coat sleeve pratapana

Coat Sleeve Pratapana
for Devarshi

Imagine a thousand snow globes of every place you've ever been,

all that you've tasted, all that has moved you,

all that you have loved.

Good pilgrim, shake all that glitter inside you

re-awakening your own inner magic

a thousand worlds shining through you

and as you return to stillness

notice who you truly are in this moment.

~ by Carly Sachs

Third-place winner

Spirit First Poetry Contest 2010 

stillness is like water

Stillness Is Like Water

Stillness is like water

moving deep inside the earth

seeping slowly between rocks

trickling down

in the dark

a tide moving inward

Stillness is the space

between breaths

inside heartbeats

the silence of the gathering wave

that never breaks

Stillness blankets me

cushions me against my own

sharp edges

wraps me in her protective shawl

keeps my tender heart

from ripping

on the thorns

of the world

~ by Judith Prest

Third-place winner

Spirit First Poetry Contest 2010

photography by permission

cindy lee jones 

today, snow is my medicine

When the wind blows, that is my medicine.
When it rains, that is my medicine.

When it hails, that is my medicine.

When it becomes clear after the storm, that is my medicine.

        ~by Wolf Collar, Native American Shaman & Medicine Man (1870)

photography by permission

madalina diacanu

741 poems in my lap

I could not have imagined a more beautiful response to my request for submissions of poetry on the themes of meditation and mindfulness. I have 741 poems in my lap (our contest is now closed...), and such beautiful works they are. Because we have so many good writings to choose from, we will pursue our plans for creating a book manuscript. I began talking with printers today.

We received entries from 42 states in the United States, with the state most represented being New York (80 entries) followed by California (51 entries). The state of Utah had one single entry (for which I am deeply grateful...). We received 31 poems that did not have location information so perhaps the 8 missing states are represented there.

We received entries from 23 foreign countries including Armenia, Australia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, England, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania, Scotland, South Africa, Turkey, Wales (Cymru). Canada came in with 21 entries, India with 18, and South Africa with 11. I am especially pleased and proud of our participating poets who have a different mother tongue. Thank you for making this extra effort to express your poetry in our English language.

Thank you, everyone, for your amazing, beautiful writings. Your words are a light into the world.

what went well for you today?

Several weeks ago a friend of mine became ill, and during her diagnosis her doctor explained that her illness was caused by stress. This smart, savvy friend of mine set about to do everything she could to diminish stress in her life (she wanted to do whatever was held within her power), and one step she took was so beautiful that it would be wise for all of us to take it up as a practice.

My friend noticed that at the end of any given day she, and everyone around her, would ask the question, "How was your day?" She noticed that typically answers went in the direction of "Traffic was a bear today..." or "My boss was on my case again today..." She decided to change the direction of conversations by changing the question, and instead of asking "How was your day today?" she began to ask "What went well for you today?" This became a daily practice for her and her loved ones. The direction of conversations changed, the perspective on life changed, energy changed, and peace was enlarged.

And so I ask you...what went well for you today?

photography by permission
cindy lee jones

500 poems and still counting...

We now have more than 500 poems related to meditation, mindfulness, stillness, silence, and solitude. What an amazing gift, to be able to touch what you taste when you drink from the waters of meditation and mindfulness. Thank you for so much beauty.

We continue to receive entries for our contest through the end of this month.

Many of us live all our lives in thrall to the traditions in which we are born. Others question their tribal inheritance and embark upon a lifetime of exploration. The former end up believing they know everything. The latter end as they began, in ignorance -- but now a willingly-professed ignorance that is sublime in its tentatively-held and ever-expanding wealth of knowledge. ~ Chet Raymo

photography by permission
madalina diacanu

350 poems

I turn down the lights...burn an incense...light a candle...and begin reading the day's poems. I read slowly, and aloud. Sometimes I cry because, well, good poetry makes me cry. I am deeply touched by the outpouring of the Universe in the form of poetry for our first Spirit First poetry contest. I have received 350 poems, and more arrive every day.

So far I have heard from poets in 39 states and 17 foreign countries, from poets in their teens, poets nearly ninety, and poets of every age in between. I've received poems from men and from women, from city people and country people, from Christians and Muslims and Buddhists and those who make no mention of anything organized. I've received poems from writers who are much accomplished and writers who are undiscovered. And every poem is read quietly, slowly, and aloud, each word spoken into the world where it becomes part of the air we breathe and mingles with the light that guides us.

For this year's competition, Spirit First continues to receive poems for two more weeks.

