What does the universe say?

What does the universe say?
What messages are being flagged
before my eyes that
in dullness and sadness
I do not notice?
I have to go outside to listen
to breathe the fresh calming air.

The universe says,
be strong like the trees
ready to withstand this
“world’s storm-troubled sphere”.
Be gentle as the evening breeze
smiling with generosity and kindness
on all, not a favoured few.
Be truthful as the songbird
singing “where is the love?”
it has to begin here.
Be playful as the redbreast
hopping from branch to branch
and don’t take life too seriously.
Be fearless as the still heart
unmoved by shadowy figures
playing across its surface.
Be courageous as the roaring ocean
don’t let words lie unsaid
festering in the heart.

The universe says
we are all bound together
in oneness
a connection so fine it
can easily be overlooked
yet we are “more united than divided”.
We all live together
in oneness
an unbreakable truth
that words of hate or condemnation
cannot dissolve.
My name is True mountain of non-fear
and sometimes I forget.
Happily, the universe does not!

© 30 Jan 17

Planting seeds of peace

We walk across an empty playground
planting seeds of peace
liberally scattering our understanding
our practice on the concrete.
When you return on Monday
will you notice
will you feel a slight shift
in the atmosphere
a different energy?
I know one of you
maybe some of you
will notice
will thrill at the feel of the mystery
and connection
that maybe you can’t explain
but feel and know.
You don’t need words to feel
what the heart knows.
One of you
maybe some of you
will notice our seeds of peace
and gain in understanding.
That’s why we walk
planting seeds of peace.

© 21 Jan 17

The mystery

The mystery that does not need to be solved
but longs to be explored
investigated
tried and tested.
The mystery that calls you out of bed
in a morning and
sometimes at midnight
when the moonlit stars shine brightest.
The mystery that knows
everything is not dead
in the depths of winter
but resting secretly
waiting for its time to shine.
The mystery that delights afresh
at each rainbow and
is never dulled or complacent.
The mystery that keeps calling
keeps tugging at the heart-strings
wanting you to see
to notice
to recognise.
One huge game of hide and seek.
The mystery once found
once solved
needs finding again and again as if
there is more than one answer.
The mystery once found
often forgotten in sleep
needs rediscovering anew
each day.
The mystery without end
without boundaries and limits.
The mystery once discovered is
as recognisable as my own face or hand
close as my own heartbeat and
equally distant as other galaxies
unreachable as the earth’s core
unfathomable
or so it seems.
Familiar as my beloved’s footsteps or
sound of their voice.
The mystery as vital as life itself.

At the end of this life
will I feel the mystery is finally answered
the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle
slotting into place?
Or will I smile at
the next great adventure?

© 22 Jan 17

A gratitude list

An unending list of things
to be grateful for.
How can I reach the end and
say, no more?
Big and small
so many things to write.
Qualities within me.
External experiences
people, situations, circumstances.
Is it possible to be grateful
for them all, as teachings?
The mean or harsh word
the refusal, the no
the failure
the unexpected
the uncertain.
I am grateful to you all.

This great cosmos and
every tiny atom within.
This magnificent rolling earth
each fleck of stardust and
everything in between.
All known and unknown
I welcome you all
I thank you all
for creating me as I am
for bringing me to this moment
for teaching me to be grateful.

The list becomes a circle
of infinity
an unending list, unceasing
lover’s knot of entanglement
meetings and recognition
with edges blurred and shapes indistinct.
where do I begin and you end?
I’m grateful for your beauty
sadness, anger, compassion.
Grateful that your presence
brings me to presence.
Grateful.

© 19 Jan 17

A question becomes a thank you!

Focussing inward
feeling sorry for myself
I question sorrowfully
‘why me?’
Focussing outward
noticing many favourable conditions
seeing I have a choice
my question becomes a thank you.
Focussing outward
I become grateful
recognising I have enough
and often more than enough.
My pitiful question
becomes an appreciative thank you.

