DAVID WHYTE CONTINUES MY THOUGHT

I came across this after writing last week on reflections and thought I would add to the thoughts of last week by passing this on right from David Whyte's website.  For more of his work, the link should take you to his page…  I woke early to the rain and wind, making me remember how big the world is.  Happy Friday!             Misty

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David Whyte CROSSING THE FLOOD …Looking into the waters of that flooding plain there was a sense  that I made some symmetry with the waiting world just by seeing and hearing and that I walked a frontier between an inward heaven and the great blue calling, bird filled, breathing we call a sky, and that I stood at the edge where two worlds extended both far away and close within, so that I raised my palms against the light to see that they were real and could hold the world between my careful palms, one horizon between two cradling skies, looking inward and outward, and astonished by the great everywhere both within and without like an invisible unspoken invitation radiating from where I stood, I saw everything given and everything taken from me, I saw the way I had come and the way I had promised to go, all in one movement as something I had become now and would be forever, the sheer generosity of being loved through loving: the miracle reflection of a twice blessed life. © David Whyte: Excerpted from CROSSING THE FLOOD February 2014 PHOTO © David Whyte 2014: Flooded Port Meadow: Oxford; England. David Whyte Many Rivers Home

REFLECTION, REFLECTING…MIRRORS

Don't we all love reflecting pools?  Somehow when one image mirrors another we are able to stop and look more closely at it.  The meditation today is see everything in your world as a reflection of something within yourself.

 

It could be about the faces around you and their expressions.

It could be about the state of your rooms or houses.

It could be about global conflicts.

Maybe we are just drawn into that place of contemplation where the reflections of the natural world settle us down and center us..



















In this place 

we might remember 

or think 


about these words….

                                       “We see the world not as it is but as we are.” – Talmud.



Blessed and thoughtful Sunday to you all..  Misty

LOVE LETTER TO SELF

Loving yourself is kind of like waiting for spring.  It can be hard to imagine.  I know all of you living through the “polar vortex” of storms this season must be having a challenge remembering that Spring is happening elsewhere.  In this post I have included some Vernal imagery to help restore your heart’s confidence that renewed life is coming, if not yet in your region…

But just like trying to remind yourself that somewhere, a daffodil is remembering how to make a flower and a magnolia tree is cracking open those big waxy blossoms, it is good to work at remembering that you are good.

Sometimes all we can see out the window is the bare limbs of a tree and we can't make the mind SEE what is slowly rising in the bough, or what is being worked on for the month of april.  Like this, sometimes we lose sight of our good parts, our pretty parts, our essential-to-us pieces that bring us joy…. so like this photo journal makes real the loveliness of new life, and reminds us to not abandon hope, so too must we recall for our spirit what is lovable, beautiful and meaningful in us… almost like a new lover would do.

You are perfect even like a Spring bush… many separate blossoms,  some imperfectly crammed into a too small space along the twig that gives it life,  

maybe some that have fallen and are not so pretty anymore, 




but all wonderful!

So on this Valentines Day, instead of either celebrating with that one special person, (other that YOU), or wondering why you DON’T have that one special person, let’s do something else.

Write a love letter to you.

Imagine going 

to the mailbox or picking up a text or email knowing it will be a love letter to you….  Imagine what you would love for it to say..    “You have the biggest heart of anyone I know, I love your  eyes, I cherish when we were at ……I will love you forever!

Let your words be a thousand petals on a blossoming fruit tree, full of light and promise of tomorrow's fulfillment.

Ok now sit down and write three lines to yourself.. 

It isn’t so hard…. Just three to start.  I love you because……..

Decorate it, and put it out where you can see it… read it… and remember that Spring is coming and that LOVE IS ALWAYS POSSIBLE.

Happy V Day.   Hugs, Misty

IRIS

Today my Scottie girl Iris, 13, died. She had a mass in her stomach. I dug her grave and then Zuzu and I went to the park for a walk and then to the Rock. The clouds were sliding up and over the top and then disappearing. The sea is dark with whitecaps but the sky is blue. I began imagining Iris's spirit sailing along with the clouds, up, up high and over the bay, seeking whatever peace there is for all of us, after. Those that knew her in the therapy room can say a little prayer for her loving spirit. Thanks for all the good wishes.

This is a photo of her with her sister Jasmine, on a trip to Bishop many years ago. She is on the right.

And this one is with Zuzu when she arrived.       We spent a great morning in bed, snuggling…  Farewell my friend.

YOU ARE THE SKY

Today I bring you quotes from Pema Chodron, a Buddhist monk, a writer, lecturer, teacher.

Of her books my favorites are WHEN THINGS FALL APART and THE WISDOM OF NO ESCAPE

 “You are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather.” 