Saint Anthony on prayer

The prayer of the monk is not perfect until he no longer recognizes himself or the fact that he is praying.
~ Saint Anthony

believe in nothing

"I discovered that it is necessary, absolutely necessary, to believe in nothing. That is, we have to believe in something that has no form and no color--something that exists before all forms and colors appear . . . No matter what god or doctrine you believe in, if you become attached to it, your belief will be based more or less on a self-centered idea. You strive for a perfect faith in order to save yourself. But it will take time to attain such a perfect faith. You will be involved in an idealistic practice. In constantly seeking to actualize your ideal, you will have no time for composure. But if you are always prepared for accepting everything we see as something appearing from nothing, knowing that there is some reason why a phenomenal existence of such and such form and color appear, then at that moment you will have perfect composure."

From The Ambivalent Zen

choose silence, and love is apparent

A message from Gangaji:

"Choose silence, and love is apparent.

When we choose silence, we choose to give up the reasons not to love, which are the reasons for going to war, or continuing war, or separating, or being a victim, or being right. In a moment of silence, in a moment of no thought, no mind, we choose to give those up. This is what my teacher invited me to.

Just choose silence. Don’t even choose love. Choose silence, and love is apparent. If we choose love we already have an idea of what love is.

But if you choose silence, that is the end of ideas. You are willing to have no idea, to see what is present when there is no idea, past, present, future. No idea of love, no idea of truth, no idea of you, no idea of me. Love is apparent." Gangaji

poetry contest

I receive poems every day, sometimes 2 or 3 and sometimes 10 or 12 or 20. We have received well over 200 entries so far in our first annual Spirit First poetry contest, and more entries arrive every day. We have poems from cities all across the United States and from Canada, France, Germany, England, Ireland, Scotland, Romania, India, Chile, Phillipines, South Africa, Malta, Nigeria, Pakistan, Japan, Australia . . .

Every poem is a gift, and each one is read slowly and aloud.

All of us at Spirit First are grateful to each of you who has become part of this effort, and each of you who will become part of it. We look forward to sharing some of these poems with you in the coming weeks.

This is Christmas: not the tinsel, not the giving and receiving, not even the carols, but the humble heart that receives anew the wondrous gift, the Christ.

~Frank McKibben

photography by permission

madalina

meditation village

Today I would like to introduce to you my friends at Meditation Village, YeShey Palmo and Simone Riml. Together they have created a place of meditation instruction, guidance, and support . . . a virtual meditation community. If you are new to meditation and would like guidance but don't have time to attend local gatherings, Meditation Village might be great for you. Ms. Palmo and Ms. Riml offer a gentle, loving program for you that starts at 11 minutes each day (11 minutes a day to bring more peace into your world). I include Meditation Village as part of my regular meditation practice. Let me know if you decide to become part of this program as well. I'd love to know how it works for you.

With much love,
Diana Christine

A white flower grows in the quiet

Let your tongue become that flower.

~ Rumi

photography by permission
madalina

Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent.
~ Dinoysius the Elder

photography by permission
madalina

letting go retreat

it is a gift to all of us when we gather to meditate, to deepen our practices, to learn, to grow. thank you for being with me in my becoming more of who i am.
diana christine














Spirit First one-day retreat, October 24, 2009

letting go...becoming

i will do what i can

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
~ Helen Keller

new Web site

I am so very pleased to announce the launching of our Spirit First Web site. While I will continue to add poetry and writings on our blog site, the Spirit First official Web site at SpiritFirst.Org will present news, links, articles, and information about the organization. I invite you to check out our new site and let me know what you think.

On behalf of the board of directors, the advisory board, and all of us at Spirit First, I would like to offer my deepest appreciation to Win Singleton of Summit Web Design for his gift of creating our site. Thank you. Yours is a beautiful gift.

meditation poetry contest

First Annual Spirit First Meditation Poetry Contest

Deadline: January 31, 2010
First Prize: $150
Second Prize: $75
Third Prize: $50

Complete guidelines:

Spirit First announces its first annual meditation poetry contest. Poetry submissions may be of any length and any style but must have a theme of meditation, mindfulness, stillness, or silence. Poems may reflect any discipline, or any faith, or none. Poems must be previously unpublished.

Poems should be submitted with a cover note listing the author's name, address, telephone number, and email address; names should not appear on the poems themselves. There is no cost to enter this contest. Please do not enter more than three submissions.

