Click- An environment and values story for children

Click is a poetic story I wrote about a character, a camera named click. He is very observant, compassionate, mindful and learns to protect the environment and earth that he already loves so much. This is a children's story that would teach children positive character traits and inspire them to take care of the earth like Click.


Click was a very small camera with a very big heart

He was keen and observant and also quite smart

Click had a light that shone from within. He would shine his bright light on each thing he saw

Focusing closely, able to see more

Sometimes he zoomed, to see really close

He discovered great beauty and details that mattered most

Like all cameras, Click had the ability of amazing visibility

But a camera with a heart, you see, also holds sensitivity

Sensitivity and big hearts holds hands like best friends

The giving and caring and seeing don’t end

Big hearts love freely and then love some more

Big hearts feel tenderly and give kindness galore

On a day full of sunshine and the reminiscence of midnight rain

Click went a walking on a beach in chilly Maine

Click loved to walk and adored looking to see

Click skipped over the soft pebbly sand and was happy to be

He saw with his shutter eye but with his heart too

He saw the beauty of the ocean waves as they tickled the shore

When feeling grateful for the sunshine, it warmed his soul even more

He walked down toward the water, where the sand become slick

While walking he would stop, he would see, he would click

He would focus, zoom in, stop and click again

He saw a sailboat, a drifting cloud and a small brown wren

This was his way of superior visibility

This was the way he expressed sensitivity

This day, while observing, he saw something new
Deep in the ocean, crystal, sapphire and blue.

He walked along the edge of the waves

At first what he saw was an image of beauty… a glisten of sunlight on the sea salty sprays

He zoomed and he focused to see a bit closer

to capture the moment, he clicked

What happened after, you could not predict

All in one second, he caught a tiny flicker

He zoomed some more to see a bit quicker

Oh no! thought click as his big heart expanded

A grey seal sat still on the sand where it landed

Click thought something was wrong, but he wasn’t quite sure

He looked a bit closer, he focused some more

He observed that it struggled, then he felt sadness galore

He zoomed and he clicked, to see clearly the sight

He shined his flash, his inner light

And what a fright

The seal was caught in plastic bag

Click felt this was a tricky situation that could end up a real drag

Click asked a kind woman, with her children for help

She took one look at the scene and let out a small yelp

She told click this was even worse than it appeared

 And that she knew of some things that might seem kind of weird

But she told him of plastic and garbage and stuff

And that people have been using plastic bags more than enough

That they end up in streams and in oceans and sand

That it breaks down and contaminates our rivers and land

All kinds of animals can get tangled and distressed

That this is a problem that should be addressed

The seal could swallow these bags and stop breathing

These facts are sad, but hold lots of meaning

Click felt uncomfortable when he heard what she said

To feel this way, easy it is not

But caring is honorable and click gave it a shot

Now this seal had beauty as all animals do

A shiny black coat and a cute face too

Click saw clearly with his superior eye

Although he felt saddened , he also felt gladdenned

He was happy to be observant and catch this catastrophy

Because now he could do something stop this atrocity

But before he took action, the seal wriggled free

Click sighed with relief and was as glad as could be

The seal swam away and his beauty remained

This image to click was now deeply ingrained

He wished to prevent it from happening more

He thought about ways to help, while he strolled down the shore

He decided he could help when he went to the store

He learned a lesson this bright day

His tender sensitivity led the way

Each time he would shop he’d remember this day

The nice woman told him about recycling in more than one way

He could recycle the plastic bags from the store

Or ask for less plastic and use paper more

Or he could bring a bag of his own

Use it each time and bring it back home

Click kept on walking, focusing on the warmth of the sunshine once again

His heart warmed to know that in the deep sea beside him, in the sparkling beauty of sapphire blue

That seal was swimming past whispy green seaweed

Around bright orange fish and through refreshing waters

Able to enjoy his day too!

