Freedom

Just This, and Nothing More.

It’s a quiet morning as the storms are rolling in; a paradigm we face nearly every day. In our quest for perfection, we become locked into a perpetual pause and contract.

The warmth of our bed is inviting, but what of those bills left to be paid? Are we willing to divest ourselves of these rigors of pattern, for just a moment – this moment, here and now, beyond the rest.

“It is our destiny to create endless realities,” author, Deepak Chopra writes. “Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future.”

Though the choice might seem an easy one, it doesn’t account for these momentary lapses of sense over reason. What we want most versus what we must.

For me? A good book, a grateful pup and a whole world ripe to explore. That’s all I need – just this, and nothing more.

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

The Promise of Now.

Someone once asked me why I ‘bothered to practice.’ He was speaking to the progression of my neurological disease and the potential for finding peace within it.

“Look at you, sitting there all crumpled up,” he said. “I can tell you’re in pain. Why bother?”

And, he was right. I was in pain – chronic, debilitating pain. So much so, that I’d literally lost sleep. I had difficulties tending to my daily chores. There were bills piling up, and dishes to be washed. Even the gardens which once shared such insurmountable joy, were now in a terrible state of disrepair.

And forget about those simple movements – walking, driving, getting up from a chair – all of which were now a labor of love. Accomplished not because I wanted, rather – because others needed me more.

To him, I must have looked the fool – sitting there all alone on my meditation pillow. Hoping to accomplish what? More suffering, more physical pain?

Oh, and wasn’t I angry – at first. I mean, who on earth would dare to judge the manner in which I navigated my fear? This was my path, my pain – my journey.

And, then…

Against the droning hum of the yoga studio fans, my anger lifted. My thoughts, suddenly clearer and less rigid.

Perhaps, it was the sound that drew me in – thunka, thunk, thunk. Much like the heart, its constancy reassured. For a split second, I wasn’t consumed by the outcome.

I found my ‘gap’ – that space between the chaos of thinking mind and the restful bliss of eternal peace.

Somewhere within me, the words find their roots.

“Why bother?” I asked, smiling in return. “For this promise of now; nothing more, nothing less.”

After all, if we can’t find happiness along this path of peace then where else do we expect to find it?

A little something to consider, my loves…

Namaste ❤

In This Light, We Dance.

Life is an ever changing prism, my loves – a casting of light through shards of ‘broken’ glass.

Within which we find our faith restored, an offering of love beyond imagination.

Even through misted fog, the colors dance – revealing the promise of newfound perspective.

It is the mind which freezes to physical form that which is intended to be free-flowing.

And, who are we to dare to to presume or qualify the goodness of Divine?

We find ourselves within these castings, a cherishing of life through subtlety of vision.

In peace, my loves…

Namaste ❤️

The Practice of Surrender.

When I was a little girl, I loved playing in the snow. For hours, sometimes till end of day – or at least until my limbs went numb. I’d trek through waist deep drifts, boldly facing the bitterness of cold simply for the joy of knowing it.

And when the sun began to fade, I’d make my way home again – exhausted from the labors of having fully lived.

At home, a fire was always blazing, and the hearth glowed radiating its warmth.

I suppose it would take only a moment or two before I’d drift away – abandoning thoughts of day in complete surrender.

It was the first time I can remember ever letting it all go; allowing peace to fill that space in between where unrest attempted to take hold. It was my divine release.

“You can’t fake surrender,” Krishna Das once shared. “But when it happens, it changes everything.”

Is it faith? Or, is it trust which grants our ultimate freedom? But more so, what is it that blocks our willingness to know peace within every moment?

We all have the memory of a ‘warm hearth’ to draw upon. Open to it, my loves – let this be your every moment.

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

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This Blessing Within the Mistake.

A little one stopped at my door this morning. In the distance his father stood with face flushed red; holding the anger of a child who “just hadn’t listened.”

The little one shifted nervously before he began, “Miss Tara…I accidentally broke your bird feeder.”

I looked to the garden, noting the shards of glass amongst scattered seed. A feeder that had served valiantly through the tests of wind and storm and fattened squirrel had proved no match to a little one’s curiosity.

“He’ll pay for it,” the father chimed. “From his own money, I assure you.”

His face pitched as he held back the tears, “I’m sorry, Miss Tara – I didn’t mean to.”

I knelt down, taking his hand and smiling warmly in return. “I know, silly – accidents are NEVER on purpose.”

We all mistakes. Even the Buddha, as he starved himself to alleviate the “pain of ample luxury” – he, too, made the mistake of over-compensation. He deprived himself for the sake of spirituality – thinking ‘less’ was ‘more’ on this path to freedom.

I thought of the story as I looked down into this little one’s eyes – tortured in the wake of having made one simple ‘mistake’.

How easily we discount this aspect of authenticity, as we reconcile the burden of having been ‘wrong.’ As mind straggles to assign label – foolish, careless, overbearing – our sense of self becomes unforgivably rigid. We lose our way along this path of being human.

In doing so, we become less accommodating to the ‘faults’ of others; assigning blame before extending these lessons of willingness and acceptance.