Submissions must be received no later than January 31, 2010. Poems that are sent by U.S. Postal Service will not be returned. The winner will be announced no later than March 31, 2010, on the Spirit First website. Winning poems will be published on the Spirit First website, the Spirit First blog, and in the Spirit First newsletter (authors retain full rights to their poems). Poems will possibly be used in an upcoming book publication (authors will retain full rights to their poems).

How to submit:

By email: send to Meditate@SpiritFirst.org

By U.S. Postal Service: send to the following address.

Spirit First Poetry Contest
PO Box 8076
Langley Park, MD 20787

We look forward to reading your poems!

A one-day retreat at River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation

I would like to invite you to a Spirit First day of retreat…a day of peace and meditation…a day of learning and practicing letting go of whatever keeps you from your true nature. Letting Go, and Living in Harmony with Your Own Self. From the moment you arrive you will be embraced with peace and meditation; the day begins with a Native American flutist playing as you come in and get seated. Morning sessions include Letting Go of Spiritual Clutter by Carol Thornton, and The Shamanic Way of Letting Go by French-Canadian Ayurvedic Doctor Sanjivani Marie-Amma. Mid-day we have a Mindfulness Luncheon (lunch is organic, whole, vegetarian cuisine). During the afternoon we have a keynote address from New Zealand mystic, yogi, and author Jonathan. We close our day with a music and dance program starting with a performance by singer, songwriter, and musician Felicia Rose, and follow with a Sacred Circle Dance led by Sufi Initiate Thomas Maxwell.

This retreat day is October 24, 2009, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Bethesda. Cost for the entire program is $45. If you or someone you know wants to attend but cannot afford the registration fee, please contact me for an available scholarship. To register, contact me at seekspiritfirst@aol.com.

Over the years we accumulate ideas, concepts, emotions, and beliefs, and included with them we sometimes take on guilt, fear, clutter, weight, depression, anger, debt, or stress. What would you like to let go of? Would you like to live more in harmony with your own self?

Ashley Litecky, new advisory board member

Spirit First is pleased and honored to announce new advisory board member Ashley Litecky, M.S., RYT.

Ashley is a registered yoga teacher (ERYT®200 Interdisciplinary Yoga Studies and Kundalini Yoga) and she holds a Masters of Science in Herbal Medicine program from the Tai Sophia Institute.

She is a clinical herbalist/apothecary owner at Tulsi Holistic Living in Washington, D.C.; an owner at Deep Green Wellness in Silver Spring, Maryland; and a clinical herbalist & yoga instructor at Blue Heron Wellness, also in Silver Spring.

Ashley practices and teaches the importance of breath and presence, movement and nutrition to lead to a life of freedom and joy.



As a wholeness and wellness practitioner and as a business owner, Ashley brings many gifts to Spirit First. We give thanks for so beautiful a gift.

everything is okay

Last month a beautiful friend of mine lost her job, her position being discontinued within her company. The loss of a job is deeply upsetting and all the more so with a mortgage to meet and a family to feed. She appeared to be pretty calm, yet I knew how distressing this loss was to her. I listened to her, I held her for a moment, and then I quietly and slowly said to her, "Everything is okay."

She seemed surprised, and then responded, "Everyone else is telling me 'everything will be okay...' but you are saying 'everything is okay.' " I couldn't tell if she was making a pragmatic observation or taking comfort in my words, but she was quite taken by the difference between "everything will be okay" and "everything is okay."

I said these words carefully, and lovingly, as I know some are unable to hear such a statement (and even become hurt or angry). Over the years, though, I have discovered that at all times I have a place inside of me that is always okay. No matter the circumstances, this center point is unchanged, is always present tense, and is always okay. It just is. And when we touch this point, everything going on outside us and around us seems to find a way to sort itself out (it's the stressing out that messes us up...).

Less than two weeks after our conversation, this beautiful friend wrote to tell me her company rehired her, had created a new position to keep her on staff (she didn't even know yet what her title would be). She said "I kept telling everyone you had said to me 'everything IS okay...' and now I will remember this all the time. You should write a book entitled Everything IS Okay. Thank you for the support and good energy you sent my way. You don't know how much I needed it and what a difference it made." She had taken my words and had reveled in them, breathing them and eating them and drinking them (I can't call them my words, for she made them her own).

For whatever you are suffering, I sorrow for your sorrow. But experiences are just that...experiences. And know this, that at the center of it all, the real you is okay.

If you want to practice this as a meditation, be sure to bring the words into the feeling part of your being (and not simply say the words). And you, too, will know that everything is okay.

photography by permission
cindy lee jones

enduring meditation

There is nowhere to go.
There is nothing to do.
There is nothing to become.

