Women at Rest

How to Be Alone by Tanya Davis

I. LOVE. THIS. I love this so much I want to marry it. I love this so much I'm posting it everywhere I can. Poetry made visible and oh so soothing, inspiring and lovely.

"If you're happy in your head then solitude is blessed and alone is OK."

Please give yourself the 4-minute gift of watching this.

The Word

 
Down near the bottom
of the crossed-out list
of things you have to do today,

between "green thread"
and "broccoli" you find
that you have penciled "sunlight."

Resting on the page, the word
is as beautiful, it touches you
as if you had a friend

and sunlight were a present
he had sent you from some place distant
as this morning—to cheer you up,

and to remind you that,
among your duties, pleasure
is a thing,

that also needs accomplishing
Do you remember?
that time and light are kinds

of love, and love
is no less practical
than a coffee grinder

or a safe spare tire?
Tomorrow you may be utterly
without a clue

but today you get a telegram,
from the heart in exile
proclaiming that the kingdom

still exists,
the king and queen alive,
still speaking to their children,

—to any one among them
who can find the time,
to sit out in the sun and listen.

Tony Hoagland

Photo by (and of) Amanda.

The Lake of Beauty

Let your mind be quiet, realising the beauty of the world,
and the immense, the boundless treasures that it holds in store.
All that you have within you, all that your heart desires,
all that your Nature so specially fits you for —
that or the counterpart of it waits embedded in the great Whole, for you.
It will surely come to you.

Yet equally surely not one moment before its appointed time
will it come. All your crying and fever and reaching out of
hands will make no difference.
Therefore do not begin that game at all.
Do not recklessly spin the waters of your mind
in this direction and in that,
lest you become like a spring lost and dissipated in the desert.

But draw them together into a little compass, and hold them still, so still;
And let them become clear, so clear — so limpid, so mirror-like;
at last the mountains and the sky shall glass themselves in peaceful beauty,
And the antelope shall descend to drink, and to gaze at her reflected image,
and the lion to quench his thirst,
and Love himself shall come and bend over, and catch his own likeness in you.

Edward Carpenter

Photo by The 10 cent designer.

Toddler Wisdom

Rest can happen anytime, anywhere.

Photo of Ivy by Pixie Campbell

Gimme a break -- oh wait, that's my responsibility -- and a few self-soothing affirmations

    

It's that time of the month when thunder's sweeping underground and the void rumbles in. This morning I asked God for encouragement, as I have been seriously questioning for quite some time whether S/he is done with me.

Business at a standstill, no relationship, an impossible crush, no real burning desire to DO anything specific . . . other than to live healthier (which I'm doing) and return to Prague. It's been 17 years since I lived there, and over the past 6 months my longing to visit has intensified tenfold.

Also, I must confess, every once in a while I need a serious break from the live your best life mentality. Thank God for people -- life coaches, etc. -- devoted to encouraging others to follow their dreams and come alive. I truly don't mean to offend anyone. But my obsession with Facebook means I read hundreds of messages a day invoking me to strive for more, do more, open up more, aim for more, achieve more, earn more, BE more More MORE.

And it's fucking exhausting.

Especially with a brain like mine which constantly tells me I'm not [fill in the blank] enough.

But then this morning's blessing also came from Facebook. It read:

Today, God's message for you is to take a break.

Ahhhhh. Thank you. So, I'm trying to let myself take a break. Relaxing mentally. Candle lit. Writing here. Listening to a favorite CD, Drum Medicine by David & Steve Gordon.

I need to stay in easy gentle action today, because that is what best soothes my mind. I'm also getting human touch this afternoon by way of a good haircut. :) I'm giving myself permission to be OK as I am in this very moment.

I am enough. I am wanted.

I am valuable regardless of what I do or don't do.

I am loved and taken care of by a Power greater than myself.

There is Today and Only Today

Sufficient to today are the duties of today.
Don’t waste life in doubts and fears;
spend yourself on the work before you;
well assured that the right performance of this hour’s duties
will be the best preparation.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Photo by petitshoo.

Love Does That by Meister Eckhart

All day long a little burro labors, sometimes
with heavy loads on her back and sometimes just with worries
about things that bother only
burros.

And worries, as we know, can be more exhausting
than physical labor.

Once in a while a kind monk comes
to her stable and brings
a pear, but more
than that,

he looks into the burro's eyes and touches her ears

and for a few seconds the burro is free
and even seems to laugh,

because love does
that.

Love frees.

Sunday Morning

The only real rest comes
when you're alone with God.

~Rumi

Can You Hear It Calling You?

"Our culture is so filled with bombast, quiet is intensified." ~Unknown

(Photo by amma_maw.)

A Momentary Breather

"The concept of living one day at a time simplifies my life enormously. I have to make sensible plans for my future, but I don't have to write scenarios about the outcome, and make myself anxious and fearful." ~From Living in the Day