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(Friend Friday returns next week!)
Andrew, my husband, surprised me with tickets to see the wonderful poet, Mary Oliver, at Royce Hall last night. We barely made it. The entire family has been down and out with the flu. But I gathered myself, knowing he’d planned this surprise for 2 months, and hoisted myself into the car.
I’m so glad I did. Mary Oliver is exquisite under any circumstances, but after two days of complete surrender and delirium, there’s something even more potent about the simplicity of her message. She speaks directly to the yearning heart. She speaks directly to the part of us that knows that every moment, there is beauty to be feasted upon. The world is remarkable, she says. Stop to breathe it in. Respond to it, she says. Let your heart feel the world.
Mary Oliver is particularly in love with her dog, Percy. She read us four poems about Percy last night. She says she’d like to make him famous. (She has a great and delightful sense of humor). Here are two poems about Percy that leave me feeling light and thankful.
Percy (Nine)
Your friend is coming I say
to Percy, and name a name
and he runs to the door, his
wide mouth in its laugh-shape,
and waves, since he has one, his tail.
Emerson, I am trying to live,
as you said we must, the examined life.
But there are days I wish
there was less in my head to examine,
not to speak of the busy heart. How
would it be to be Percy, I wonder, not
thinking, not weighing anything, just running forward.
******
I Ask Percy How I Should Live My Life (Ten)
Love, love, love says Percy.
And hurry as fast as you can
along the shining beach, or the rubble, or the dust.
Then, go to sleep.
Give up your body heat, your beating heart.
Then, trust.
These are the names of the classes, workshops and talks I’ve given over the last 15 years:
Risk, Radiance and Relationship
Write your life; Act your Heart
Here there is no fear
The Alchemy of Love
Standing in the Heart’s Great Silence
Charting New Ways to Live Love
Practicing Radical Gestures of Love
Experiential Astrology
Fertile Ground and Wild Blossoming: Liberating Love through Astrology and the Expressive Arts
The Courage to Live Love
Radiant Life
***
There are others, but these come to mind immediately. Do you sense a theme?
I am happy as I read these because I feel the slow and steady unfoldment or progression of my life’s message. In some ways, I’ve been saying the same thing for the last 20 years. And in other ways, I’ve been refining and refining that same message, discovering it’s intricacies and complexities.
I always say I want to talk about Love, but it becomes increasingly clear that LOVE needs to be broken down, translated, understood in a whole new way. Every time I name a class or a talk or a blog anew, I learn something about how I’m living my message now. I learn something about how to talk about love with greater clarity and precision.
Radiant Life captures my message now. It includes the power of the heart and the choice — moment to moment – to open or close. (BTW-A teacher of mine once said that the light of the human heart is equal to the light of 10,000 suns. I’m not sure that can be proven, but I believe it. Now that’s radiance).
I wonder what you, kind reader, have been saying for most of your life? I wonder what message you have been refining? Sometimes it’s glorious to make yourself a list or a map to see how far you have already traveled.
Sending streams of UNREASONABLE love your way.
On Fridays, I’m going to introduce you to my friends–one at a time.
I’m going to do this because I believe when we are introduced to someone with words from the heart, they become a part of our community. Our community grows. Our circle of care extends.
I love meeting someone, learning about their dreams or needs and feeling into whether I have something to offer. I love connecting people. I love helping others take the next right step in their lives.
So, I’m going to introduce you to people I love. And it may inspire you. You may have something to offer. You may have a message for someone I introduce. He or she may have something to offer you. I want to offer the dance of connection. I want to grow a community that is steeped in love and inclusivity and care.
Meet Meredyth Hunt
Meredyth is kick ass. She is one of the most highly capable, wildly expressive, playful friends I have.
