Emotions - Back Pain - Yoga - Leslie Kaminoff

Parker Palmer - Rumi Reflection

Parker Palmer reflects on Rumi - From his Facebook Page... 

First....the poem: 

"Rumi's great poem "The Guest House" reminds me of an important fact about being human: I have a lot of characters inside of me, and each has a voice of its own.

I like some of those characters and voices—others, not so much! But my job is to listen to ALL of them, without censoring the ones I don't like, trying to host a life-giving inner conversation.

In my new book [http://tinyurl.com/3c2xmjy], I argue that practicing hospitality toward people and viewpoints that seem "alien" to us is key to restoring the civil community on which democracy depends.

Hospitality doesn't mean pretending to agree with things we don't agree with. It means listening openly and with respect, learning what we can, and responding in ways that build bridges, not walls.

But here's the rub: We can't receive the external "alien" respectfully if we can't do the same for the inner voices we don't want to hear. Hospitality, like all human virtues, begins within.

All of this is more easily said than done! But Rumi gives us a great gift: A vivid image that makes something challenging feel possible...

Each of us is a "guest house." Our job is to "Be grateful for whoever comes/because each has been sent/as a guide from beyond."

P.S. "Beyond" means different things to different people. But if it means nothing more than "beyond the limits of my own experience and imagination," that's good enough for me!"

The Courage to Give Birth - Rilke

You must give birth to your images.
They are the future waiting to be born.
Fear not the strangeness you feel.
The future must enter you
long before it happens.
Just wait for the birth,
for the hour of new clarity.

Intimacy - Richard Miller

We all have the innate yearning to feel intimately connected, both to the world outside, but more importantly to ourselves. We all share the deep needs to be seen, heard, and belong.

When our intimacy needs go unfulfilled, we feel unwelcomed both by our self, and by the so-called outside world. We then live disconnected, in reaction, trying to ingest indigestible judgments from our inner critic, and/or from the outside world, such as: “How could I be so…?” or, “I’m unlovable.” or, “Something’s wrong with me.”

To truly feel intimately connected we first need to feel intimately connected with ourselves. Only then can we respond, rather than react to the world around and within. Only then can we truly realize the deep intimacy of Being, in which we realize that everything we are in intimate contact with is our own self. In reality, there is no other, there is only the One self, that we are each a unique expression of. In order to live true intimacy, we need to inquire, “What is it that life wants to live as me?” rather than, “What do I want?” Only when “I” and “Thy” are a unified movement will we be at peace and truly feel the intimacy that is our birthright.

Silence nourishes inner inquiry, where we are able to see, hear, respond to, and heal the inner splits that otherwise prevent our experiencing true intimacy. I look forward to having you on one of our retreats this year, at Santa Sabina in May, Kripalu in August, or Edmonton in October, where you can take the time to truly stop, look within, and realize the deep healing that enables you to live your true undivided and intimate place in the universe.

~ Richard Miller, https://www.irest.us/civicrm/mailing/view?reset=1&id=434

2 Quotes by Pema

“We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart.”
― Pema Chödrön

“Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not be squeamish about taking a good look.”
― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times

Definition of "Intention" - Zukav

"The WHY beneath all the other whys"