“Their food got stuck,” he said, pointing to a blockage of seed and spent peanut ‘casings’. “I just wanted to try and fix it.”

“Oh, thank you,” I smiled, knowing instantly the resolution. “I’ve had a new one for months, but haven’t been able to remove the old one.”

We spent the next few moments, installing the new feeder. As the birds gathered, biding anticipation I winked and said;

“You see, to some a mistake – to others, a blessing.”

There’s an opportunity for sharing in all, my loves ~ though we must take measure to thoughtfully encourage.

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

A Deserving Sort of Happiness.

“Are you happy,” I asked, hopeful my question might help to reveal an aspect of self long withheld.

“Never,” he replied, his voice stricken with a deliberate knowing. As if admission of happiness were a presumption of guilt.

Why do we keep ourselves from that which we need though believe we can’t have? Are we unworthy to stand before this vastlessness that is our birthright? Prisoners of our own eradication. And, our penance…?

A joyless life.

Some will say that life is suffering; though, I believe – life is attachment. That which we hold, that which we believe – that which we’ve courage enough to release. A momentary extension of self unto circumstance, all of which – our choosing.

“I wish I could show you,” Hafiz once shared. “when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being.”

Perhaps, we are hesitant to experience, frightened it might be swept away?

Though, when we finally experience a joy unimpeded – we realize, it is an inescapable aspect of our being.

In peace, my darlings…

Namaste ❤️

Through Gladdened Grace.

Just a few lines this morning, my loves ~ within which, the entirety of the Universe is formed.

From the poet, Rumi:

“Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”

Each day we are faced with the boldness of our own imperfections; brashly unapologetic and opened to the world. Gazing into the mirror, we find the harsh light immediately unforgiving – the deepened lines a reminder of our failed transgressions.

But, dare we note the flecks of gold beneath the chestnut hue? How ironic that these very same eyes have softened to all but inner self-view.

In any other circumstance, we’d courageously explore – marking the moment as a gift of Divine. We’d find ourselves transfixed; tracing wonderment through brazen grin — and, yielding judgment to a gladdened grace.

To some, time has ‘robbed’ a smoothness of hand. While, to others – she’s offered a blessing through Oak’s tangled roots.

Yet, nothing but our perspective has changed; a shifting of light through tender gaze.

And, knowing – that it is through this light that we learn to love.

In peace, my darlings…

Namaste ❤️

Opening to the Blessing of Awareness.

I was inspired this morning through the words of Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. He was speaking about the essence of ego, and the need to shift our ‘reference point’.

“Without ego as our primary reference point,” he writes. “mind is naturally open, unconfused, and able to enjoy everything without judgment. In essence, mind is unobstructed and free from ignorance, with the potential to experience everything in a fresh way.”

So often, our practice is preoccupied with the need to deny our ego. We silence, we crush, we attempt to transcend – all the while lending additional focus.

How, then, might we establish this balance between thinking mind and open-hearted awareness?

First and foremost, we must abandon this prospect of ‘chase’. Awareness can not be forced, rather – it must be revealed.

And, I believe we’ve all experienced pockets of unfettered awareness – moments which have stolen our breath away, leaving us powerless to argue the complexities of mind.

Whether through the simplicity of nature – a butterfly’s ascent to peony’s edge, the whispering of wind through Sequoia trees; or the magnitude of life’s much greater moments – the birth of a child, the loss of someone dear…we are inevitably transfixed.

Awareness has shifted absent our ‘doing.’

This is the example we must carry forward; to allow ourselves this space to become lost for a while.

“Revealing this potential,” he shares. “is the purpose of the practice of self-reflection – and this is our natural inheritance.”

My darlings, today I wish you the blessing of unimpeded awareness, and the patience to simply allow its arrival.

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

This True and Boundless Heart.

There’s such a great focus to define who we are. Even from the youngest of age, we’re begged for our reply, “Who do you want to be when you finally grow up?”

I’d always felt such pressure to answer. I mean, how could I possibly assign all that I aspire into a singular label of one?

And, yet – society expects nothing less. Every day, through a variety of means, we feel a sense of obligation; an obligation to ‘lock it in.’

When I look at ‘tree’, I’m not limited by label. Why then must we limit our own sense of self?

Author and Amercian Spiritualist, Ram Dass, referred to this as the ‘confusion of somebody-ness’; that it was the means by which we sought clarify and reassurance from this world.

Though, therein lies the paradigm, my loves. As the joy of happiness can only occur within a true and boundless heart.

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

 

This Space of Refuge.

Our refuge is within, my loves — in the softer spaces, where the stillness dwells and our stories are unable to follow.

In this space we may ‘be’ exactly who we are, absent the sway of expectation. To abandon that which we may term as ‘self’, to examine this world through compassion’s filter.

It is the exquisite risk, the ultimate forgiveness – a stepping stone to our greatest bliss…

Just this…and this, alone.

“So loveliness reigned and stillness, and together made the shape of loveliness itself…” – Virginia Woolf

My darlings, know this – there is nothing as lovely as you, alone.

In peace…

Namaste.