The Light Within

The light within

Sun creates lights

And the blocking of light creates shadow

The shape of the shadow matches the object blocking the light

The shadow only an effect of the blocking

The darkness only a temporary non existent illusion

Causing passing blindness and changeable confusion

Remove the block and the light shines on

The light ceases to end,  no night

It is only an illusion of perception

Cannot see but not gone only blocked

The light is always bright

It is only blocked by the shape of many deceptors

It is blocked by anger, sadness, despair

It is blocked by a person who gives up and doesn’t care

Yet it waits, patiently, always there

When you are ready to take the blocks down

It will flood back through you, shining brightly on all around

Shining on happily, joyfully abound

Rushing forward like a waterfall

Refreshing and pure

Consumption

Written by Sara, Chris, Simon, Brett, Olivia and Brother Man and Blue Cliff Monastery, Based on mindfulness training number 5 

www.bluecliffmonastery.com


The 5th Mindfulness Training-Nourishment and Health
This is our foundation, our inner wealth
Tell me a story of a soul broken open
To have and to hold over and over again
Show me what you have seen
Show me what you have loved
Show me what you have eaten, and heard
Show me your smile
Maybe the apples we've eaten were sisters on the same tree,
and now in us they can speak to each other again-tell me your story
What I eat-I am
I consume your story
Magazines and movies
Men who fight for glory
No more, stop.
I'm going back to wisdom
This is it my friend
Let's rejoice in the Kingdom
Yes indeed, to the end
Be wise, be kind
Be your self.


You don't have to cover up loneliness, anxiety, other suffering with consumption
Come back to the breath.
Please do pay attention
This is our life and we've got to make it happen-release the tension.
Don't live in apprehension.
Be free
Just Be

More, more, more
Give me more
Where's my satisfaction?
Satisfaction promised
but I don't get any traction
I don't buy into your faction
of overaction
Who are you?
Tell me true
Are you reflecting the flashing TV screen, white and blue?
Or are you reflecting the True inner you?
You can be yourself
Dont make who you are come out of a screen or off of a shelf.

View from a treetop

View from a treetop way up high from the tips of the leaves splayed out across the sky

The blue dessert above, open, serene and extending

The neighboring leaves, rustling and surrendering

Their movements conducted by the wind

Their music a gift to the air

Green and vibrant, circulating our breathing with care

Connecting us to the sun

Projecting life into our lungs

Selecting no one

Non-discrimination, one not more deserving of life than the other

A lesson, in each person, a sister and a brother

All inter-laced, each reflecting the same inner landscape

A family, a unit, a sangha

Only creating distance and discord by choice

Judgement and discrimination, causing separation

Only maintaining ignorance with discord of voice

Approaching another with hesitation

Turning pain into words, arrows of poison

Forgetting our breath, forgetting our mingling

Its time to remember, stop and look up at the tree

Breathe and release

Smile at another, feel the flood of inner peace

Speak in kindness, not in hate

Quiet the fear and seal the fate

The future is yours, a hidden gem inside you

The power sits in your words and awareness

Let go of the carelessness

White Geese

White Geese

I woke up this morning with a feeling of peace

An image of two white flying geese

Gliding south on late summer air

Almost cold

The flight of my grandparents, here to say hello

Delivering a message, within this poem

A visit from ancester’s past

The wind swirls up a few fallen leaves

The air is warm, the kind lusted in the early frozen spring

The message to embrace all seasons and all change

No guessing

A feeling of knowing in my bones

A connection to something beyond my knowing

Like a radio, it was always inside me

But within this frequency I can pick up the signal

I can feel the assurance that all is well

All is one

All is touched by its rays

like the sun as it lays

across each growing stalk of wheat in the open fields

Rising in the east and warming the brown earth

Creating the cycle, beginning with birth

I see a red barn, crochet needles, balls of yarn

I see words written in the sky

I see pride

I see the ocean, swells of waves

I see graves

I see babies, chubby and sweet

I see meals of vegetables and meat

I see sand, massaging the bottoms of bare feet

I see trees, tall, strong and old

I see grey hair, silver and bold

I see smiles and creases in faces

I see the spanse of the earth and the continents

Cosmic connection between all the spaces

I see hands holding, metaphorically

I see minds joined, euphorically

I see words imploring me

The path leads, lays unassumingly at my feet

I walk to the rhythm of the earths heart beat

My gait stands tall

My stride becomes confident and strong

As I hum the words of my ancestors song

Without logic, this transference

A lesson in ultimate occurances

Nothing begins and nothing ends

They are still with me, living on within my cells

Their wisdom runs like sap in my veins

Tappable with the sound of meditation bells

Failure a misguided notion in this game

More accuratelty alignment or not

No more logicating, and dangerously vibrating thought

The leaves kick up in the wind, and delightfully spin

Their laughter contagious

A smile unknowlingly takes form

Stop that deciding what is right or wrong

Happy or sad trumps good or bad

Happy means alignment with rightness

Joy means inner and outer lightness

Melt into the moment you were meant to be in

Feel each sensation as it creeps in

Smile my dear and breathe too

That’s all you need to do

Rainy Love

I am in love with rain, I want to shout from the depths of my being when I hear him tapping on my windows.
I am immediately transported to his magical world where everything grows
My soul eases into a peaceful sleep,
I pray the lord my soul to keep

