I wrote this poem some years ago, and it still brings a smile to my heart as I connect with the images and the memories.  I decided to share it as I send each of you blessings for a joy filled holiday season that shines bright with Love and gratitude.

May you have much to give thanks for, and remember to be especially grateful for the simple gifts of everyday living. ~Sor’a

Gratitude List

Rainbow-trimmed Clouds,
the song of birds outside my window,
a yellow rose that stays beautifully on my
dashboard where I laid it one summer day…

Friendships that bubble up inside me when I’m sad,
laughter…sighs… tears that fall when
least expected, and the golden glow of evening
as the sun takes its final bow.

The hug of kids, dogs, and teddy bears…
sitting quietly with a sun-yellow bird on my shoulder,
her peep waking me when I forget she’s there;

the smell of vanilla and peaches,
the sound of fish swimming,
the color of the seasons as they pass by,
and the colors that grow inside of me
as I awake to the possibilities
of each new day.

Every path in Nature is a winding path.

“Only man-made ideas are forced, pushed, pressed into the ‘right’ way to do things. Nature finds her undeniable certainty expressing in whatever way is appropriate in the moment — without prediction, without rigidity, and most importantly with curving, flowing Grace.  Next time you walk in the woods, notice the natural pathways everywhere, ever beckoning your surrender to What IS.” ~Dr. Sue Morter

photo by Lynda Davis

Tags: graceful living, gratitude

Pain.  There’s quite a lot of it in the world right now, so it seems rather trite of me to write about a toothache.  Yet that is what has been grabbing my attention this past week: throbbing, stabbing, intense…and now a raw-skinned reminder of the tooth that is no longer there.  How can one little part of the body cause so much pain?

As with most things, there are lessons to be learned here.  I jokingly say a few of them: call dentist before weekend & take drugs sooner.  But my real aha’s came during two memorable moments of deep letting go. The details of those moments seem unimportant now, but what they birthed in me seems unforgettable: as I surrendered to the pain and to the physical release of the tooth, my heart opened to a more expansive way of loving.

A toothache expanding my capacity to love…really? Somehow when I said goodbye to the tooth, in that single moment, I saw a number of old judgments and beliefs disintegrate in my mind.  In that same moment, a host of other painful events, past and present, flooded through.  It was as if a tsunami was washing out the old so something new could be birthed through me.

I’ve heard it said before that pain expands our capacity to love, but never have I connected with the possibility in such a way. Perhaps this is what is happening with our world right now: we are growing our collective capacity to feel compassion, to work together to rebuild cities, to somehow repair all these breaking hearts.  Perhaps we are birthing the possibility of a new way of loving.

When I look into the eyes of a dear friend whose body is being ravaged by cancer and a number of other complications, I see such a depth of love that I know this connection between pain and love is real.  And while the pain of an infected tooth seems so insignificant in comparison, I am grateful for the lessons it brings.

Embracing the pain, the love, and everything in between.  ~Sor’a

Q: How do you keep SHINING when you are in pain?

Tags: gratitude

Think of one thing that breaks your heart open, and act upon that.
This is the way we will change the world: one loving act at a time.

I just had the opportunity to spend 3 days with child right’s advocate, Kimmie Weeks.  I’d like to share my gratitude for the blessing this simple man brings to our world with his message, and with his peaceful, powerful Presence.  Especially during this week of Thanks Giving for Americans, it feels important to SHINE this message out to others.

I’ll admit that it’s not easy for me to hear & see much of what Kimmie has to share.  My normal Way is to look at the joy & beauty of life, and to turn people toward the positivity and the Light side of our world … and I don’t expect to change that.  Indeed, Kimmie Weeks is one of the great Light workers of our time.

It’s not easy to hear his story of being torn from a normal middle class life to face the ravages of war, of being left on a pile of dead bodies when he was just 9 … it’s not easy hear of the devastation he experienced during the 14 year civil war in his home country of Liberia … or to hear of the pain & suffering he continues to see as he commits his life to creating a new story for our world.

While these stories can be heartbreaking, they also demonstrate the power of the human spirit and an uncommon faith & forgiveness that most of us won’t ever have to endure.  Kimmie shares some embarrassing statistics about where the general population is focusing attention & spending dollars.  He believes (and so do I) that if just a fraction of those spending choices are changed, we CAN have a world where no child dies from hunger, lack of clean water or medical attention … this is truly possible in our lifetime.

Kimmie encourages us not to feel guilty about the simple blessings of our own lives … but to be thankful for these blessings, and to consider, every day, how we might share a few of our blessings with others … not just in our own families & communities, but around the world.  We create a world that works for everyone ONLY when we remember we are ONE world community. As my dear friend Pat McDonald sings, “whenever one of us is suffering, none of us is free … a world that works for everyone, is what is meant to be.” (Listen to United in Brilliance, by Pat McDonald)

Kimmie talks of giving until it hurts, and I say, “Give until it STOPS hurting.” Let us GIVE until the only stories we hear are those of a world that truly is working for everyone.

May your heart break open with compassion as you Give Thanks for your blessings.

With Great Gratitude, Sor’a

This is a photo of the baby at the top after just 3 months with adequate nourishment.

Check out THE SERVICE CONNECTION “Virtual BIG GIVE” Event

$20 pays medical care for a child.  If 9 people give just $11 each, a child can go to school.  Most of us can find a way to re-direct this level of funds, and when our giving UNITES, we  spark expansive change for our world.

Listen to Kimmie’s story as he accepts the prestigious Brick Award for his humanitarian work.

Tags: generosity, Humanity Unites Brilliance, Kimmie Weeks, thanksgiving, world peace

…first return to Bare Ground

June 6, 2010.  A few weeks ago, this bare patch of ground was filled with weeds up to my thighs.  Today we’re preparing to plant some seeds.  Tomorrow we’ll water, and with a little bit of conscious gardening over the next few months will harvest an abundance of nourishing food from this little patch of bare soil.

Yes, the weeds will return…and if we don’t keep them cleared almost daily, they may even choke out the new seedlings.  So we’ll patiently pull and till the soil while waiting for the new seeds to take root, to grow into strong plants, and finally to bear fruit (& vegis)!

This spring I’ve been pulling a lot of weeds from my inner garden too.  My year started with such a flood of creative inspiration and readiness to plant myself fully in service.  Then all of a sudden I was drowning in too much…too fast…a whirlpool that took me down down down into a dark hole that I couldn’t seem to escape.

So I did what any good swimmer is trained to do: I surrendered to the flow.

(3 week flow break…it’s now June 25!)
It’s not easy to admit, or even to find a way back into a post that is partly written, but here I am to finish by simply revealing that Returning to Bare Ground is not a simple thing. While I was in the middle of it all…stuck in the mud…it wasn’t so pretty (it may seem like I’m mixing metaphors, but mud IS a mixture of both dirt & water!  Now that I’ve cleared the most distracting weeds,  I’m quite sure that I’m being returned to the Bare Ground of Simple Being for a reason. (Turns out my hormones & thyroid were causing a significant part of the muckiness, but even when physically triggered, the mental-emotional clearing always feels good…once it’s done)

So…I’m taking a “Simplification Sabbatical” this summer! I’ve decided to give myself over to this deep yearning to simplify, to nourish myself & my significant relationships, to spend time listening to God, to allow all actions to blossom from a place of enthusiasm and clarity.  It will have a few guidelines, a few possibilities, and mostly open space to RENEW & RE-CREATE.  I may (or may not) write as I go, and at the moment I’m leaning toward writing.  It seems many of us are being pulled to simplify, and perhaps sharing my journey might help someone else gain perspective.

And now I’m going to close this post that has taken longer than anything I’ve ever written.  But then our garden took longer to plant this year than ever before too!

P.S. In spite of several family emergencies and a bunch of rainstorms, the garden is finally planted.  It’s great to see those seeds turning into vibrant plants.  I’m sure some of the seeds God is planting in this new bare ground in ME will be sprouting soon.  Stay tuned for one of those to blossom forth this next month in celebration of my coming birthday!

Tags: balance, simple abundance

There are so many ways to be grateful. I’ve been writing about gratitude for almost 30 days now, but more importantly, gratitude has been ‘righting’ me this past month.  This comes as a major surprise to me, since I’m naturally a very thankful person. But somehow, my heart had lost its connection to gratefulness, and as a result I’ve not been in full glow.  What I’ve discovered through this wonderful ritual of sharing thanks is that I am truly-deeply-enormously thankful to be ‘me.’

Tags: Add new tag, balance, gratitude

Gratitude quotes make great graffiti!

Days 21-26 of the Gratitude Game:

To be alive: not just the carcass
But the spark.
That’s crudely put, but…

If we’re not supposed to dance,
Why all this music?
~Gregory Orr~

Every cubic inch of space is a miracle. -Walt Whitman

Praying ~Mary Oliver

It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.

Lovely, complicated wrappings
sheath the gift of one-day-more;
Breathless, I untie the package –
Never lived this day before!
~ Gloria Gaither

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” ~ Melody Beattie

“Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.”
~ Kahlil Gibran

Tags: 30 days of Thanks, gratitude, quotes

30 Days of Thanks: The Gratitude Game continues, and this week I’ll be exploring how I am deepening my appreciation for the journey by climbing a few mountains … and opening to a few miracles!

Day 20: The miracle of music.  I’m grateful to Failla Drum for being SUCH a catalyst for music in our world.  I was inspired to go PLAY tonight at one of her weekly rhythm circles and I had a BLAST!  I’m smiling deep inside and still tapping my feet & swaying my body.  YUM.

Day 18-19: Up on top of another beautiful peak today, after experiencing the miracle of soul connection & community.  I’m celebrating the magnificence of all who came to be with Elle Re this weekend.  I feel very nourished and open…ready to go after a few of the life mountains that are still present in my life with more trust & joy than before.  This is the blessing of a spiritual practice that both presences us to the divinity of all things, and also shines light on the unique aspect of each, our True Nature.  Double thanks this weekend for my spiritual community and the Love that is guiding this journey.  Ahhhhhmen.

Day 17: “Feeling gratitude & not expressing it is like wrapping a present & not giving it.”  I’m so grateful for meeting new friends!  Thanks, Rio, for this quote and for shining your Light so beautifully into our world.   I am opening, opening, opening … to the miracle of gratitude. 

Day 16: Thankful to be cherished…the miracle of unconditional Love.

Day 15: This morning I climbed the mountain by my house.  It was a clear, blue-sky morning, a bit chilly but I was shedding layers by the time I got to the top.  As I turned to gaze out across my hometown, a church steeple centered in my awareness, and I quietly knelt within my heart.  Thank you, God.  I’ve been climbing one of life’s little mountains these past 2 weeks after finding a breast lump.  It’s amazing to me how many different emotions arise, and how many different opinions are given, when our bodies create something out of the norm.  As I stood on the mountain, breathing the crisp fall air, a wonderful sense of peace and strength flowed through me.  Every mountain, every valley, gives new perspective to the landscape of our lives.  This one is teaching me to listen and to honor my inner knowing, while at the same time being open to options that are placed before me.  (P.S. In case you’re worried for me, don’t be…it’s benign but still something I need to attend to.  I’m paying attention & giving my body what it needs right now, including a bit more rest, a cleansing diet, movement…and probably a few more climbs up that mountain!)

Day 14: Today’s THANKS is dedicated to another awesome gratitude offering, The World Gratitude Gathering from Stacy Robyn & Ken Herbert.  If you haven’t yet participated in their 42 gathering, sign up now!!  It’s a wonderful, magical offering … beautiful images, playful & powerful words, totally inspirational sharing.  I love everything about it & I’d say it’s probably creating quite a few miracles in our world.

Tags: 30 days of Thanks, gratitude, inspiration

30 Days of Thanks, Day 4: I’m thankful for poetry … the way it quiets my mind & centers my heart.  Here’s a poem I wrote over 10 years ago, and I’m appreciating the memories it’s bringing into my heart today.

Gratitude List, a poem
Rainbow-trimmed Clouds, the song of birds outside my window, a yellow rose that stays beautifully on my dashboard where I laid it one summer day … friendships that bubble up inside me when I’m sad … laughter, sighs, tears that fall when least expected, and the golden glow of evening as the sun takes its final bow.

The hug of kids, dogs, and teddy bears … sitting quietly with a sun-yellow bird on my shoulder, her peep waking me when I forget she’s there … the smell of vanilla and peaches … the sound of fish swimming … the color of the seasons as they pass by, and the colors that grow inside of me as I awake to the possibilities of each new day.

Tags: gratitude, poetry

I just returned from a 2-week spiritual retreat and was ready to write about “Great Fullness” … and wonder of wonders (synchronicity of synchronicity), I found this wonderful website challenge, 30 days of Thanks.  So, rather than an article this month, I’m jumping in.  You can join through your own blog, on Facebook or some other version of social media, or even by commenting on other blog entries as you read them.  Let’s see how much gratitude we can S-H-I-N-E into the world this month and next!

DAY 1: I’ve begun thinking of gratefulness as Great Fullness, and this is how I feel when I am truly thankful: so overcome with appreciation for life that I simply overflow…a steady stream of giving & receiving, merging into an ocean of abundant being.

Today, I give thanks for the simple moments that shimmer around me as I reconnect with my family & friends after diving deep into the great ocean of God.  Being held in the loving arms of a husband who adores me enough to support my need for alOne time … being greeted with a hug & neck massage from a son who is becoming such a dear friend … laughing & crying over a movie that reminds me how important it is to make time for the man I’ve chosen to share my life with.  These simple moments are what make a life.  I give great thanks for the fullness of mine.

Day 2: Today is my cherished “gramma day” and I am so very thankful for the blessing of being a gramma.  I am in love with it all, even changing diapers…well, maybe not the squishy ones.  :-)  Today we’ve already been to the park, jumped on the bed, ate pancakes & turkey bacon, drummed, danced, and now my little guy is taking a nap while I give thanks for the wonder of childhood.  When he wakes up, we’re headed to the zoo.  I don’t know who’s having more fun!

Day 3: Thankful for a FULL DAY of NO COMPUTER!!!  And I’m proud of myself for not being obsessive about logging on to post my third day of the ‘30 Days of Thanks’ game.  Speaking of games, yesterday was filled with thankful moments with my hubbie, our 2 grown children, and our growing-up-fast grandson.  We played Uno, laughed together, enjoyed a delicious dinner created totally by my guy.  Now THAT’s Gratitude!  (Thank you, Garet)

Tags: gratitude, simplicity, thankfulness