It's been several weeks now...months, even...since Jonathan presented our Yoga of the Heart spring weekend retreat, but the words of a meditation from him linger with me.

There is nowhere to go. I say the words slowly, one at a time. There is nothing to do. I breathe, taking each word deeply into my feeling. There is nothing to become.

My life is changed in this little meditation. I had spent most of my life doing one thing in a moment all the while having that same moment filled with all the many other things I thought I needed to do, all the many places I needed to be, and all the things I needed to become. I kept a bloated to-do list (if not on paper, then certainly in my head), and I always carried with me the feelings of all the many things I needed to become (more organized, more knowledgeable, more successful, wealthier, healthier, thinner, something more, something less, something else...).

There is nowhere to go.
There is nothing to do.
There is nothing to become.
From this meditation I have learned to stop, to be still, to be whole, to know there is nowhere to go, nothing to do, and nothing to become. I am whole. I am complete. I am now.
And when I hold this, everything else falls into place.

Much time has passed since my last writing. I want to apologize for my absence at the same time that I know no apology is required.

My summer was busy with business, with editing, with travels, with moving to a new home. I am settled, now, and happy to be back on this page. I have missed you.

I hope you are well, peaceful, and happy...












photography by permission
madalina diaconu

God is a tranquil Being

and abides
in a tranquil eternity

So must thy spirit
become a tranquil

and clear little pool

wherein the serene light of God

can be mirrored.

~ Gerhard Tersteegen





photography by permission

madalina diaconu

when was the last time you were still?

Nothing in all creation is so like God as stillness. ~ Meister Eckhart














photography by permission
madalina diaconu

Modern civilization is so complex as to make the devotional life all but impossible. It wears us out by multiplying distractions and beats us down destroying our solitude, where otherwise we might drink and renew our strength, before going out to face the world again. "The thoughtful soul to solitude retires," said the poet of other and quieter times, but where is the solitude to which we can retire today? "Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still," is a wise and healing counsel, but how can it be followed in this day of the newspaper, the telephone, the radio and television? These modern playthings, like pet tiger cubs, have grown so large and dangerous that they threaten to devour us all. What was intended to be a blessing has become a positive curse. No spot is now safe from the world's intrusion. The need for solitude and quietness was never greater than it is today. ~ A.W. Tozer, Of God and Men

photography by permission
madalina diaconu

march 28 concert and cd release party

Spirit First is pleased to announce it will host a concert and CD release party on March 28, 2009, featuring Felicia Rose.

“Inspirational” is the clearest way to describe the music of Felicia Rose. Since 1989, she has been captivating audiences worldwide with her unique blend of soulful ballads, alternative rock, and angelic mystique. Focused on Love and Inner Truth, Felicia’s music is divinely guided by a Higher Source. In the middle of a powerful vision quest, Felicia was struck by an enlightening message that forever changed her course in life. During a direct communication with a humpback whale, she was told to sing and that a voice would come. Having never sung nor played an instrument before, Felicia followed the directive. She could not have imagined the blessing of musical talent she came to know from following the direction of that voice.

Felicia Rose is an amazing talent destined for far greater recognition, and Spirit First is honored to sponsor this concert to mark the beginning of her CD tour, the release of her CD "Indigo."

Spirit First presents Felicia Rose on March 28 at the Takoma Park Chapel, a metaphysical chapel in Silver Spring, Maryland (a lovely chapel not far from my home that I am honored to attend). Food and fellowship will follow the performance of the evening. Please contact Diana Christine at SeekSpiritFirst@aol.com today to reserve your seat. Donations are requested but not required. Please join us for an amazing evening of music and spiritual connection. This is an event for the entire family!

Please come...I look forward to seeing you there!

new logo for Spirit First

I am so very pleased to present our brand-new symbol, the new logo for Spirit First. Our design comes from a brilliant young writer and artist, 25-year-old Kat at Jumping Into Life. Thank you, Kat, for your beauty and your light, and thank you to my logo development team for your unfailing support. I am so very pleased with what you all have brought forth.

And now, here is the symbol for Spirit First:

Our first retreat

Spirit First is happy to announce it will presents its 2009 Spring Retreat at Wellspring Retreat Center in Germantown, Maryland, on May 8—May 10. (This will be Spirit First's very first retreat!)

HRDAYA YOGA: YOGA OF THE HEART
May 8—May 10, 2009
Mystic, yoga leader, and
award-winning author of
Peace, Power, and Presence,
New Zealander Jonathan brings
YOGA OF THE HEART
to the Washington, D.C., area.