The earth wrapping a rhythmic blanket around my existence
Not even a reminder of my normal resistance
I retreat in my bed, thick dreams swirl in and out of my head
vivid snippets and foggy clips of another time and place
Taking my aching and replacing with grace
Waking with peace, calmness abounds
Peeking outside to find that you are still around
Washing away sounds and soaking into the solid ground
 
Excited to start my morning with your damp dark soul
Awake my own
Chill my bones
You are now the reason I grow old
I can get through each day with your enveloping reminders, refreshing and bold
I fall into your arms with heavy sighs
You honor beginnings with your ceremonial goodbyes
Washing away the season of rawness, hard cold
Putting your arm around the ice and leading her to a cave that you hold 
Safe corners to place all past things
Summoning in the gentle spring
You take her hand and keep her safe
Nurturing her birth space
 
I quietly slip outside to feel your next move
Your comforting fluidity, silky and smooth
brushes your touch upon my delicate skin
I turn my face to meet your wind
Your refreshing droplets can softly wake me up
I'll let you fall into my steaming coffee cup
Overflow if you will
Ill swallow you like a thousand pills
Ill lose myself in you
Ill swim in your soft grey and dark blue

My yellow raincoat falls unoticed around my figure
I am no longer attached to the material, the slick plasticky world that insists on its rigor
The severity of life lets go of its tenacity
I surrender to the natural force of your gravity
Rain over me and wash me clean as you fall
Your are my only, my everything, my all
Splash around me and mingle with my soul
I am lost in your flow
You enable me to grow
I am no longer me or here
I no longer see or fear
Yet I am all this and all now
I honor you, I bend in reverence in a deep bow
Bravo, my love, my rain and renewal
All transformation comes through you.

Spirit of love

  An invincible force, 
She can carelessly skid off course
Yet she stays alive, even without the sensation of touch
stripped of most, not left with much

Even with the aching pain, illusion of the not forgotten
Waves of delusion, both ancient and modern
written on my skin, whispers like the wind

Love lives without sight
Living in love 
amidst a fight
Eyes unwittingly seeking, laying upon the image of all but it desires
Trapped in the muck and mire

She is giving nothing but the white light of spirit
She is flying high with the hawks, soaring freely through the sky

Earning the prize of adoration, nothing you can buy
Impossible, Probable, Undeniable

  given without the notion of handing it over
She is a spring breeze, kissing the clover

She is here, breathing. She is you, conscious. She is me, living
She is the pure notion of giving

 Love is taken by its own unique connection to another
Love is an open field in a tornado, void of protection and cover

She is nothing and all
She can defeat and entrall
The sparkling in an eye
The tormenting in goodbye
The beautiful bend in the branch of the tree
Her cost is pain, yet is priceless, an enigma, given free

She is the foundation of any worthy notion
She is small as a speck and wide as the ocean

She is unpredictable like the roll of the dice
Sour lemon juice, burns with the sharp knife slice
Yet sweet as the strawberry red and ripe

 No direction given from her desire

Yet here she burns, hot bright fire.

No inspection from his mind

Yet here we are, aligned.

Love alive with nothing defined 

Love poised tall, strong and thriving
Knowing of nothing but surviving

Growing like a weed,
strengthening our need 
Up, across and down, resistant, strong

Haunting with its ghost, unsatisfied that it wont belong
A unmistakable existence that has come along
Scratching to come undone

Feel her running behind you, so you cant hide
Turn around and she's gone, like sand in the tide

Familiar anguish of the invisible truth that exists

Washing gently over the empty wave of ruthlessness

Teardrops

Anger, a poisonous snake, a slithering black belly through her veins

Revealing your neon green slits of eyes for which you’re famed

Sliding, Siberian self, slyly 

Shimmering in your slivering, silvery scaly projection wryly

Shoving through fallen cracking leaves drying

 

Screams of terror ring emphatically in her head

Gut wrenching, heart pounding, fear and dread

Running over a tiny path in a deep dark space

Her long whipping hair sticking to her feverish face

Her sweat beading, her soul bleeding

Cracked by the wild wind, down trodden and chagrined

 

Feet pounding the ground.

