Author: Anne Doyle

Words

Presence and gratitude

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You Reading This, Be Ready
by Wllliam Stafford

Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
sound from outside fills the air?

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now? Are you waiting
for time to show you some better thoughts?

When you turn around, starting here, lift this
new glimpse that you found; carry into evening
all that you want from this day. The interval you spent
reading or hearing this, keep it for life—

What can anyone give you greater than now,
starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?

As read here in an article by Parker Palmer.

Reflecting · Words

paradox

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As read here:

The Angels and the Furies
by May Sarton

1

Have you not wounded yourself
And battered those you love
By sudden motions of evil,
Black rage in the blood
When the soul, premier danseur,
Springs toward a murderous fall?
The furies possess you.

2

Have you not surprised yourself
Sometimes by sudden motions
Or intimations of goodness,
When the soul, premier danseur,
Perfectly poised,
Could shower blessings
With a graceful turn of the head?
The angels are there.

3

The angels, the furies
Are never far away
While we dance, we dance,
Trying to keep a balance
To be perfectly human
(Not perfect, never perfect,
Never an end to growth and peril),
Able to bless and forgive
Ourselves.
This is what is asked of us.

4

It is light that matters,
The light of understanding.
Who has ever reached it
Who has not met the furies again and again?
Who has reached it without
Those sudden acts of grace?

Words

words from Thomas Merton

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“The more we persist in misunderstanding the phenomena of life…the more we involve ourselves in sadness, absurdity, and despair. But it does not matter much, because no despair of ours can alter the reality of things, or stain the joy of the cosmic dance which is always there. Indeed, we are in the midst of it, and it is in the midst of us, for it beats in our very blood, whether we want it to or not. Yet the fact remains that we are invited to forget ourselves on purpose, cast our awful solemnity to the winds, and join in the general dance.”
— Thomas Merton, from New Seeds of Contemplation
Listening

Lectionary reading on All Saint’s Day

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“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
–Luke 6:27-31

Words

“She just let go.”

Anne Doyle3 Comments

She let go.
Without a thought or a word,
she let go. She let go of the fear.
She let go of the judgments. She
let go of the confluence of
opinions swarming around her
head. She let go of the committee
of indecision within her. She let
go of all the ‘right’ reasons.
Wholly and completely, without
hesitation or worry, she just let go.

She didn’t ask anyone for advice .
She didn’t read a book on how to
let go. She didn’t search the
scriptures. She just let go. She let
go of all the memories that held
her back. She let go of all the
anxiety that kept her from moving
forward. She let go of the
planning and all of the
calculations about how to
do it just right.

She didn’t promise to let go. She
didn’t journal about it. She didn’t
write the projected date in her
Day-Timer. She made no public
announcement and put no ad in
the paper. She didn’t check the
weather report or read her daily
horoscope. She just let go.

She didn’t analyze whether she
should let go. She didn’t call her
friends to discuss the matter. She
didn’t do a five-step Spiritual
Mind Treatment. She didn’t call
the prayer line. She didn’t utter
one word. She just let go.

No one was around when it
happened. There was no
applause or congratulations. No
one thanked her or praised her.
No one noticed a thing. Like a
leaf falling from a tree, she just
let go. There was no effort. There
was no struggle. It wasn’t good
and it wasn’t bad. It was what it
was, and it is just that.

In the space of letting go, she let
it all be. A small smile came over
her face. A light breeze blew
through her. And the sun and the
moon shone forevermore.. ♥
~ Reverend Safire Rose
https://www.facebook.com/pages/How-to-Raise-Your-Vibration/204840666199710
~ (Or is Ernest Holmes the author? Or someone else? I gather it is unclear…)

Notes · Words

“Success”

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“To laugh often and much to win the respect of intelligent people and affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child a garden patch or redeemed social condition;
to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.”

-–Bessie A. Stanley (often misattributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson–http://emerson.tamu.edu/Ephemera/Success.html)

Writing

New Year Resolve

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New Year Resolve
by May Sarton

The time has come
To stop allowing the clutter
To clutter my mind
Like dirty snow,
Shove it off and find
Clear time, clear water.

Time for a change,
Let silence in like a cat
Who has sat at my door
Neither wild nor strange
Hoping for food from my store
And shivering on the mat.

Let silence in.
She will rarely speak or mew,
She will sleep on my bed
And all I have ever been
Either false or true
Will live again in my head.

For it is now or not
As old age silts the stream,
To shove away the clutter,
To untie every knot,
To take the time to dream,
To come back to still water.

“New Year Resolve” by May Sarton, from Collected Poems 1930-1993. © W.W. Norton & Co., 1993.  From The Writers Almanac, December 30, 2012.

Reflecting · Seeing

Thoughts?

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Fire has been devastating this summer, and it’s only July 1. But even before the conflagration in Colorado over the past weeks, I came across this item while on a walk. It lay in the street next the sidewalk. My curiosity is piqued: what could possibly have led to this? If you have any thoughts, please let me know. Frankly, I shudder to think…

p06-10-12_17-46

 

 

 

Reflecting

I’m really liking Sara Miles

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“In the verse, Moses foreshadowed Jesus with an unusual emphasis on experienced grace rather than codified religious law. “Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away,” he told his people. “It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.” — Sara Miles on Deuteronomy in Take This Bread

“…it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.” It’s that close. Amen.