Beautiful friend,

I send you love.

If I could wrap joy

in a package, 

I would mail it off to you.

If I could plant peace

in your garden,

I would show up with shovel in hand.

But none of this is mine for the giving,

tho' it is ours for the wishing.

And, always, I can send you love,

and this I do,

ceaselessly.

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You don't have anything to do

but play.

You thought for a second, "oh, I have so much to do...." and felt dragged down.

Silly goose!

You forgot that work is play.

Work is like going to the gym--

move those muscles and laugh!

Fill your heart with joy!

Play, play, in the garden of life.

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Reduce this moment

to the simplest of elements:

one breath of air,

one sip of water,

one touch of warmth,

one step of movement.

What more is needed?

One smile of love,

one word of kindness,

one embrace of affection,

one corner of solace.

Is life complex?

Yes.

Is life simple?

Yes.

Reduce this moment,

and relax.

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Some people accumulate alot of wealth and let their crumbs fall to those at the bottom of the pile.

Some people scrape together what they can and shake their heads in lost confusion.

Who has more worth:

the person who shares their last piece of bread with their neighbor,

or the person who eats until their belly is full with not a glance towards their neighbor?

Share what you have an...

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I pray for those where

the world is exploding,

I pray for those

where bodies are falling.

Cling not to this mortal existence

when all is breaking

into hopeless pieces 

of cruel destruction!

There is no choice

but to cry out

in desperation

and hope for release

from this devastation.

The flower pushes up

from the cold concrete.

So, too, our spirits rise

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I woke up this morning thinking,

"Today, I'm going to work and play in the garden of the Universe."

Nothing is mine I realized!

This house I live in is made of wood that came from trees that grew from the soil of this planet.

These people that I love will one day return to the arms of the Universe.

These legs that carry me from my bed to my kitchen to all the places that I visit wil...

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I tried to learn how to do Google calendar,

I really did.

I mean it looks like so much fun,

you touch an email invite tab,

and voilà the event shows up like magic on the phone calendar.

I mean wow.

Or you and your BFF reach for your phones

and touch the little calendar picture

and voilà you've set a coffee date.

So efficient, so simple!

But I'm sorry it all fell apart...

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My friend remembers

holding babies in an orphanage

across the border

when she was there as a teen

with a charitable group

whose name she has long forgotten.

Her volunteer role was simply to hold and rock the babies,

the sweet little souls.

My friend, like me, is elderly now,

but she still drives all over town

on those fast freeways

that I dare not enter

(when I'...

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Can I look hate in the face

and call it friend?

Can I look anger in the face

and call it healer?

I run from hate and anger,

even as they creep into my life like unexploded bombs.

Even then, a part of me senses that if I embrace them,

they will dissipate, 

their power will dissolve into nothingness.

With this, I set myself free,

gratefully. 

Are hate and anger the l...

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Hey everyone I'm looking for a sandy beach to buy 

where I can go stick my head in the sand for four looong years.

Really, I don't want to know what's going on in this world of bad news, bad news, bad news.

I don't want to buy a newspaper for a dime from the boy on the corner,

I don't want to sit around the old brown radio with the family and fiddle with the dial to see what we can hea...

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People I know are buying guns and I don't blame them.

Some lean right and some lean left and they are afraid.

People I know are gathering documents to flee 

and I don't blame them.

There is a sense of looming loss of freedom and safety.

People are taking to the streets, mostly peacefully,

I give gratitude for them.

People are going to the courts, 

arguments in hand, 

I g...

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The moon is calling out to me 

in a blast of cold night air,

her beams are reaching out for me 

in an embrace of sweet ascent.

What is it about sister moon

that calls to us as she governs her starry children?

Is it the invitation of her far away, unreachable glide?

Or perhaps it's the coolness of her deep, distant silence.

Whatever it may be that lures us to reach up to her...