Close to silence, the only lonely sound

Thud, Thud, smacking of the soles on the frozen dirt

Her breathing perceptible beneath her thin shirt

Heartbeats pounding matching the thud

Slipping on the spring mud

Falling, freely to the ground

Accepting defeat, no one else around

She wipes the tears streaming down her dirty face

Her feelings are heated and out of place

 

The snake returns and smiles blindly

She returns the sentiment all too kindly

He hisses and turns and goes on his way

She breathes relief and starts to unfray

Lying down on scratchy leaves

Giving in to what she truly believes

Sobbing gently turning to her side

The past notions subside

Tear slips down

Hits the ground

Beads into a mystical sphere

Beauty erases fear

Sunshine

Sunshine, be mine, align with the one inside

Beg me to come outside and not hide

possess me to laugh and run

mess with me

have some fun

Create the joy within my soul and eyes

Give me your prize

Tan me, warm me

Sparkle and Adorn me

Splash across the trees

Aim to please

Gift me with a day long and bright

Calm my nerves, end my fight

Stretch across the horizon, reach your rays

Let us rejoice and sing your praise

Lay me down on the tingly grass

Reflect images of colors off every glass

Let my hair down in the western wind

Blowing away my winter sins

Drape me in strapless and short denim shorts

Paint my toes and play me in sports

Beautiful Sun I beg you so

Im dying this March for you to know

How much I crave you and need you badly

I see you creeping in and smile gladly

I release a deep sigh within my bones

To know you soon will quiet this Jones.

 

Evolution of Love

Bleeding hearts hang low off the branches, wanting to drop off, tired and imperceptible to the passerby.
Pink droopy beauties feeling unfresh and delicate
Her eyes felt struck, almost in pain when their eyes first met
She, a flower ending its season, its brightness dulled
A woman ending her treason
A heart full
Feelings flood in and seasons run out
Summers end
Hearts Mend

She feels pain in her insides where it rolls around and gets stuck
She attributes her fiobles and follies to luck
She wishes on stars
She covers her scars
She lends herself to him freely, becoming the one who is jailed 
She takes it as poison when it has failed
The weight on her shoulders for each heart broken
The loss of the love or the lie or the token
The ending too heavy a burden to bear
Ingesting her share



Leaving behind the pain of the past
Reaching with passion, wanting of something to last
His eyes are soothing to the heat of her soul
His hands are smoothing to her heart black as coal
Her eyes shone like diamonds, once rough and wild
Tempered to a gleam
Projecting their beam
Her lips curl into a smile
She seeks refuge in denial 
 

She pushed denial until it molded into truth
Accepting the judgement of her own youth
Creating the space needed for stretching
Denying the retching
Beyond the comfort of the zone of her knowing
Into the horizon of the raw gnawing showing
Of Self to the self and authenticity to the show
To know. To be. To grow

Message to my daughters, on beauty

 

Beauty.

What is beauty.  Definition- according to Mirriam Webster.com: 

1

the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit : loveliness

2

: a beautiful person or thing; especially : a beautiful woman

3

: a particularly graceful, ornamental, or excellent quality

4

: a brilliant, extreme, or egregious example or instance<that mistake was a beauty>

5

What is this thing called beauty we strive for. Do we feel the need to BE something that others CALL beauty. There are obvious reasons, like it feels nice be admired but this has become an obsession, an unhealthy preoccupation. We try to do what we think is pleasurable to the senses, what has aesthetic value. Is it perfection? Not really, but it is somewhat the absence of flaws..or at least the non sensing of flaws…none on the surface, none registered by the eye. Visual perfection or at least the visual perception of perfection which can only be so in the "eye of the beholder" so can never be accomplished as all perceptions vary. It is like trying to harness light, ever changing, color shifting and by nature malleable and fleeting. So, it (beauty) is not perfection. And we can all think of personal examples of non perfect yet extraordinarily beautiful things. But when we, as women try to attain beauty, we are trying to be "perfect". We actively look at each part of ourselves and decifer if this part is needing improvement. When we decide a part, such as say, our arms, nose, lips, breasts, hips, eyes, hair, toenails, thigh or ear are not perfect we spend endless hours and money on working to “fix” it. We subconsciously compare our selves to the hundreds of images that bombard us each day. We judge ourselve, become attahced to the images projected upon us, needing to become that. But that is not YOU. That is only how you look on the outside. And here is a big problem, I want you to NOT get fooled by. Most images you will see projected in our society only reflect a small sliver of what beauty can look like. The images you see are beautiful. I will not claim they are not. Please differentiate that they are not YOU. Please be aware that they usually show one TYPE of beauty. Most times you will see images of women who are lacking imperfections and individuality. Most times you will see women who are very thin, you will see certain body parts accentuated and you will see women who seem to possess every single pretty feature. This is RARE! MOST women have one or two "pretty" features and that's it. And some might seem to have none. Yet, every single woman possesses beauty in her own right. YOU are BEAUTIFUL. Every single piece of your spirit and body is absolute miraculous beauty. OWN it! All else is only a fashion statement designed and constructed by another person. An idea of camoflage. A notion of aesthetics. It may look beautiful and you may feel great when you try it, but you need to maintain your own beauty that is PART of you and stays within when you are stark naked and unadorned. Because nothing else will last. Because all outside decorations are not lasting and if you become attached will be desparate for more, because there will always be more and never be enough.

