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Reflections

Category: Spirituality

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Taking Flight

I awoke this morning, on New Year’s Day, with a heart full of hope.  Last year was brimming with new possibilities and the year ahead brings with it so many adventures and invitations to dance on the edges of things, I am absolutely dizzy with anticipation. In a most ordinary moment, I was taking sweet Tune for her morning walk today, when as I returned a flock of pigeons took flight across the street.  A fairly common occurrence in the heart of the city, and yet this morning I had this transcendent moment where I felt myself lifted with them, my breath stopped, heart

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I long for You so much (a time of retreat)

I long for You so much I have even begun to travel Where I have never been before. -Hafiz (excerpt) Last week on Tuesday I piled my things into the car, the essentials like my journal, my yoga mat, my camera, and of course my sweet Petunia.  We headed north on I-5 to the Canadian border.  Two elements of getting to a retreat that feel important to me are a border crossing and a ferry ride and this time I had the gift of both.  When I arrived at the guard booth though, to my disappointment the guard waved me through with half a

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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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Landscapes, Maps, and Pilgrimages

Tomorrow is my birthday and lately I have been longing for some retreat time.  I was wise enough to block off the next few days to rest in some stillness at home while my dear husband is away.  This time of retreat is partly in preparation for a much larger pilgrimage I will be taking in just a couple of weeks and partly because I find birthdays invite reflection as I celebrate the anniversary of my own birth and sit in vigil waiting for what needs to be revealed for this next phase of my journey. This past week I wrote about the need to be willing to

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Radical Hospitality

This being human is a guest house. Every morning is a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. [S]he may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond. -Rumi I am very grateful

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Returning: Some Highlights

I went on a journey for 12 days down the east coast which you can read more about.  I have lots to process, but here are some initial offerings of things for which I am grateful (both silly and sublime): renting the cheapest car level possible and ending up with a Ford Mustang convertible wandering through Edgell Grove cemetery where my mother is buried and sensing the peace of her resting visiting with my uncle’s ex-wife, the mother of one of my cousins who so graciously shared stories with me stopping in the town of Wiscasset, Maine on my drive up

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Engaged Spirituality

Today’s reflection post is a hodge-podge of resources.  I am behind on a number of things as I try to finish up the winter quarter and get ready for a two-week pilgrimage back east at the end of March to visit family and friends.  More about that next week.  Beth at the Virtual Tea House is hosting a wonderful blog carnival about engaged spirituality.  Click over to read a wide variety of thoughtful posts submitted.  I shared a post I wrote a year and a half ago titled Widening Circles, it is still one of my favorites, click on the link to go revisit

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