The question ‘why me?’
no longer relevant as
me becomes we.
On this dank January day
that the sun
seems to have forsaken
green shoots are emerging
with the promise of vitality and spring.
My selfish question
becomes a contented thank you.

© 16 Jan 17

Another opportunity

Here is another opportunity
to believe and look positively
at how reality and expectations
appear to differ.
Put down expectations and
meet what reality is presenting.
Consider carefully!
If a space unexpectedly opens up
how to fill it
how to engage with it
how to meet it as a wonderful opportunity.
Can we only be happy
with the gifts we asked for
looked for, or expected?
Are these even gifts or
just fulfillments of our desires?
The true gift is the unexpected
the uncertainty
the not knowing how things will turn out.
Meeting these moments
with a faithful heart and
trust that things are
exactly as they should be.
© 7 Jan 17

Oneness knows itself

Meditation is not a battle of wills
to be lost or won
not a war of wills
between thoughts and ‘me’.
Who is ‘me’ anyway?

I am the thoughts
embrace, embrace,
don’t push them away.
Yet I am not only thoughts.

I am 51 mental formations
seed-like, waiting to grow
waiting for nourishment.
Yet I am not only mental formations.

I am a body of six senses
6 gates receiving sense objects.
Yet I am not only senses.

I am consciousness
aware of thoughts, feelings,
mental formations, bodily sensations.
Yet I am not only this physical shape.

I am oneness
taking the shape of many bodies
many forms
many ideas, feelings, thoughts.
Mind cannot grasp the extent of oneness
its reach or its depth.
Oneness knows itself.

© 3 Jan 17

The wind and I

The wind and I
have been playing games.
It is gusting wildly and
rattling the door knockers
calling me outside.
We played a game
to see who would win my hat.
And as I walked
as a secondary game
it searched for bins to knock over
or hide from their owners.

Through the woods it
shook the branches menacingly
threatening to tip them
onto my head.
In the open field
it did its best to bowl me over
hurl me into the mud.
It called my bluff by
getting behind me as I
stepped up the hill and aided me.
On the lane it blew
full force in my face.
Eventually I had to hold
onto my hat to save
rescuing it from wherever
the playful wind would take it.
I arrived home with
rosy cheeks, a runny nose
ears singing with the cold and
heart alive with playfulness.

© 11 Jan 17

True colours

A frosty coating on everything.
This morning
the stars have reached down
from the heavens
to decorate earth
in awe and beauty.
We see and appreciate it
by virtue of our own beauty
from a vision of interbeing.
The rising sun’s rays
light each frosted dewdrop
to gleam as the evening stars.
Heaven has come to earth and
we see it decorated in true colours
not subdued or muted by
thoughts of other.

I am the shining stars
I am the frosted leaves and grass
I am the sun of mindfulness
melting away any doubt or fears.
I am constantly changing beauty
awe and wonder.
I am born afresh each morning.

© 3 Jan 17

A conversation between two different parts of the brain

1. Let’s adventure to nourish contentment!
2. Surely we can stay at home to find that?
1. Let’s not be lazy, there’s a whole world out there.
2. There’s a whole world here too, let’s stay at home.
1. We have to journey into the unknown to meet our awakening.
2. I’d rather stay at home and meet the known.
1. Don’t be so small! There’s so much to see!
2. Plenty to see here as well!
1. What are you afraid of? Danger? Uncertainty? Failure? Death?
2. All that and more! Here is familiar, cosy and warm, let’s stay here!
1. You have to trust, my friend. There is more to life than this.
2. And despite my reservations I am won over. And so we journey through cold and heat, hunger and feast, mistrust and friendliness, disagreement and benevolence.
1. After many days and many adventures we arrive at our resting place.
2. Wait a minute! I recognise this! We have come full circle and are back home.
1. Yes, but not as we left it because we see it with new eyes and a new heart.
2. You were right, my friend! We did need this adventure.
1. But you were also right, my friend. Everything we need is right here. We needed to venture out and ‘hold as t’were a mirror up to nature’ to see and appreciate what was already here.
1 & 2. To see it with new eyes and a new heart.

© 31 Dec 16