If you are new to Yoga or
you are an advanced practitioner,
this retreat is for you!

May 8, 6 p.m. through May 10, 3 p.m.
$250 includes full 2 1/2-day program, 2 nights of accommodations, and all meals (whole, healthful, vegetarian). For more information or to register, email Diana at SeekSpiritFirst@aol.com or call 301-565-2438.

If you desire conscious participation in the awakening of your true nature—as a whole & healthy Being—this workshop will benefit you. Part discourses, part active meditations, and part yoga asana and kriyas (internal energy practice), this is an opportunity for you to feel intimately empowered and at home within the very depths of your Heart...within your body, mind, and emotions...within your life right now.

Find your Freedom—Find your Peace

In YOGA OF THE HEART

Wellspring Retreat Center
11411 Neelsville Church Road
Germantown, MD 20876

In the beginning I had no idea what Spirit First would become. It started as simply a feeling, a feeling and a name, so I called it by its name: Spirit First. It wasn't until at least two years later on a Saturday morning in March that I imagined a vision of a meditation retreat center with quiet walking trails, fragrant gardens, outdoor labyrinths, and sanctuaries of every major discipline, and in that moment I knew it would carry the name Spirit First. Still, though, I did not know what I would be able to accomplish or what might unfold, and I did not know what Spirit First would become.

Last year when I commited to this vision and officially organized a new nonprofit, I still wasn't sure what Spirit First would become. Even if I thought I knew what she would become, I had no idea what all it would be that I needed to do. However, I always knew what the next step needed to be, and somehow knowing one next step was enough. Each step I took always led me to knowing the next step (it might be nice to know the end at the beginning, but some journeys just don't work that way!).

I still don't know for sure what Spirit First will become, but I love what she is becoming already . Much has been stirring, and during the next several days I will announce some of what is happening in the coming weeks.

In these busy days of planning, I find myself practicing the words of Francis of Assisi...

Start by doing what's necessary, then do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible. ~ Francis of Assisi

photography by permission
madalina diaconu

If we have not quiet in our minds,
outward comfort will do no more for us
than a golden slipper on a gouty foot.

~ John Bunyan

photography by permission

madalina diaconu

The following is a transcript of the inaugural poem, “Praise Song for the Day,” written and recited by Elizabeth Alexander, as provided by Graywolf Press.

Each day we go about our business,

walking past each other, catching each other’s

eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise. All about us is

noise and bramble, thorn and din, each

one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning

a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,

repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere,

with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,

with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer considers the changing sky.

A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.

We encounter each other in words, words

spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,

words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark

the will of some one and then others, who said

I need to see what’s on the other side.

I know there’s something better down the road.

We need to find a place where we are safe.

We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain: that many have died for this day.

Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,

who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,

picked the cotton and the lettuce, built

brick by brick the glittering edifices

they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.

Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,

the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,

others by first do no harm or take no more

than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

Love beyond marital, filial, national,

love that casts a widening pool of light,

love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,

any thing can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

praise song for walking forward in that light.
~Elizabeth Alexander

inauguration photography

by permission of the artist

madalina diaconu

do justly now...

Sometimes I sit in front of a blank page and am overcome by so much that I would say and all the words I have are not enough to touch what I feel. Sometimes in these times I put away the page and walk away.

Sometimes I see the grief of the world around me, and I am overcome by so much that I would like to do, but all that I can do feels far too little to have any effect.

In the past three weeks I have learned of two friends who lost their homes and two more friends who face this experience now. As I held the hand of one to comfort and strengthen her, I wept to feel so great sorrow that poured from her. I wanted to be able to do more. Feeling unable to do enough, though, is no reason to do nothing at all.

I find words from the Talmud give us direction during these times...

Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
~ The Talmud

photography by permission
cindy lee jones

Peace comes not from the absence of conflict,

but from the ability to cope with it.
~Unknown

photography by permission

cindy lee jones

“I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses.”
~Taylor Caldwell

I believe in going away from Christmas as the wise men went: "another way." I want to be different when these days are past—more centered, more thoughtful, more caring.
~Anonymous

Rumi and Rassouli

The mystical art of Rassouli graces many of our pages
throughout this Spirit First website, and we are grateful for
such breathtakingly beautiful art.

You can now enjoy the beauty of Rassouli along with
empowering messages of one of our greatest mystics
in a Rumi 2009 wall calendar: Rumi, The Journey of the Heart.

Spirit First has several copies of this recently released calendar, so we will be giving one to supporters who donate $50 or more during the next month. Please let me know if you are interested in receiving the calendar.