― Pema Chödrön

“There is a story of a woman running away from tigers. She runs and runs and the tigers are getting closer and closer. When she comes to the edge of a cliff, she sees some vines there, so she climbs down and holds on to the vines. Looking down, she sees that there are tigers below her as well. She then notices that a mouse is gnawing away at the vine to which she is clinging. She also sees a beautiful little bunch of strawberries close to her, growing out of a clump of grass. She looks up and she looks down. She looks at the mouse. Then she just takes a strawberry, puts it in her mouth, and enjoys it thoroughly. Tigers above, tigers below. This is actually the predicament that we are always in, in terms of our birth and death. Each moment is just what it is. It might be the only moment of our life; it might be the only strawberry we’ll ever eat. We could get depressed about it, or we could finally appreciate it and delight in the preciousness of every single moment of our life.” 
― Pema Chödrön, The Wisdom of No Escape: How to Love Yourself and Your World

  “…feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we’d rather collapse and back away. They’re like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we’re stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we are.” 

“The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.” 

― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult

“Once there was a young warrior. Her teacher told her that she had to do battle with fear. She didn’t want to do that. It seemed too aggressive; it was scary; it seemed unfriendly. But the teacher said she had to do it and gave her the instructions for the battle. The day arrived. The student warrior stood on one side, and fear stood on the other. The warrior was feeling very small, and fear was looking big and wrathful. They both had their weapons. The young warrior roused herself and went toward fear, prostrated three times, and asked, "May I have permission to go into battle with you?" Fear said, "Thank you for showing me so much respect that you ask permission." Then the young warrior said, "How can I defeat you?" Fear replied, "My weapons are that I talk fast, and I get very close to your face. Then you get completely unnerved, and you do whatever I say. If you don’t do what I tell you, I have no power. You can listen to me, and you can have respect for me. You can even be convinced by me. But if you don’t do what I say, I have no power." In that way, the student warrior learned how to defeat fear. ” 

― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times

                       What if you just had today?  How would your life be different?

                            Blessings on your weekend.  Misty  January 31, 2014

BIG WATER

Look!

The waters were so big. 

I hadn’t yet said a prayer.

No blessings for me.

But there I stood,

Haunted by the waters,

Saints in the making,

Rising up,

Pushing shore.

Huge.

I fell down each wave

into movement.

I rocked on my feet,

Nodding like an old Jew,

Crossing myself,

Allah!

As my head tipped towards the West

She comes ashore

I am drenched,

Also with the love of it.









Time to bring her home.

B. Misty Wycoff  

January 25, 2014  

BUY A SADDLE

There is an old adage that goes:  If one person calls you a horse, they are crazy..  If two people call you a horse, it is a conspiracy..  If three people call you a horse…..BUY A SADDLE!

We are foolish to believe ourselves to be sufficient in all regards. Good ideas are like sleep…we do not MAKE ourselves sleep, in fact, we allow it.  It seems to be so with other things as well.  We cannot force orgasms or the meditative state.  We prepare the mental and physical space for it to occur.  A good idea is a good idea, regardless of whether or not you came up with it. 

I want you to take a moment and think of feedback that you have gotten.  It could be the loving conversation of friends or family members or the angry verbal attack that is part of an argument.  The idea is to look at how you take in information about yourself, no matter the source.   Are you open to hearing the meaning beneath the words?  Or do you deflect any judgements or observations of yourself?

I am not saying it is good or easy to hear beneath angry words, but let us start with the premise that all reflection of us has at least a kernel of truth in it.  Even those words that are flung at us in rage or pain, those words that are clearly projections of the screamer's own unexplored issues.    People often get stopped by the whole INTENT issue….."I didn't MEAN to hurt you".   If we drop a knife from the kitchen counter and it falls on our foot and cuts us, the cut is still real, the blood and pain are real, all this despite the fact that it wasn't intentional.  So when people say we are mean or aggressive, we may not be seeing just how our innocent (to us) words are landing on other people's feet, so to speak.                              

Don’t let your ego get the better of you; if someone has observations of you to give, take them.    Don't take them to be true at face value, but at least consider them.  Consider whether or not there are UNINTENDED or UNCONSCIOUS TO YOU effects that you had previously not considered.

Before we drop it in the mail,  are careful to review the information we are putting on a bank check that we write.  We don't want the wrong information going out in the world.  We don't want to be misunderstood regarding our financial interactions.  We are careful.  We check the change we are given and the money we pass to others.  We check and recheck this transaction.  We are careful to not give something we don't intend to give.  We carefully observe what is handed to us.  If we are given too much or too little we are apt to question it and say,  "Hmm I am not sure this is right?"   I am saying if we are only this careful with our personal interactions with the world, if we observe what we get and give, and listen if someone says..  "Hmm I am not sure this is right?".   

In my experience the world is consistently giving us prompts and cues that will open our understanding of ourselves and others.  If an idea comes to you a few times, it probably warrants a good look…..if not a saddle!

Have a great weekend.  Misty