stillness.
Still the Buddha smiles.
Biracial Hair
I happened upon a post by a 6th grade teacher (at least she was at the time of the 2014 post) by Jesska Daugherty. The post was about The Poet Warriors Project and how Biracial Hair by Zora Howard is one of the first poems she has her student warriors learn in order to address the subject of identity. Zora Howard is the youngest poet to win the Urban Word NYC Grand Slam finals. She was 13.
Talk about inspirational art: you know, that thing we use to speak the truth in a way that captures the attention of an audience for more than 4 seconds. Art: that thing extending beyond 140 characters or a #hashtag. ART: that thing allowing you to openly cry or laugh or stand up and shout in agreement because it touches that tender scab on your soul that keeps breaking open again and again. Please artists, on behalf of this little white woman watching an orange man trying to turn our country upside down – and not in a good way – trying to drag our culture down and backwards rather than raise us up: please don’t stop sharing your art with the world.
Check this out and be inspired by Zora’s words. I know it’s long and intense, but at least make it to, “I’m not a fucking cookie!” By then you won’t be able to stop.
Smooth your own path by helping another
If we all tried to make other people’s path easy, our own feet would have a smooth, even place to walk on.
– Myrtle Reed
Libraries: The Spirit of Freedom
To admit authorities, however heavily furred and gowned, into our libraries and let them tell us how to read, what to read, what value to place upon what we read, is to destroy the spirit of freedom which is the breath of those sanctuaries. Everywhere else we may be bound by laws and conventions – there we have none.
-Virginia Woolf
My wish for simple presence
Voluntary simplicity means going fewer places in one day rather than more, seeing less so I can see more, doing less so I can do more, acquiring less so I can have more.
– Jon Kabat-Zinn
One of my favorite people in the world gave me this wish dog. I was daunted by the idea of making one wish – it felt so important that I avoided the process of narrowing all my wishes down to one for months. The enlightenment of how many wishes I actually nurtured in my heart really altered my perspective on wishes and intentions. But wishdogandfriends beckoned me: Wish Dogs ARE reusable!!! So go ahead, wish for more wishes!!
I love the ritual of writing down a wish, setting it one fire and watching it slowly burn as my dog seems to acknowledge the wish by blowing smoke out her nose. It feels like I’m releasing my intentions into the world. There are some wishes that I made every day for weeks, others only once, and a few that I’m still making. ❤
The balance of extension
No journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.
– Lillian Smith
When I travel, particularly to another country, I have this intense urge to fill up every moment of my schedule with something amazing and exciting. But what I’ve discovered, time and time again, is that I end up falling asleep with a pen in my hand or a finger holding down a key on the computer day after day because I can’t get enough and then I can’t find enough time to process everything I’ve experienced. My plan for the day may be perfectly timed, except for that factor I always seem to forget: the unexpected pleasures along the way. Sometimes it’s a person, or a restaurant, a museum or a setting so exquisite that I can’t resist the urge to stop.
And breathe and engage all my senses and let the moment wash over me; lingering long enough to return in my dreams. Whether on a journey halfway around the world or just outside your front door, another journey is hidden within that holds the potential to be just as rich and exquisite. That extra moment that you take to breathe in the sensation of whatever beautiful distraction you happen upon may be exactly what your inner landscape needs to truly expand and grow.
Recycled Affirmations 