Let’s break it down. When I first met Meredyth, we were studying hand analysis with Terry-Linn Snider. Meredyth was Terry-Linn’s assistant and helped to facilitate the entire class. She was gloriously organized, very serious and completely committed. This is the role I usually play in a group. I was somehow deeply relieved that I didn’t have to play the role and also hugely impressed with the way she held the room. So, first off, if you want to get something done in an incredibly organized fashion with a ton of integrity, Meredyth is your gal.
Now, little did I know what hid underneath Meredyth’s composed demeanor. She’s a wild woman — in every best sense of the word. She is prolifically creative and DARING.
(Did you notice I capitalized all those letter?) It goes something like this: She has an idea, let’s say, for a little performance. It’s usually a bolt out of the blue– a very intuitive hit. She walks out on a limb, dresses the part, and creates something extraordinary. She surprises and enlivens and leaves everyone laughing way too hard.
The picture above is from my daughter Kate’s 5th birthday party. She created a party for her that no one will soon forget. Her entrance was out of a 7 foot, welded (and then covered in paper and glue and chicken wire) egg. She emerged as some extraordinary bird. The faces of the children were not to be believed.
I could go on about the party, but let’s put it this way. Are you wanting to throw an unforgettable, completely original shin-dig to celebrate something or someone?
CONTACT MEREDYTH. She’s like a party planner with a brilliant twist. She’s both the ‘talent’ and the ‘suit.’ That is, she entertains like no one’s business AND she’s also fully capable of keeping the show running on time without a glitch.
Okay, what else? Meredyth is also an amazing hand analyst. Want to know about your life lessons? Want to get a glimpse of your life purpose? Want to learn whole new skill sets to make your life work better? Have a reading with her. Check out her site.
Finally, let me say that Meredyth is like a great natural force. She can envelop you in her big love. Feeling a bit rattled? Need some grounded, deep loving care? Meredyth knows how to wrap herself around you and breathe stability back into your whole being.
In short, I hope you get to know Meredyth if you don’t already. I hope you get to brainstorm with her, create with her, play with her. She is one of my daughter’s favorite people. And I think that says a lot.
Get a hand reading! Use her to plan something extraordinary. Tap into this bottomless well of creativity and brilliance.
Fear occurs when love stops short of infinity.
-Sofia Diaz (http://www NULL.sofiayoga NULL.com) (And maybe first, Adi da)
We can change.
We do change.
It’s glorious to change.
I am ripe with the full, flowing CHANGE present in my life right now.
Too often, I hear, we are stuck. We won’t change that much in our life time. We are stubborn and ill equipped.
I’m here to say that change is rippling through my body and changing me at a cellular level.
And it’s a simple change on a certain level.
It’s a subtle inner change– but it’s making all the difference in my life.
It’s about the beauty of receptivity and flow. It’s about welcoming and riding a full emotional spectrum.
It’s about the bliss of intimacy and true connection.
It’s about bodily PLEASURE and exquisite receptivity.
I am changing as I write. Every moment a new cell in my body is shifting and saying “Yes! Yes, I will open. Yes, I will open to love.”
My body is turning to light.
I am changing.
______
I love this poem. My friend sent it to me. HER friend from childhood wrote it and shared it with her.
The change that I feel is glowing in this poem. It’s by Ingrid Goff-Maidoff.
***
OUR POEM WHICH IS INFINITE
(a love poem for my husband)
Tonight your words draw me back
into the poem in which we are living.
It is a rich and merciful poem
and it spins its warm story around us
drawing our bodies down
into the urgency of our belonging.
How is it that we, neither holy nor wise,
could live in this beautiful poem?
It is the fire we tend with our kindling,
the table we cover with bread,
the altar we make bare for offerings,
the pitcher we empty and fill.
On Fridays, I’m going to introduce you to my friends–one at a time.
I’m going to do this because I believe when we are introduced to someone with words from the heart, they become a part of our community. Our community grows. Our circle of care extends.
I love meeting someone, learning about their dreams or needs and feeling into whether I have something to offer. I love connecting people. I love helping others take the next right step in their lives.