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Who is to blame

Let's walk through history

The cruel charismatic dictators

The chess-playing map-drawing colonialists

The wealth-seeking explorers

The holier-than-thou heathen- defining believers

The tribal territory-driven survivalists

On and on and on

Etc etc etc

Who is to blame

At some point it behooves us to stop the blame game

To sit down and get real

Compr...

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Turn on the faucet

water flows

Open the heart

love flows

The dance of life

is awash with blessings

We forget because we are blinded by the storms

Remember my sweet friends

the rainbow always arrives

the sky never completely falls

Believe in heaven on earth

one day

Why not?

It's sweeter than doomsday

And if doomsday arrives

remember my sweet friends

w...

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These are my slippers

I like them

They are cosy

They are probably made overseas

by some kind person working hard

I bought them at the little mailbox store across the street

owned by the nice friendly older (like me) couple

The vibe is they are conservative and I am liberal

But we like each other

"Live and let live"

Amen and halleluiah

The underside of my soft ...

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1.  Once Again

Anger is a creature that lives within us

like a fiery dragon

Don't run from it

Use its heat to cleanse

every last remnant

of what you don't want

Dress yourself in white garments

and walk down to the river

Water cools the burning

All is healed

The anger dissipates,

the embers shine soft

Flow into the river of life 

peaceful, once again

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Let us draw no lines in the sand,

my friends,

let us not inquire "whose side are you on?"

We have no need for fences,

or endless sharp divisions,

no, my friends, we need only extend the hand of friendship,

we need only meet eye to eye

in that sweet place of commonality.

You are you and I am I,

and that is enough--

our shared humanness--

that is enough.

Let us ju...

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Before they left their bodies

and moved into the light,

they met each other.

Perhaps it was a cleansing of sorts,

a lightening of burdens.

He survived the harbor bombing;

his neighbor survived the "enemy" internment camp.

He hung to floating debris in oil-slicked waters;

his neighbor found a friend to safeguard his farm while he was interned.

When they were both old...

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Okay this is a little complicated

but I think I'm slowly figuring this out.

It's just so counter-intuitive!

But as I sort it out in my heart and mind, it starts making sense.

It starts becoming simple. 

It begins to feel powerful.

It feels wonderful.

Here it is.

Jesus said: love your enemies.

How does this help?

How does this move the needle towards prosperity an...

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My neighbor told me that talking about politics with her family (divided) makes her stomach hurt

I don't talk much about politics

Reading about politics makes my head spin*

I live in the micro but try to understand the macro

Big picture thinking

Little picture living

I do not understand much

So I just keep on living

Where is the joy?

When the micro and the macro unify

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What in the dickens is going on?

"It was the best of times,

it was the worst of times."

When I was a little girl growing up in the 1960's, 

there were (mostly) only white men

newscasters,

lawyers,

politicians,

soldiers,

corporate bosses,

ministers,

and on and on,

you know, the ones who led the way, the warriors at the pinnacle of society.

By the time I got to...

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I.  Just Us 

She donned her marching shoes (comfy tennies actually) 

put on a bright shirt

and out she went to the streets,

neon homemade placard in hand.

She prayed for peace for all, no violence.

She knew she could be shot dead.

But she could die in bed

of a brain bleed too!

No fear, no hate, 

and, she reminded herself,

no "us against them."

Just us.

The sh...

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Things collapse

and we rebuild them

Things explode

and we pick up the pieces

Things fall apart

and we put them back together

This is the nature of being

This is the nature of survival

This is the nature of regeneration

On this complex magnificent planet

on this spinning orb of magma and crystalline rock

the upheavals are often catastrophic

throwing us out of our...

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This is the time of winter,

when all is stark and bare.

This is the time of sadness,

when all is dark and cold.

When will the sun return?

We wait while the birds are silent,

when will hearts thaw?

We wait with patient ardor,

Love love love love

melts the snow,

nourishes the soil,

and the flowers bloom.

This is the time of Spring,

it always arrives,

elated.

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If I love you with the fierceness of a hurricane,

will that be enough to save you from life's fury?

If I love you with the wildness of a blazing fire,

will that be enough to shelter you from life's despair?

