Pre K Mothers Day

A bright spring day

Eyes fall on fresh new flowers, born of April and May

Colorful, bright and cheerful, bouncing like the happy rubber ball,

released from the child's jubilant chubby hands

Soft, warm, grasping, small

Laughter bubbles up into the air around the old trees

Standing proud and tall

Mirroring mother below

Smiling and nodding along

Her child's giggle a happy song

Soothes her soul, makes worth of the drudgery

Her own hands, older, dry, busy

Taming hair, preparing meals, wiping away the dirty

On a journey far from days past

Abroad from the mind

Once and yet still sharp and fast

A girl once, a scholar, a woman carving out dreams and career

Surrounded by friends, plans and events

Now singular and solitary plus two

Surroundings new

Complete change of internal view

Sounds of heel clicks and insightful musing replaced by

pitter patter, playground perusing

Simple conversation

Though knowing more 

New Occupation

Their growth, her allure

Interpreter to child, making sense of the confusing

The world to them, big, new, scary and amazing

Gratitude for these waning moments as her eyes are grazing

She sets them, tired yet content upon her young

These years, soon to be a memory neatly packaged into a single bundle

As they once were years ago, small, sweet bundles of pink

4 and 5 years past in a wink

Almost a blur

A myriad of smiles, tears, growth, sputtering and thriving

Miracle of surviving

As a mother and woman she seeks no less than the strength of the tree trunk she now leans on

No less than the dedication of the ever illuminating sun

No less than the pure joy of her littles at her feet

Will shed 100 tears for 1 smile

Will walk 100 miles 

to bring her child 

forward one yard

So they feel its easy, she will do what's hard

This moment almost past, she watches the sun pick up the color in their bright eyes

She feels the joy in their deep satisfied sighs

A tear of tenderness forms 

The year on the horizon holding promises of new chapters,

Old clay, reformed in new ways

Milestones up ahead, a return to scenes from her younger days 

Same roles, same shoes, different soul

Moment engraved in memory as she runs after bouncing ball

"Brambling Fires" Mindful right speech and the practice of inner peace during conflict

One of life’s hardest demands is facing challenges when they arise. Giving face time to those people and places and things that only make you want to run the other way screaming, yet there you stand, tall and with a smile. If you are able to look fear and hatred square in the face and feel peace in your self this is all that matters. Two very important pieces to realize when being faced by the lions of life are this. First, whatever you feel inside will not in that moment change what is in front of you. So, let’s take a second to visualize a scenario two ways. Picture yourself in the situation you most fear. Now picture the scene, the people, the lighting, the smells. Now visualize your inner landscape. Surely, it is tight, restricted, mind jumbled or racing, muscles tight, breathing short and shallow. Imagine your thoughts. Are the negative, foreboding, fear based? Now remember that and stop. Try scenario two. Same external situation but the only thing that changes is your inner landscape. Purposely change the breathing to deep. Purposely think a positive thought, genuinely access a place in yourself where you take one moment and freeze whatever is around you, accessing inner peace, truly, just for one moment, one breath, allow yourself to relax. Now see if you can make it two breaths, work your way up eventually to any amount of inner peace, anywhere, any time. NOTHING changes but your own perspective yet everything can change in your experience because now instead of the fear you feel peace. The second thing to know it this, Whatever you feel and do in that moment WILL change what happens next. Negativity is a weed that grows rapidly when fed and shrinks like a violet when given no attention. Your world on the outside reflects who you are internally.  It is never too late to change.

I will not react from the heat of the emotion in my soul, When I feel the fires burning, I will allow them to burn for as long as is needed as it is only nature running its course. But I will not allow those fires to reach up from my heart and take over my mouth. I will not give the anger life. When I am ready, I will respond from the coolness of my mind, when the waters have calmed and when and only when I am able to allow the sacredness that is speech, to be pleasant, fair and truly reflective of character will I cast words into the world.

Fire, fire burning bright, everlasting as starry night

Dark yet sprinkled with beauty, near and far, ever reaching, always seeking

No one can put you out

Not one can put you down

But your may only burn on the ground

Because without trees of thought and branches of reaction there is nowhere you can go

Spread far, spread wide, toss an toil in your glorious might

Mull me over in reflection over many day and night

But do not grow

Because I know

Without permission of the will

Without the winds of action continuing

Without the sins of traction and surrendering what is peaceful and still

You can toss the brambles and dried grasses up and down this hill

Only until

You run out of energy and I will not give any of mine

I’m sorry old friend, I wont lend a hand

We will meet again time after time

My teacher you are, you come from afar yet closer than any could be

You are me

You are a part of me

A part, I allow, as it would be silly to say a part of my very being, my clearly seeing could even

Be something of nothing

But sit still you will after you toil and till through your rambling will

And by you I mean me, and by me I mean we

As we were, peacefully, we will continue, we will be

American Girl

Another message to my daughters and all young girls. There is a notion of an American Girl. She is beautiful, polished and somewhat perfect. On a track through life that will lead to success of all kinds. Starting with ideas of perfect princesses in preschool, good grades and popularity. Later on, successful career while simultaneously perfecting roles of wife and mother. This notion was somewhat derived from positive and revolutionary feminist ideals. Women once fought for other women to have "everything" career and home, children and identity! Concurrently, fashion and beauty industries have projected many ideas of what this new woman would look like. Red lipstick, perfect figure, spotless home. Still today, girls are bombarded with images of clothes, trends and cookie cuttter types from a very young age. 
It can be wonderful and freeing. If the girls and women are taught to take the beauty and essence of this message and embrace it for its best intentions. To be her truest self, whoever that is! To allow her creativity, beauty and intelligence to shine. To nurture as a mother. To nurture her self as a woman as well. There is the danger and reality however, that many young girls and young women get caught up and twisted in the ideas. Sadly, girls try to emulate each image they see and forget who they are. They lose self esteem. The become attached to test scores, magazine covers and peer pressure.Depression and anxiety are higher in adolescent girls than ever before. This a symptom of many imbalances, not solely the one described here. Young women trying to achieve both career and household success burn out. They give their all to everyone around them. They cast their own needs aside and engage in activities that are meant to bring joy to their loved ones. Their daily lives orbit around their children while their jobs, personal accomplishments, partners and household duites are juggled. They are so encapsulated in forging forward to each accomplishment that they forget to practice stopping, breathing, gratitude and self care. Everything they are striving for becomes lost in the muddle. This poem is about enveloping the glory of feminism and being cautious about the shadow side of this very notion. 

She is a train
Strong, shiny and glamorous
She is admired
She is empty
She is fast, dutifully
Swiftly moving forward

She follows tracks, laid out before her, without her
It is not about her
It is about the destination she will reach
She presses on, strong, fast and empty
She carries passengers, along for the ride
It is not about her
Only where she will bring them
Their journey, her map

She is shiny, strong and admired
She is revered, polished and adorned
Simple, ornate
Always moving forward to a new destination
Attempting to fulfill her societies expectations
A feat to be admired yet a slippery slope
Slowly pealing away identity, creativity and hope

Break across the tracks girl
Forge your own destination
Break through the expectations
Make your own Creation
Better than others wishes and visions
You are a vison, yourself, in your own right
This is your personal flight
Surpassing all mirages is the one of your own
The best person you can be is you
Breaking through 
stereotypes and pre fabricated molds
This is not a notion of rebellion
It is a notion of freedom
Your national right
Your birth pledge
What your grandmothers mothers battled for, wished about
You can shout out from the depths of your being
I am me, It is freeing

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.