Thank you, Rassouli, for your beauty and your grace, and for the light you share with the rest of us.

Silence is the language of God...
all else is poor translation
~Rumi

art by permission
rassouli

Try pausing right before
and right after
undertaking a new action,
even something simple
like putting a key in a lock
to open a door.

Such pauses take a brief moment,
yet they have the effect
of decompressing time
and centering you.

~A life practice from Br. David Steindl-Rast

photography by permission

cindy lee jones

Only one thing has to change

for us to know happiness in our lives:

where we focus our attention.

- Greg Anderson







photography by permission

cindy lee jones

Spirit First seeks to provide a home...

Every one of us needs a home. The world needs a home. There are so many young people who are homeless. They may have a building to live in, but they are homeless in their hearts. That is why the most important practice of our time is to give each person a home.
~ Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

photography by permission
cindy lee jones

more on thanksgiving...

On Thanksgiving Day I posted a writing of my experience with giving thanks, and I pondered the appropriateness of my post in light of present difficult economic times. I went ahead with the posting despite its reference to our living in abundance because, as it seems to me, most of us even in stressed financial times have far more than most others in the world. For many our life is one of abundance by simple comparison.

Again and again in my life I have turned to the practice of giving thanks when I have faced difficult circumstances such as financial stress, depression, loss, et cetera. When I feel undone I begin to say aloud the many things I am thankful for. It might be while sitting at a red traffic light, lying in bed in the sleepless hours of 2 and 3 a.m., or walking several miles on a day's trek. "I'm thankful for my car that runs well...I'm thankful for the breakfast tea that still feels warm in my belly...I'm thankful for the scent of lavender on my skin...I'm thankful for my warm coat on this cold day...I'm thankful for..." and I would continue my list. Sometimes I would write down as many answers as I could write in a two- or three-minute fragment of time. Sometimes I would make up new answers while standing in the shower (which, of course, I am also thankful for!). I practiced, and continue to practice, the giving of thanks.

I think one cannot be thankful and sad at the same time.

I expanded my practice of thankfulness to include looking for all the things in my world that I have in abundance (and please don't joke with your self about having an abundance of bills or an abundance of troubles...). I would begin my list..."I have an abundance of soap (people often give gifts of exquisite soap and I always seem to have lots of soap--and that includes sweet little soaps picked up in hotels during business travels)...I have an abundance of toilet paper on the shelf...I have a full tank of gas (a wonderful abundance)...I have an abundance of jars of jelly...I have an abundance of candles in the house..." I learned to stalk my own abundance in my giving of thanks, and I learned to include such things as my unlimited long-distance calls on my telephone, the sounds of birds and crickets and cicadas, and the abundance of ideas and opportunities.

For those who seek to create an abundant life, remember that creating comes from seeing. If all you can see around you is lack and insufficiency, you will have difficulty creating wealth. Begin by seeing the abundance you possess and learn to practice thanks giving.

During these difficult times and no matter what perils seem to cross your path, I wish you joy, peace, and the ability to see your abundance and feel gratitude. (I would love your comments about what is abundant in your world...)

written with Love
diana christine

photography by permission

cindy lee jones

If your cup is small,

a little bit of salt

will make the water salty.

If your heart is small,

then a little bit of pain

can make you suffer.

Your heart must be large.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

photography by permission

cindy lee jones

Happiness
is not what makes us grateful.

It is gratefulness
that makes us happy.

~ David Steindl-Rast
A Listening Heart



photography by permission
cindy lee jones

If I could live only one day, I would choose this one: Thanksgiving Day.

My first words when I waken in the morning are the words “thank you,” as early streams of light pour through my windows, my spirit re-connects with my body, and I begin to feel the crispness of fresh cotton sheets on my bare skin. There’s a sweetness in these moments in between sleep and wakefulness, and my first conscious thought is gratitude. It feels good to be here. I need to go to the bathroom so I slide out of bed, and when my feet touch the floor and I feel myself standing upright, I again whisper the words “thank you.” It feels good to be inside my own body. It feels good to be here, and I really have a lot to be thankful for.

I have not always lived with such an awareness of gratitude, but I have been gifted with many teachers. One of my teachers was an old man I used to see sitting in the park while I walked to and from work. One day the old man wasn’t there anymore, and I imagined he had moved on or had simply tired of the same old park. He was just plain gone. A year or so later I received a letter in the mail; the writer of the letter wrote that she was a nurse in a veteran’s hospital in a city somewhere across the state, and one of her patients requested she write the letter to me on his behalf. She explained that her patient Bill had been the old man in the park, that Bill had just had his legs amputated and would probably never again leave that hospital. The letter continued to let me know that Bill wanted to say thank you for my friendship in that park, that he appreciated that I had given him apples and home-baked cookies, that I had so often taken the time to stop and say hello and chat with him for a minute or two before I went on my way. And now, when he knew he would never see me again and in fact knew he wouldn’t even live much longer, the one thing Bill wanted was to say thank you to someone who had made a difference in his life. Bill didn’t have much, but he gave thanks for what he had.














Gratitude is more than simply saying the words “thank you.” True gratitude is fully enjoying a thing, thoroughly experiencing it. (If I am truly thankful for a thing, I cannot at the same time ignore or neglect it.)

If you have only one gift, that one gift is deserving of a lifetime of appreciation. We in the Western world, however, have more than one gift. We have incredibly much of everything. Even on an ordinary day (not a special day such as this holiday), we have such abundance that we sometimes have a hard time deciding what it is we want to eat, what we want to wear, what we want to do for entertainment. We live in abundance of possessions and abundance of opportunities. And with so much abundance it can be difficult to feel how much we have. I don’t want to make that mistake. I don’t want to miss my own bounty. I want to drink deeply. I want to taste completely. And for being given such an abundance of gifts, I want to live a life of gratitude.

What could be better, then, than a day set aside for the giving of thanks….

On this special Thanksgiving Day, I wish you much joy in the treasures in your life. I wish you to be deeply aware of your own abundance. And I wish you to be happy in thanksgiving. After all, we really do have a lot to be thankful for.

photography by permission
cindy lee jones

If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is "thank you," it will be enough.

~ Meister Eckhart

random act of kindness

Last night I sat at a dinner table with nearly a dozen women, and in the conversation one of the women exclaimed that this very day she was the recipient of a random act of kindness. She was incredibly excited as she began to tell her story. As it happened to be, while she was at the post office, someone gave her a postage stamp so she could be off and on her way without having to wait in a long line. Such a simple act, the giving of a postage stamp (a value of 42 cents...), but the expression of kindness made her day as though a brilliant light has shined upon it. And now even her evening was graced as she recounted her story to us with great joy.

I loved seeing her pleasure in her "random act of kindness" (as she so lovingly called it). Not long ago I began a practice of every day giving something to someone, and last night I had the opportunity to see what it might be like for a recipient for someone I have given something.

Sometimes my gift is as simple as a couple of dollars to a homeless person. Sometimes it might be a check I write for a child I support in Ethiopia, a greeting card to a lonely woman in a nursing home, a bag of fruit to a group of teenagers, a loaf of home-baked bread for a neighbor, or a handwritten letter to a woman I sponsor in a work program in Nigeria. Sometimes I have to get creative to find another way to give. A couple of days ago I picked up a woman with her very young children standing and waiting at a bus stop when the temperature was 32 degrees and very windy. She kept saying "thank you" to me again and again, and "God bless you." I gave her little boys some quarters for their pockets and their little faces broke into big smiles. Such a simple thing, really, giving someone a ride for a few blocks, but for this mother the act of kindness was more than a warm ride on a cold day. It was a moment of feeling special, a moment of feeling the touch of friendship.

If you give or do something as a random act of kindness, please share with us so we can take joy in the gift as well (and, of course, I am always on the lookout for new ways to give!).

Meditation may require a lifetime to master,
but it will have been a lifetime well spent.

If you want to judge your progress,
ask yourself these questions:
Am I more loving?
Is my judgment sounder?
Do I have more energy?
Can my mind remain calm under provocation?
Am I free from the conditioning of anger, fear, and greed?

Spiritual awareness reveals itself
as eloquently in character development
and selfless action
as in mystical states.
~ Eknath Easwaran



















art by permission
rassouli

Empty your mind; be formless, shapeless - like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup...you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle...you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.

Bruce Lee

the work for which all other work is but preparation...

For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most
difficult task of all, the work for which all other work is but preparation.
It is a high inducement to the individual to ripen...a great claim upon us, something that chooses us out and calls us to vast things.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

with that moon language...

I love the writings of Hafiz perhaps more than any other poet (but I love so much the work of both Hafiz and Rumi that it's hard to say one is my favorite...). In the poem I posted on November 4, Hafiz suggests "Any thought that you are better or less than another man quickly breaks the wine glass..." Isn't his completeness beautiful? He didn't say "any thought that you are better than another" but included "any thought that you are better than or less than another man" breaks the wine glass. Belief in one is a belief in the other, and any feelings of better or less diminishes one's taste of the holy wine.