Can the depth of my love carry you over life's mountains and lift you from life's valleys?

Can the breadth of my love release you from all life's pain and sorrow?

Can I love y...

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We are living in the Dark Ages,

repeated, but different.

We are waiting for the Renaissance,

repeated, but different.

Musical notes,

repeated, 

create flow.

Tune into the flow.

Fear nothing.

Love everyone,

repeated.

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Don't cling too much

to persons, places or things,

they are as dreams,

arriving and dissolving,

lost in time and memory.

Oh! but for this, all the more reason to appreciate

every morsel of every experience--

the sound of a loved one's voice ringing a welcome,

the pull of the earth on a long morning's walk, 

the tea in a cup warming the holding hands.

What is this life...

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I visited my sis yesterday

Whilst she was babysitting her two grandkids ages 3 and 5

My grandkids are grown

I had forgotten what it was like with the little ones

They never stop moving 

Like being in a whirlpool

They twirl and talk and laugh and inquire

Like dancing dervishes

Round and round

Lift up the compost lid to see the array of smelly food inside

Crawl through ...

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If someone you love is mentally ill and miserable beyond words...

If someone you love is so depressed they can't get out of bed...

If someone you love is addicted and living on the streets...

And on and on...

Where is the line between choice and incapacity to choose?

Is linear cause and effect at times a fruitless inquiry?

Does help arise from interior transformation?

Does hel...

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"I love you."

We all yearn to hear those words,

but have you ever said them to yourself?

Who, then, is the one speaking when you say this to yourself?

Yourself to yourself?

It appears there is something more.

The words "I love you" (to yourself!) open up the gates of heaven:

out dance the angels, the saints, the guides, the seraphim and cherubim, and on and on,

all the bein...

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Writing poetry

for me

is prayer dancing on the page,

melodies pouring out of my heart,

emotions wrapped in exquisite paper,

ecstasy and sorrow holding hands.

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There is a man who lives in the sky,

well, actually, he lives in my mind's eye.

He has no teeth.

He loves to throw his head back and laugh.

He has kind eyes.

His hair is long and wild

and very white,

like he's lived alot or maybe seen a ghost.

He is happy and wise.

He counsels me:

be happy.

He cheers me up.

Does all this stuff down here on earth matter?

Of co...

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Stepping into the density,

I lose myself,

I become as a boat drifting in a lake, unattended, floating still, but lackluster, without guidance, 

clouded by a touch of sadness.

But then, breath returns,

deep, rich with the promise of renewal.

Deep, slow breath,

breath hums a tune of awakening,

breath sings a song of remembering.

Remembering compassion,

remembering frien...

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Letting go of physicality is difficult,

Letting go of physicality is beautiful.

The physical is wondrous--

a bird in flight,

caw-caw,

a song at night,

melody settling into the eve.

The physical is laborious--

things break, things decay, ceaseless entropy.

But some things last,

we stumble upon them in archeological digs in our homes--

a card of love written long ago...

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Words dance like

wildflowers in the poet's mind.

Sometimes the words

make it to a page,

crying out pain,

singing out joy.

What then are words?

Do birds have their own words

in their wild cheerful chirps?

The words in the mind of the poet

have no precise definition;

they are as varied as the stories of the human experience.

Write on, oh traveling pilgrim!

Let ...

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If

I could
I would sing
you a song of

holiday cheer but,

alas, I fear my dear

I cannot carry a tune

so here I am with pen in hand

sending instead: warm greetings to all!

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I always wondered how it felt to be getting old and family and friends are dying away. 

Slowly, I am learning.

It is a letting go.

Little by little,

you fade into the mist,

you become lighter and lighter,

like fairy stardust,

like the thinnest silk,

like air.

You float, you say goodbye,

you ponder a new hello,

someplace else,

someplace invisible,

someplace be...

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I will go

and breathe happiness

in that place

of shadows and sorrows.

Oh the tears that have flowed!