So, I’m going to introduce you to people I love. And it may inspire you. You may have something to offer. You may have a message for someone I introduce. He or she may have something to offer you. I want to offer the dance of connection. I want to grow a community that is steeped in love and inclusivity and care.
Meet Elizabeth Rainer.
She has been my true blue dear sweet buddy for 20 years. I met her in Grad School.
I was one year ahead of her and was assigned to help welcome her to the school. I was her “buddy.” We’ve been supporting each other and nudging one another to grow and celebrating life with one another ever since. She was at the births of both of my children. She was with me when my Grandmother died. She has documented (in photos) every major event of my life for the last 20 years.
Elizabeth is an artist. She is a brilliant actress as well as a visual artist. She leaves beauty in her wake. She is also a bit of a white witch and knows how to create magical rituals, helping others to celebrate major life moments.
She is a listener extraordinaire and a fierce protector of those she loves.
She is strong and works harder than almost anyone I know. She wants to grow, to excel and to deliver excellent work.
Elizabeth has recently moved to NY to be with her fiance and his children. Her home life is thriving and now she is searching for the next right opening in her career.
She is looking for right livelihood. She is looking to manifest tangibly. LIke so many of us, she is searching for the meeting of her gifts and a sustaining salary!
So, do you live in New York?
Do you know someone who needs someone amazing like this in her/his employ?
Do you need a beautiful piece of art or an original card? (Visit Elizabethrainer.com (http://www NULL.elizabethrainer NULL.com))
Do you know someone she should meet? Just because you have a feeling she should….
As a community, let’s brainstorm and see what emerges….
Big love to you all.
A Radiant Life. What is that? What is radiance?
I think of a sun. I think of consistency. I think of shining forth or shining 360. I think of a presence that fills a room or fills a heart. I think of holding nothing back, bestowing one’s gifts, offering what one has to offer. I think of a look in one’s eye that says, “I’m here with you.”
Astrologically, Saturn is a planet associated with structure, discipline, commitment and determination. It can also represent areas in which we are afraid, overly cautious or tentative. Wherever Saturn falls in our chart, we have something to work out. We have an opportunity to apply ourselves to tackling our insecurities or our perceived feelings of lack.
A teacher of mine once said, “Fear is when love stops short of Infinity.” Saturn is the planet of practical application and commitment. Here’s the opportunity. Can we all apply ourselves in a determined, rhythmic, disciplined way to offer LOVE to the areas in our lives that feel most vulnerable and pathetic? I think this is part of living a Radiant Life– offering love as a consistent practice no matter how wretched or afraid we feel.
My dear sister-in-law recently commented on my Facebook page that she didn’t feel very radiant but she’d still like “to be a fan” of Radiant Life. I suggested it’s rare for us to consistently feel radiant but that the commitment to practicing RADIANCE is the key. Why not practice feeling our heart as a sun that can blast through all obstruction with the power of light and the depth of love?
It was a glorious day here in Los Angeles yesterday. It was clear and bright and crisp. It felt like a perfect autumn day on the East Coast. All day long, I kept breathing the beauty of the day into my heart.
Lately, I’ve been exploring the theme of PLEASURE in my life. How can I enjoy each moment more? How can I relax and receive? How can I appreciate the sweetness and fullness and ease of the hour?
My exploration — putting my attention on discovering something new in this area– is succeeding. The time I spend with my husband is richer and more playful. The time I spend with my family isn’t as charged with my own inner monologue: “This is all well and good, but there’s work to be done!” I’ve even been watching Mad Men –the first TV I’ve watched consistently since ER. (Ridiculous, I know.)
Anyway, today I had a mini revelation about the connection of pleasure and beauty. The more I surround myself with beauty and am willing to see the beauty that abounds, the more my body softens into pleasure. As long as I look at the world and see duty, angularity, lists and a ticking clock, my body freezes and stands at attention and prepares to BE RESPONSIBLE and ACCOMPLISH. When, instead, I take even a moment to breathe in something beautiful and really let that beauty move over my heart, my whole body responds with receptivity.