 

The sheer, honest reality is that many of us do not feel beautiful and do feel incomplete without the idea of achieving perfection. I think we have an inner need to attain becoming the best (or prettiest) we can be. And then we take that theory put it on steroids and lose the concept of being the best “me” and replace it, unknowingly with whatever society deems “best” Or whatever our peers or loved ones decide to be “best” Do you think of what your friends would wear when you buy clothes? Why? Or do you think about what your boyfriend want you to wear? Why? You wear it, on your body. Shouldn’t it be what you feel is best? Sure, you want their approval and appraisal but then again if what makes you feel good and is your style isn’t their style, why would that matter? Listen, whatever you do, people will judge you anyway. But then they will move on to judging someone else and you will HOLD on to their judgement. REALLY, only your own judgement of yourself matters in this case. And if you feel like an amazing goddess in that pink dress or completely comfortable and at peace in that old white tee and faded jeans, doesn’t the joy of that feeling trump anything else? Doesn’t it mean more than the logical two second approval of another persons mind? Now, I know you are concerned that if you are not getting check marks in the list of beautiful features, then you are fearing you will not be loved or liked.  Sorry, I hate to break it to you but number one, this is not true love,it is simply admiration and not worth giving up your self.  Number two, this is only an issue of self esteem, and is getting band aided by pretty clothes, makeup, body image and jewelry…its an expensive habit too, because as those clothes cover up your pain, your pain grows, it is a temporary fix, and then the clothes go out of style and you need to buy more. 

 

Okay, you say, then how CAN I be beautiful without the wrong intentions or low self esteem, because, I don’t want to be ugly right? It is not possible for you to be ugly. You encompass true spiritual beauty and light within yourself, and only need to allow it to shine. We all do. It is not easy. It can be very challenging. But it is the right way. Remember,  what is beauty? Is it internal or external? Is it okay to be beautiful inside and out? Is it okay to be beautiful on the outside? Is it good? Should we all just stop brushing our hair and all wear mud each day? Well, there is something to be said about the absence of vanity but in this case, in my opinion, it is okay to be as beautful and vibrant in and out as you were made to be and as you can be. And you can do that in whatever way you FEEL best.  I believe the most important aspects of beauty are inner joy, good health, and alignment with your true self. 

 

When you have these things you are truly beautiful. The friends and loved ones you attract will see this is you and will see that you ARE beautiful BECAUSE of this and that is a real assessment and a true relationship. True love is a connection of one true self to another true self. True beauty is a light that shines so brightly from within you that people cant help but feel happier just because you are near. True beauty is a kind heart that stops to lift up the spirit of a stranger who seems sad just by offering a random compliment or a smile. A beautiful girl is one who isnt afraid to laugh or smile. A beautiful woman shows that she treats others and herself with kindess and respect. True beauty is honoring the truth and being genuine, even if others think less of you for it. True beauty is not minding if others think less of you because you allow others the right to their own opinions and perceptions and you have absolutely no doubt that none of that changes who you are or what you stand for. True beauty can see enjoy another persons success without thinking it takes away from your own, knowing that her journey and his journey are on paths that do not interfere or define your own.  After all that. anything you do on the outside is just added adornment. It is fleeing, impermanent fun. It is a tool, a means of promoting temporary good feelings. It is not important, not gut wrenchingly, soul searchingly vital.