But when met by the river of love

and the sky of hope

and the trees of growth--

I will go

and breathe peace

in that place

of redemption and resurrection,

I will go, fearlessly,

I will go with you, my beloved.

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You can rage against reality,

or you can accept your fate

and just laugh.

Laughter, a bit of a chuckle really,

a resigned smile,

is so healing.

It's all good, you say to reality,

and reality smiles back.

Somehow we survive,

all these upsets and calamities,

people carry on.

Look at you, writing this, reading this, still alive.

A testament to survival.

Find the...

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Expand your mind

beyond the confines

of the physical,

feel the light emanating 

from your being,

soar up to the sky

and down across the valleys and mountains,

happiness awaits

in this realm of freedom.

You are so much more

than the limbs that walk

and the lungs that breathe,

you are part of the drumming of the earth

and the illuminations of the stars,

you ...

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When I'm sad

I like to think of the sky

It's so open

When I feel weighed down

I like to think of a plant

It knows how to just be

Just be in whatever arrives

Like the sky

Blue

Like the plant

Green

Lovely

Simplicity

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It's 2 a.m. and sleep eludes,

the thinking brain twirls,

the breath moves softly,

the heart expands,

sending peace, 

to the tired ones

who stretch the dollar,

who give thanks for each penny,

to the old ones (the old old dog at son's house yesterday lying quietly on the floor looking at me with gentle watery eyes)

who take each breath

with little left,

energy shifti...

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I lay on my bed

worrying,

what good has this done me?

None.

I lay on my bed

relaxing,

what good has this done me?

It changes everything.

Letting go

creates power, 

creates well-being,

makes us smile with ease.

There is nothing to fix

because nothing is broken.

What appears to be broken

is but an experience

with a pearl inside.

Find the pearl

an...

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Wake up and remember,

there is nothing you need to do but be--

be curious,

be relaxed,

be happy.

Let everything else go--

go to God,

go to good,

go to creation.

You are creation's reflection--

bask in its beauty

and let everything create 

unto itself.

This is joy!

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Fall into bliss.

Melt into bliss.

Everything is perfect.

Everything is wonderful.

These words have power.

The thinking mind thinks

no, no, no, this is not so.

Catastrophes loom, tragedies arrive, 

so very far from perfect or wonderful.

But...

the being mind--

freed from thought,

tuned to eternity,

walking with spirit...

perfection and wonder exist in the r...

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For eons and eons

she tried to understand

good and evil,

good was easy--

so wonderful--

but evil--

why why why,

the ceaseless question.

At one point she saw a rainbow

of unconditional love

hovering above good and evil

(a glimmer of insight into the incomprehensible dichotomy!),

but still the question, 

why why why.

Finally she found something to settle in-...

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Age gracefully, darling,

accept that your body can't bounce around like it used to.

It's okay that your steps are slow and dust settles throughout your house,

undisturbed by hands that spend more time folded in contemplation than scurrying around cleaning.

Accept that there's not much scurrying anymore.

But notice how laughter comes more easily.

How few things really matter when ...

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A user is a person looking for home,

a loser is a person tired of trying.

Let yourself be a helper if you want to,

stop when you don't want to.

Let the user find their kindness,

let the loser find their strength.

You are strong because you are an empty vessel

filled with joy.

You are bathed in kindness.

A giver is a generous person who fears nothing,

a winner is a joy...

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Hate is someone looking for love,

fear is someone needing comfort,

anger is someone lost in sorrow.

Meet everything with breath,

find the answers in stillness.

Go deep, move slow, walk in peace.

An outstretched hand reaches further than a fist.

Remember there are always two choices:

send out fear, or send out love.

May the wind stir us to love.

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Descend oh dove of love

and fill our hearts,

alight oh bird of flight

and give us wings

to soar,

to explore

the depths of vision,

the reaches of expansion.

Give us light,

give us might,

times are hard, 

burdens are heavy,

lift us up oh celestial messengers,

bring us strength,

bring us courage,

carry us gently

to the shores of renewal,

carry us hom...

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