Imagine yourself anywhere now in the immensity of nature. (I love the Redwoods). And put yourself in the center of Nature’s abundance. And breathe. And feel your body respond with awe and pleasure and willingness to let go.
Beauty begets pleasure. Attention to beauty begets luscious embodied EASE. What is beautiful in your life? Soak it in.
Feel your “to do” list change instantaneously.
Big Fat Love to you all.
Bone
1.
Understand, I am always trying to figure out
what the soul is,
and where hidden,
and what shape -
and so, last week,
when I found on the beach
the ear bone
of a pilot whale that may have died
hundreds of years ago, I thought
maybe I was close
to discovering something -
for the ear bone
2.
is the portion that lasts longest
in any of us, man or whale; shaped
like a squat spoon
with a pink scoop where
once, in the lively swimmer’s head,
it joined its two sisters
in the house of hearing,
it was only
two inches long -
and thought: the soul
might be like this -
so hard, so necessary -
3.
yet almost nothing.
Beside me
the gray sea
was opening and shutting its wave-doors,
unfolding over and over
its time-ridiculing roar;
I looked but I couldn’t see anything
through its dark-knit glare;
yet don’t we all know, the golden sand
is there at the bottom,
though our eyes have never seen it,
nor can our hands ever catch it
4.
lest we would sift it down
into fractions, and facts -
certainties -
and what the soul is, also
I believe I will never quite know.
Though I play at the edges of knowing,
truly I know
our part is not knowing,
but looking, and touching, and loving,
which is the way I walked on,
softly,
through the pale-pink morning light.
~ Mary Oliver ~
(Why I Wake Early)
___________
On this rainy Los Angeles morning, these words touch me: Looking and Touching and Loving.
The words are not “Fixing and Pushing and Yearning.” They are Looking and Touching and Loving. This is our job. Looking at what is before us – not judging, not trying to see something different, not straining. But seeing the simplicity of what is present.
Our job is touching. I touch my son’s soft blonde head, my daughter’s cheek, my husband’s hand. It’s a touch of love.
Our job is loving. Loving everything. Loving the wretchedness. Loving the weight of sadness I feel this morning. Loving the bewilderment we sometimes feel as life unfolds.
When we love, we open. We let something in. We receive it and we hold it. We don’t repress it, smash it, belittle it.
Mary Oliver is remarkable in how she offers herself to the natural world with such humility and devotion. She has no need to be anywhere but where she is with complete openness and wonder and awe. She is my inspiration to live simply and with great gratitude–Looking and Touching and Loving.
Jupiter just entered Pisces a couple of weeks ago. Jupiter spends one full year in each sign, so the shift is significant. My experience of this shift has been a fuller bandwidth of feeling. The river within is deeper, wilder and not as easily contained.
There is tremendous compassion that pours through Pisces and Jupiter will emphasize this. I sense that the flood of Pisces feeling is actually helping to open Humanity’s heart.
We can surrender — in the best sense– to this flood of feeling. We do not need to be swept away, but we do need to allow ourselves to be MOVED– to let the water of feeling carry us to someplace new.
I’ve spent a good part of my life subtly avoiding full feeling and being proud of it. My inner monologue has often sounded something like this: “I’m good at keeping it all together. Why is everyone else such a wreck? Why waste my time feeling sorry for myself?” Now I am experiencing the healing and relief of a soft, full belly after a torrent of tears. Now I am experiencing the full breath that moves through my body like a wave of pure pleasure.
Think of Jupiter in Pisces as The Great Rain –cleansing us, soaking us, washing away our hardness. Imagine yourself choosing to go out into a summer down pour. Turn your face towards the sky. Taste the rain on your face. Feel your clothing heavy against your skin. And let go.
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