I would like to bring you another of my favorite Hafiz poems, one called With That Moon Language. This poem is my reminder to be the love the world seeks...

Admit something:
Everyone that you see, you say to them, "Love me."

Of course you do not do this out loud, otherwise someone would call the cops.

Still, though, think about this, this great pull in us to connect.

Why not become the one who lives with a full moon in each eye
that is always saying,
with that sweet moon language,
what every other eye in this world is dying to hear?

The sun once glimpsed God's true nature

And has never been the same.

Thus that radiant sphere

Constantly pours its energy

Upon this earth

As does He from behind

The veil.

With a wonderful God like that

Why isn't everyone a screaming drunk?

Hafiz's guess is this:

Any thought that you are better or less

Than another man

Quickly

Breaks the wine

Glass.

~ Hafiz

the voice of God...

The Creation of the Inaudible
by Pattiann Rogers

Maybe no one can distinguish which voice
Is god’s voice sounding in a summer dusk
Because he calls with the same rising frequency,
The same rasp and rattling rustle the cicadas use
As they cling to the high leaves in the glowing
Dust of the oaks.

His exclamations might blend so precisely with the final
Cries of the swallows settling before dark
That no one will ever be able to say with certainty,
“That last long cry winging over the rooftop
Came from god."

Breathy and low, the vibrations of his nightly
Incantations could easily be masked by the scarcely
Audible hush of the lakeline dealing with the rocky shore,
And when a thousand dry sheaths of rushes and thistles
Stiffen and shiver in an autumn wind, anyone can imagine
How quickly and irretrievably his whisper might be lost.

Someone faraway must be saying right now:
The only unique sound of his being
Is the spoken postulation of his unheard presence.

For even if he found the perfect chant this morning
And even if he played the perfect strings to accompany it,
Still, no one could be expected to know,
Because the blind click beetle flipping in midair,
And the slider turtle easing through the black iris bog,
And two savannah pines shedding dawn in staccato pieces
Of falling sun are already engaged in performing
The very same arrangement themselves.

Pattiann Rogers, “The Creation of the Inaudible” from Firekeeper: New and Selected Poems. Copyright © 1994 by Pattiann Rogers.

Can you see the holiness in those things you take for granted – a paved road or a washing machine? If you concentrate on finding what is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul. ~Rabbi Harold Kushner

photography by permission
graham jeffery

give what we have

My friend Austin doesn’t ask his little girls what they want to be when they grow up. He doesn’t even ask them what they want to do when they grow up. When Austin talks to his little girls about their dreams, he asks them, “What do you want to give when you grow up?” Austin is a brilliant young entrepreneur who has spent quite some time pondering the purpose of life, and what he has come up with is this: our purpose in life is to give what we have. Our purpose is not about what we do, what we achieve, what we acquire, what we know, or what we become. Our purpose is about what we give, and we are here to give what we have.

When I consider this human purpose in relationship to all things in nature, it makes sense. The clouds, the sun, the trees, the ocean, the earth…all have an existence of giving what they have. Even decayed leaves and dead flowers and excrement give what they have. The natural process is everything giving what it has. We, too, are here to give what we have.

This feels right to me. And it changes everything. We evaluate and assess what we have achieved and what we have gained, and we use it to measure our success, but this feels like the opposite of the purpose of giving what we have. Working hard to achieve feels different from working hard to give. And the measurement of it feels very different.

I don’t mean to suggest we are let off the hook, though, for if my purpose is to give what I have, then I want to give the best I have and that means working hard to make my gift the best it can be. If I am a pianist, an architect, a doctor, a teacher, a cook…I will study and practice and work to give the best in what I am giving. But the underlying purpose feels different when considering my purpose is to give, not to earn or achieve.

And so it is I have begun to take the time to ask myself at the close of each day, “How did I give today…?”

photography by Madalina Diacanu

Silence is God's language, and it’s a very difficult language to learn. ~ Thomas Keating

Thomas Keating brings us truth...silence is God's language, and this language we call God's is difficult to learn. Its difficulty, though, is not in the language being tough to understand, but rather its difficulty is in the struggle we have in letting go of all those things that prevent our hearing. My greatest peace and even great joy come from my practice of silence, yet I too find myself having to work my way back again and again. I'm not sure why noise and distractions carry such appeal, but I find myself entangled in them again and again. Still, the silence awaits, and every moment I return I am at once embraced, held, restored. I am become whole.

photography by diana christine

A man is known by the silence he keeps.
~ Oliver Herford