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Reflections

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What brings freedom?

What does real life look like to you in your best moments, your quiet moments?  What is it that you yourself actually want–down deep–and how much are you willing to give up to get it?  What really gives you life?  It’s time to consider what makes a thing life-giving and the point when even the life-giving becomes death-dealing for you. Then it is time to define life differently, perhaps. It’s the moment to put down what it is we’re doing that can be done but does not really need to be done, at least not by us. We need to

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September 28, 2008

Shabbat and Shavasana

On returning from our summer travels I recommitted myself to a deeper exploration of two practices — Sabbath-keeping and yoga.  I believe so strongly in the power of Sabbath, as a witness to a different way of being in the world, as an act of humility that says the world will get by if I lay down my work for a while, as a time to remember who we were created to be. Moving more deeply into a yoga practice is really a reclaiming for me of something that once played a more significant role in my life.  There are

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September 26, 2008

Invitation to Poetry: Equinox Edition

Poetry Party #24!  I select an image and suggest a title and invite you to respond with your poems, words, reflections, quotes, song lyrics, etc. Leave them in the comments or email me and I’ll add them to the body of the post as they come in along with a link back to your blog if you have one (not required to participate!) Feel free to take your poem in any direction and then post the image and invitation on your blog and encourage others to come join the party! Today is the autumnal equinox, a time when the sun rests above

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September 22, 2008

Fall Equinox Friday Five

The RevGalBlogPals have a Friday Five that I don’t usually play, but this one is about one of my favorite topics and I am procrastinating on getting real work done! Five favorite things about fall: 1) A fragrance: The smell of my rosemary orange chicken roasting in the oven.  So simple, so incredibly satisfying. 2) A color: The vibrant red hue of a Japanese maple in autumn, watching the amber glow of the fire in the fireplace. 3) An item of clothing: My old, cozy black fleece hooded jacket.  Great over my pajamas when I am working from home. I also love

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September 19, 2008

Season of Paradox

Autumn is my favorite season with winter a close second, so we are entering the time of year that makes my heart sing.  The season ahead is a season of transition.  While summer and winter have more of a sense of sameness to them, spring and fall remind us that the world is constantly in flux and everything changes. For me, the heart of autumn’s gifts are its twin energies of relinquishing and harvesting.  It is a season of paradox that invites us to consider what we are called to release and surrender, and at the same time it invites us to gather

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September 18, 2008

“What comes from silence”

How to be a Poet (to remind myself) Make a place to sit down. Sit down. Be quiet. You must depend upon affection, reading, knowledge, skill-more of each than you have-inspiration, work, growing older, patience, for patience joins time to eternity. Any readers who like your work, doubt their judgment. Breathe with unconditional breath the unconditioned air. Shun electric wire. Communicate slowly. Live a three-dimensioned life; stay away from screens. Stay away from anything that obscures the place it is in. There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and desecrated places. Accept what comes from silence. Make

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September 17, 2008

Visual Meditation: Dahlia Delight

In honor of the Harvest Moon tonight, images of autumn’s abundance:    -Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts (images of dahlias taken in Volunteer Park in Seattle)

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September 15, 2008

Awakening the Creative Spirit

Experiential Education for Spiritual Directors in the Expressive Arts Betsey Beckman and I have scheduled new dates for our next offering of this wonderful program.  Consider joining us May 17-22, 2009 on the beautiful Hood Canal for five days of creative exploration and deep discovery through storytelling, poetry writing, visual art-making, movement, and song. The International Expressive Arts Therapy Association defines the expressive arts as “combin(ing) the visual arts, movement, drama, music, writing and other creative processes to foster deep personal growth and community development. . . By integrating the arts processes and allowing one to flow into another, we

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September 12, 2008

Visual Meditation: Autumn Harbingers

Lake and Maple  I want to give myself utterly as this maple that burned and burned for three days without stinting and then in two more dropped off every leaf; as this lake that, no matter what comes to its green-blue depths, both takes and returns it. In the still heart that refuses nothing, the world is twice-born — two earths wheeling, two heavens, two egrets reaching down into subtraction; even the fish for an instant doubled, before it is gone. I want the fish. I want the losing it all when it rains and I want the returning transparanence.

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September 10, 2008