Hand & Spirit

Courage

2010-03-10T06:57:00.000-08:00

We do not have to learn courage,
for it is part of who we already are.
We only have to unlearn fear.

Serenity

2010-03-05T08:24:00.000-08:00

Solitude has served me well.
Today tentatively,
I believe... more.
my grasp loosens ...a bit.
what is... is.
and hope ...glimmers.
Today I am on my knees...
"Give me the courage
to change the things I can
the serenity to accept the
things i cannot
and the wisdom
to know the difference"

I'll be your lean-to.

2010-03-02T07:06:00.000-08:00

I'll be your lean-to.
I'll be your shelter your until the storms pass.
I'll be your sight when you've lost your vision.
I'll believe in you when you cease to believe in yourself.
Until you the taste of life wets your lips,
Until the growing inside you sprouts new buds
Until the strength comes back to stand tall on your own.
You can lean on me
I'll hold the space
I'll be your lean-to

I am an open vessel

2010-02-24T07:44:00.000-08:00

I am here.
I am open to be filled with all that is to be learned and explored.
Yet the more I learn
the more I realize
how very little
I know.

Rainbow sprinkles, Please.

2010-02-22T09:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I ordered myself a vanilla ice cream cone with rainbow sprinkles. The little girl in me loves the colors and the texture,it is a happy, joyful, yummy time licking and savoring my sprinkle covered ice cream treat. And when I nurture that little girl, I honor my grown up woman-self.
Delicious!

Enough

2010-02-21T11:11:00.000-08:00

Is love really big enough, steady enough, open enough. Is it unwavering and strong and beautiful, is it colorful and crazy and vibrant and alive enough for me to believe...
that I am enough?

What i know for sure

2010-02-06T07:20:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning smiling in spite of myself about all the things I thought i knew for sure...but didn't. Like this job, we haven't heard anything at this point so..its not very likely that it is his.
But yesterday i bought myself a piece of "the ultimate vanilla white cake" from Wegmans. I took my first bite and was instantly transported to my mom-moms kitchen.
We LOVED mom-moms vanilla cake, especially the icing; light, creamy, sweet..like no other. As i savored each yummy morsel i felt like home, loved, cherished adored. I know for sure in my grandmothers kitchen i was precious. I know for sure that mom-moms vanilla white cake was the the true "ultimate" because that delightful concoction was infused with her ultimate love.
This i do know for sure.

light

2010-02-04T19:05:00.000-08:00

Today the sun was out all day.
I felt the light.
I was in the light and it was in me.

Enough already!

2010-02-03T10:20:00.000-08:00

I'm done living in the "if he gets this job", "if he doesn't get this job" mode. I've spent too much time dividing my thoughts, my time, my energy into the before and after. I will practice, practice, practice being in the now.

The practice of letting go...

2010-02-02T10:44:00.000-08:00

The practice of letting go. Will I ever even remotely get it?
I've got the breath in (slowly) and breath out (even more slowly)...
and the out for a walk, fresh air, movement, looking at the clouds
in the moment experience... (got that down)
not to mention the I surrender down on my knees in prayer attempts
and last but not least the music, the turn up the volume, let the music fill you, dance and sing at the top of my lungs thing.

But when the stillness comes...it sneaks in, sometimes in the back door quietly other times boldly in my face bolting through the front door.

Any suggestions on this letting go thing? anyone?

Did I mention fear...again?

2010-01-31T12:12:00.001-08:00

I am hoping, hoping, hoping and praying, praying, praying that my man gets offered "the job" tomorrow. It has been such a long interview process, and he is so in need and deserving of a positive change. Of course it would be an enormous shift and change for all of us. