For the Senses

May the touch of your skin

Register the beauty

Of the otherness

That surrounds you.

Divinity Rising by Autumn Skye Morrison

 

May your listening be attuned

To the deeper silence

Where sound is honed

To bring distance home.

 

May the fragrance

Of a breathing meadow

Refresh your heart

And remind you you are

A child of the earth.

 

And when you partake

Of food and drink,

May your taste quicken

To the gift and sweetness

That flows from the earth.

 

May your inner eye see

Through the surfaces

And glean the real presence

Of everything that meets you.

 

May your soul beautify

The desire of your eyes

That you might glimpse

The infinity that hides

In the simple sights

That seem worn

To your usual eyes.

 

 

“For the Senses” by John O’Donohue, from To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings. © Harmony, 2008. 

How it Is

When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.

Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.

Therefore the Master
acts without doing anything
and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and she lets them come;
things disappear and she lets them go.

She has but doesn’t possess,
acts but doesn’t expect.
When her work is done, she forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever.

Lao Tzu
Tao Te Ching

A Wandering Sunday

I love lazy mornings in bed!  You know the kind, those days where there really is a l-o-n-g list of things you ‘should’ be doing, but you don’t? The luxurious pleasure of NOT staring at the clock and counting the minutes?

As I look out my window I see the early morning fog – swirly and misty, painting most of my world white.  Closing my eyes seems like the right thing to do.  I listen to the different birds calling outside as I enjoy the stillness of a house where children are fast asleep.  Squirrels are chasing each other along the tree branches, geese honk out calls as they fly by, the blue jays work on their nest…

So many times I tell my boys that we don’t live in the land of ‘what if’, that ‘life isn’t fair’, and a whole host of cliches that suddenly have me sounding a lot like my mother! But sometimes, yes … sometimes, it’s OK to let your mind roam free,  to pause on whatever thought strikes your fancy.

No conclusions, no deadlines, no problem solving. Much like a butterfly fluttering from one flower to the next.  To see and enjoy the world and it’s gifts and rhythms as they unfold, like a baby discovering its own feet – Such a wonderful lazy morning!

I am reminded of a poem, “Wonderment”, by Jamie K. Reaser

For more of her beautiful work, please check out www.talkingwaters-poetry.blogspot.com and/or the Talking Waters page on FB.

Oh dear … the alpha male cat is throwing his fur around, he looks like an oversized Tasmanian devil, and the turkeys are on my roof. They sound like a herd of tap-dancing cows … sigh.

It WAS peaceful for a spell.