John Francis TED Talk - I Walk the Earth

When Death Comes - Mary Oliver

photo credit: Hamed Saber via photopin cc

When death comes


like the hungry bear in autumn;


when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse

to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;


when death comes


like the measles-pox;

when death comes


like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,

I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:


what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?

And therefore I look upon everything


as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,


and I look upon time as no more than an idea,


and I consider eternity as another possibility,

and I think of each life as a flower, as common


as a field daisy, and as singular,

and each name a comfortable music in the mouth


tending as all music does, toward silence,

and each body a lion of courage, and something


precious to the earth.

When it’s over, I want to say: all my life


I was a bride married to amazement.


I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it is over, I don’t want to wonder


if I have made of my life something particular, and real.


I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,


or full of argument.

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.

Seeking - Cheri Huber

photo credit: *Kicki* via photopin cc

"If we didn't already know the experience of what we're looking for, we would never look.  It simply would not occur to us...

We begin to seek - where, what is that which we long for, our essence, our True Nature, that which we truly are? - and slowly, painstakingly we begin to follow it home.  Haltingly, fearfully, sometimes excitedly, joyfully, we begin to follow it back to itself, back to who we really are.

What we are looking for is causing us to look.  That's why we need not go anywhere, do anything, learn more, figure it out, worry about going wrong.  We need only stop, sit down, be still, and pay attention."

~ from That Which You Are Seeking is Causing You to Seek

Quote from Father Bede Griffiths - from "The Hope" by Andrew Harvey

photo credit: Sarjana Sky via photopin cc

When, through grace, you are taken to one horizon of Awakening, another, even vaster, opens up before you.  Even the highest angels are evolving, drawn ever upward in a passion of love for love.

SPIRITUAL CONSPIRACY - Anonymous Author

I stumbled upon the following poem on this blog ...


On the surface of the world right now there is war and violence and things seem dark.
But calmly and quietly, at the same time, something else is happening underground
An inner revolution is taking place and certain individuals are being called to a higher light.
It is a silent revolution.
From the inside out.
From the ground up.
This is a global operation; a Spiritual Conspiracy.

There are sleeper cells in every nation on the planet.
You wont see us on the T.V.
You won’t read about us in the newspaper
You won’t hear about us on the radio
We don’t seek any glory
We don’t wear any uniform
We come in all shapes and sizes, colors and styles
Most of us work anonymously

We are quietly working behind the scenes in every country and culture of the world
Cities big and small, mountains and valleys, in farms and villages, tribes and remote islands
You could pass by one of us on the street and not even notice
We go undercover
We remain behind the scenes
It is of no concern to us who takes the final credit
But simply that the work gets done
Occasionally we spot each other in the street
We give a quiet nod and continue on our way

During the day many of us pretend we have normal jobs
But behind the false storefront at night, this is where the real work takes a place
Some call us the Conscious Army

We are slowly creating a new world with the power of our minds and hearts

We follow, with passion and joy
Our orders come from the Central Spiritual Intelligence
We are dropping soft, secret love bombs when no one is looking
Poems, Hugs, Music, Photography, Movies, Kind words, Smiles, Meditation and prayer, Dance, Social activism, Websites, Blogs, Random acts of kindness…
We each express ourselves in our own unique ways with our own unique gifts and talents

“Be the change you want to see in the world”
That is the motto that fills our hearts
We know it is the only way real transformation takes place
We know that quietly and humbly we have the power of all the oceans combined
Our work is slow and meticulous like the formation of mountains
It is not even visible at first glance
And yet with it entire tectonic plates shall be moved in the centuries to come

Love is the new religion of the 21st century
You don’t have to be a highly educated person
Or have any exceptional knowledge to understand it
It comes from the intelligence of the heart
Embedded in the timeless evolutionary pulse of all human beings

“Be the change you want to see in the world”
Nobody else can do it for you
We are now recruiting
Perhaps you will join us
Or already have.
All are welcome
The door is open
Are you in?
* * * * *

I'm a new fan of Dr. Christine Page! 



Dr. Christine Page, "Healing and Knowing Your Body" ISSSEEM Conference from BVMA on Vimeo.

How Does It Taste? - A parable shared by Mark Nepo

photo credit: paul (dex) via photopin cc

An aging Hindu master grew tired of his apprentice complaining, and so, one morning, sent him for some salt.  When the apprentice returned, the master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it.

"How does it taste?" the master asked.
"Bitter," spit the apprentice.

The master chuckled and then asked the young man to take the same handful of salt and put it in the lake.  The two walked in silence to the nearby lake, and once the apprentice swirled his handful of salt in the water, the old man said, "Now drink from the lake."


As the water dripped down the young man's chin, the master asked, "How does it taste?"

"Fresh," remarked the apprentice.
"Do you still taste the salt?" asked the master.
"No," said the young man.

At this, the master sat beside the serious young man who so reminded him of himself and took his hands, offering, "The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less.  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."

~ from Nepo's The Book of Awakening

Best Questions Series - Post #1

What did you marry?

What did you divorce?

~ posed to me by Charque Newell, December 2011

Questions Tennis - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

I love questions and I love the idea for this game: 

Krista Tippett on Being Podcasts

I heard this for the first time last night - an episode about Roseanne Cash. WOW!

Authentic Resonance - Paula Reeves

Every woman must find a clear and clean connection to her body and the full range of her feelings before she can trust her own intuitive capacity.  A woman must learn how to give voice to her emotional position without the messiness of an undifferentiated mood - or the fear of revealing her power.  We have to learn to like the sound of our own voice, teaching ourselves not to allow it, neglected, to become wistful, strident, or faint.  We have to develop the courage not to apologize when we realize that others disagree or know more.  As females in a male-oriented culture, we each must learn how to recognize and value our own genuine innocence without trading in the counterfeit coin of seductive stupidity or contrived helplessness to conceal our fear of rejection.

At times, we simply will not know how to articulate what we are truly feeling until we express ourselves exactly as it comes out.  It is a gift of maturity to be willing to assert yourself, name your feelings, and then say, "No, that is not exactly it.  I want to restate myself."  No apology, no embarrassment, no defensiveness, no lies.

~ Women's Intuition by Paula M. Reeves, Ph.D.

Unchanging Awareness - Richard Miller

I have been doing Yoga Nidra off and on for about 10 years.  Yesterday when I was following one of Richard Miller's guided sessions, something he said jumped out at me:

...being aware of all that's now in awareness...peeling back...dissolving into being unchanging awareness in which all the changing perceptions are unfolding...

Movement - Einstein

Something is moving.

~ Einstein, in answer to a query as to whether there was anything he knew for sure.