Poetic Revelations: Let Love In from All Directions
God Doesn't Play Small, why should we?
"The amount of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same. But the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things... Stop being a glass. Become a lake."
— a Hindu guru to Mark Nepo
This is a weekly publication for heart-centered warriors, swimming through this thing called life. Because Human-ing is harder than Adulting.
Selected Poem:
The Courage of The Seed, Mark Nepo
Dear Embodied Hearts and Dancing Souls,
It is the passing of the baton, from one season to the next. The rites of passage from many faiths are happening now. This the fourth year in a row I share Mark Nepo’s The Courage of a Seed, a piece of writing that contains many illuminating truths.
Below is writing from Fall 2022. Today I give myself to deep rest, like the seed.
Showing Up. The first step seems to be showing up. Whether in vulnerability or in wonder, each day I show up to my writing desk. The last few days, it has been in vulnerability.
The key is to surrender all conditions, all outcomes. The process becomes the teacher. For me, it is the process of going to my Source Water, letting go of the encumberances of achievement. Not judging, accepting myself exactly as I am, eventually the trickle becomes a flow. There is richness, and magic here. Today the reminder, when we show up for our inner process, the process then becomes food for others.
As Pema Chondron reminds, we start where we are. So often, I will start with a drawing. For whatever reason, it settles me in myself. Free-form, pen or pencil to paper, seeing what wants to emerge. In the process, sentences rise. I note them down. The meaning of the drawing reveals itself later in the flow of writing. Its always a deep tickle when it does.
Staying Present. Before vacation, I became aware that one of my cats felt very disconnected from me to the point of neglect. Such was the harshness of the relentless pace of my responsibilites over the past year. Settling in back home has meant staying aware of the presence and well being of the 3 other beings I share this home with, more consistently throughout the day. Noticing means choosing to return to this place of presence actively -- before and after each activity I undertake. I close down my laptop in between sessions now, check in with my family more frequently, and request that Peace envelop our home as a daily habit. There is a softness and rootedness here, and more importantly, a cohesion. I am so grateful for the wake-up call -- its like being screwed back into a socket properly. I act in concert with my realtiy: I am not alone, my presence has ripple effects and here, we belong to each other.
This acceptance of things as they are is a key in and of itself.
A Wider Perspective. Over the past 5 years, a shift occurred in my way of being where I really got that everything that was happening For me. Not in an abstract way, but real.
This jaw pain, this tenderness in my hip, my cat being upset with me, us possibly outgrowing this home, the crankiness that grew in my place of employment—there is an inherent vein of Unconditional Love and Bliss running through each of these that serves ME.
Whether “good” or “bad,” my life events keep pointing my attention back to what my real job is, almost like a neon flashing arrow.
That job may be: to send extra love to a part of myself, let go of something, or some other adjustment. Each time, we Recover another piece of our vital selves. This IS the wider perspective. Let Love in from All Directions. That's what that sitting Butterfly is doing. This is the wisdom of the quote above --don't be a glass, be a Lake. Don't measure your abundance in small scoops, enlarge that receiving bowl. God doesn't play small, why should we?
"As a seed buried in the earth cannot imagine itself as an orchid or hyacinth, neither can a heart packed with hurt imagine itself loved or at peace. The courage of the seed is that once cracking it cracks all the way."
— Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening
Can we Accept the Constant Love that abides in everything? Accept ourselves and everything around us as it is now? Can we take in our "scene" from this perspective? Our rest and abundance flows from here.
With so much Love for you, your journey and your unfolding.
Stay #heartwoke.
Monisha
NOTES:
No Dance Chapel tonight, 3/26/2024