This garden of mind

Meandering through
this garden of mind
seemingly chaotic
thought seeds jumble together

Which ones will take root
and reach for the light?

No apparent order or cultivation

What allows a thought seed to flourish?
A deep bed
in which to set deep roots
Love soaking through
to the core of the seed
Space and light

A gardener delicately prunes and
abundantly hacks back
removing dead wood
clearing space
for fresh new seeds

Awareness
careful attention
is the gardener
Spring-cleaning the mind
using natural energy
as the sap rises

To clear a path through
To stop regurgitating old stories
Listening for what is new.

© 22 Jun 19

Be like the flower

This compassionate heart
sometimes flourishes
open like a flower feeling
the sunshine stroking its petals
natural and easy

Sometimes forced open painfully
like a nut being cracked apart.

This compassionate heart
is made for loving
and if it sees no reason to love
it can be jemmied open with a crowbar.

Find the means
to see with the eyes of love
the heart of love.

Develop a way of looking
seeking for love
whenever it appears to be absent.

Be like the flower
feeling the sunshine
stroking its petals.

© 15 Jun 19

How the writing happens

The soft shuffle of pencil on paper
as Dumbledore’s wand
unburdens the mind
of its weighty thoughts
relieves the crowdiness
of words and images in the air.

My pencil is a magic wand
conducting coherence
painting beauty
clearing a path
for words to arrive
on the page unencumbered.

I am not an editor
I am a listener
trusting that what is needed will appear
hearing precisely the words
vibrating in my vicinity
clearing a path
for words to arrive
on the page unencumbered.

© 15 Jun 19

I have a block of sadness

I have a block of sadness
heavy, dense granite.
I prowl tiger-like around it
waiting to see what it does.
Nothing.
I turn my back
as if to walk away
it tugs at my hem, not letting go.
I try to heave it out of the way
it is immovable.

I tend to its needs
asking what it wants.
Sit with it
and slowly
as a sculptor
begin to chip away
removing what is unnecessary
allowing its innate beauty
to be revealed.

It takes time and patience
won’t be complete in one go.

We work together
this block of sadness and I
meeting in a gentle dance
of removing what is unnecessary
allowing its innate beauty
to come out.

Its flowering is my healing
my acceptance.

This heavy block of sadness
becomes a beautiful gift.

© 4 Jun 19

Unready

Unready yet open

Here is a moment
never experienced before
a sky never seen before.
This particular arrangement
of layers and colours
never known before.

Unready yet open
otherwise
I am unseeing
unalert
to what is available for me
in this moment
unable
to receive its gifts.

Unready yet open
willing to be touched
to be moved
to greet the space that unfolds.

I don’t need to be ready
unready is enough
unready is real.

© 28 May 19

How do your doubt and fear manifest?

Stones
boulders
fences
locked doors
brick walls.

How do your doubt and fear manifest?

Stones
boulders
fences
locked doors
brick walls.

All stopping us from
reaching our intended aim.
All stopping us from
achieving what we want to achieve.

Doubt and fear can be
stones, we can easily step over
boulders, we have to find a way around
or maybe crawl under
fences, seemingly with no end or way through
locked doors, seemingly without a key
brick walls, seemingly impenetrable.

If we look hard enough
there’s always a gap.
On examination they can be penetrated.
Water can always find a way through.

When we know doubt and fear
as mere obstacles in our path
put there by an over-protective mind
too tuned to negativity
to see the harm it does
When we see doubt and fear
as mere obstacles in our path
that we ourselves have placed there
we can smile at them
reduce them to rubble and dust
blown away in the wind.
We can clearly see what lies ahead
with the eyes of curiosity
exploration
clarity.

Don’t be held back by
the imaginary boulders of
doubt and fear
boulders of our own making.

© 23 May 19

Preference

This is great – I want to hold on.
This is not great – I want to relinquish
leave it behind.
Where is the midpoint
the place of balance
equanimity?
Where is acceptance of what is?

Going with the senses
going with preferences
likes and dislikes
are shifting sands.
Nothing is ever quite right
nothing is ever prefect.

Can we be with just so?

Welcome and unwelcome
sit side by side
shifting like weather vanes.
One comes to the fore
the other lurks in the background.

Find the unmoving balance
the point of equanimity.

Preference is particular, individual
sometimes shared yet often personal.

Preference feeds on
an isolated point of view.
Where is the midpoint
the place of balance
equanimity?
Where is acceptance of what is?

© 14 May 19

Seeking

Always seeking
looking for more
wanting things to be different.

Let go of the idea
you are lacking.
Everything you need
is available within.

Seeking
wanting
ideas of lacking
are only ideas
as solid and real
as dandelion seeds
blown in the wind.

Here one moment and
gone the next.

These perceptions
are insubstantial
will never feed your heart’s longing.
The real nourishment lies within.

© 4 May 19

Here I stand

Here I stand
a flower
battered and bruised
by yesterday’s storms.

Here I stand
rain and tears mingling
nourishing my roots
strengthening my resolve
softening my harsh edges.

Here I stand
a seemingly fragile flower
still blooming
my roots go deep
my ground unshakeable.

Here I stand
smiling to the garden of flowers
around me
enjoying life
loving life
soaking up the sun
no harking back to when
I was a seed, a shoot, a bud.

Here I stand.

© 30 May 19

Birds' Song

The birds called out
“let the rain rain
for we shall fly anyway.
Let the wind blow
for we shall dance anyway.
Let the thunder roar
for we shall not fear its voice.
Let the rain rain
and we shall bathe in each drop”.

© 15 May 19