Thoughts of Gratitude

Normal day,
let me be aware of the treasure that you are. 

Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart.

Let me not pass you by in the quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.

Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. 

One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow,
or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky
and want, more than all the world, your return.

~Mary Jean Iron

What We Know...

Our thanks to Diane D'Souza who joined us for a dance workshop on grief and loss yesterday.  The impact was powerful and the emotions were alive in the room.  We learned some beautiful movements from classical Indian dance, but more so, we honored the wisdom in the room about grief and loss..

When asked what we know about grief and loss, here's a few comments from our participants:

• losing someone you love transforms you forever
• tells me about what is or who is meaningful to me in my life
• physically…the cheek caves in where the caress would have come
• incomprehensible that you can survive or that the pain will lessen
• loss can turn into a gift

Thanks to all who joined us.  May these words of wisdom continue to enrich the experience.

Prayer

Every day I want to speak with you. And every day something more important / 
calls for my attention -- the drugstore, the beauty products, the luggage / 

I need to buy for the trip. /
Even now I can hardly sit here / 

among the falling piles of paper and clothing, the garbage trucks outside /
already screeching and banging. /

The mystics say you are as close as my own breath. /
Why do I flee from you? /

My days and nights pour through me like complaints /
and become a story I forgot to tell. /

Help me. Even as I write these words I am planning /
to rise from the chair as soon as I finish this sentence. 

~Marie Howe, The Kingdom of Ordinary Time, W.W. Norton & Co.

Challenged Together

Yesterday, Sacred Threads was thrilled to welcome Michael Woodnick where he spoke on "Spirituality in the Second Half of Life: From Doing to Being."  His thought-provoking story and guided conversation questions challenged our attendees to grapple with some poignant questions...

We want to share them with you to discuss with us:

1. Where has life stuck you, fixated you, caused you to limit your possibilities?
2. Where has life blessed you, given you a gift, and what have you done with it? 
3. Where are you blocked by fear, leaving you resistant to change?
4. What is the fear beneath that fear?
5. What do you need to let go of to move on?
6. What brought you to this place in your journey, this moment in your life?
7. What is holding you back from the larger journey of your soul?
8. What have you always felt called toward but feared to do?
9. What new life wishes to come into being, through you?
10. Is now the time for you to answer the summons of your soul and live a second, larger life?

Comment below to begin the conversational thread...

This Life I Lead

"And then the knowledge comes to me that I have space within me for a second, timeless, larger life."

~ R. M. Rilke

While few of us can pinpoint when life transitions from the first to second half, there is a moment.  Some may name it by chronological age, others by physical health and mental clarity.  But that second half of life, where some could argue true wisdom surfaces, is full of rich, spiritual moments.  We look to see what Michael Woodnick shares with us on October 15th at Regis College on this very topic...as we all shift from "doing to being."

Maybe you'll join us, too.

I Seek One

Thoughts of peace are prominent in my mind.

Perhaps as the violence of 9/11 is remembered,
my mind and heart ache for peace.

When I am seeking wisdom and solace, I often look to Rumi,
the 13th century Persian Muslim poet and Sufi mystic, where he says:

"I am neither Christian, nor Jewish, nor Muslim.
Doing away with duality, I saw the two worlds as one.
I seek One,

I know One,

I see One, 

and I call One."

May One show us peace.

Portraits of Grief

As we approach the 10 year anniversary of September 11, 2001,
a few things came to mind:

• We have become more aware of our everyday surroundings, especially during travel and probably a little more judgmental of our fellow humans.
• We know all too well how real terrorism is in the world.
• We have mixed reactions to the long, extended search for and eventual death of Osama bin Laden.
• What we may not know...The life details of the victims

The NY Times ran a series called "Portraits of Grief" shortly thereafter the events of 9/11 and have updated their version.  The stories of these men and women are moving.

May it help us prepare to commemorate this day in American history.