and can create compassionate dialogue,
then you give them a model to bring forth to others who have a more opposite view.
It is this steady expansion of the loving heart we all share that is the greatest hope towards peace.
But even if peace does not come at this time,
still that loving heart is expanding.
When it expands far enough, there will be peace.
Yes, there may be a lot of death and destruction before.
But hatred will never lead to peace.
Fear will never lead to peace.
Fear of fear will never lead to peace, and hatred of hatred will never lead to peace.
Trust your capacity for love.”
~ Aaron,
Deep Spring Center
Thought for Today
Our plans were to attend a colleague’s “laughter yoga” presentation but the three of us arrived at the venue only to discover the presentation had been cancelled due to a death in the family. I live very nearby, so soon we settled around the kitchen island, sipping tea in such a sisterly fashion.
Your guess is as good as mine how the conversation settled around her seemingly life-long dissatisfaction with her birth sister. The stated question was about her desire to block her sister’s text messages. We tossed, we tangled, we slogged through decades of sibling turmoil before going our separate ways.
It felt restless, almost tragic. In my heart it was so much more…
I opened email to read:
June 19, 2018
Tenderness Tinged by SadnessFear does not allow fundamental tenderness to enter into us. When tenderness tinged by sadness touches our heart, we know that we are in contact with reality. We feel it. That contact is genuine, fresh, and quite raw.
Excerpted from:
“Overcoming Doubt,” in Smile at Fear: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery
by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche,
page 58
That was it! Where was tenderness? Where was the true heart of bravery needed to love someone who is behaving in an unloving manner?
I opened my next email:
On this day of your life I believe God wants you to know …
… that if you become ruffled with every comment that
you consider a ‘slight,’ you will never find peace.Nor will you find it by always separating yourself from
those who ruffle you. You can only end so many
friendships before you find yourself very much alone.
You can keep making new friends, of course, but
sooner or later they will ruffle you — and then what?Perhaps the better course might be to let the ruffle
go. People rarely mean it when they do that, and a
touch of gentle tolerance and easy forgiveness every
day is even better than an apple…Love, your Friend …
Neale Donald Walsch
Craft Tip #11 (p. 92-98), from The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop by Diane Lockward, clevely rewriting “You Are Tired” by e.e. Cummings, I have discovered my own “voice.” Writing this allowed me to finally experience peace around all the pain that family members can inflict upon one another without ever meaning to. I trust you will agree, “It is Time!”
It is Time!
It is time
(We know)
Possibilities lie beyond this moment now;
You are ready.
Let us join hands
Go to a place where new dreams are born-
(Listen. Our names are being called!)
We can go
(I hope)
To a place where the forlorn gather
When the heart yearns for relief;
Done with things as they are-
Just that.
We are done.
Travel to heaven comes not without peril
But the path is clearly written within your own chest-
Just say yes!
Your feet will find their way, one sure step and then the next
For it is time
We will be safe, rest assured.
Let’s set off now
Sail the seas of satisfaction to the shores
Of eternal serenity;
Hear the sounds of true solace
No more singing the dirge;
Music made from the instrument of sheer joy
Resonating with each precious soul
Suffering no more (Pray tell!) not we
We who know it truly is time.
Debra Basham 6-22-2018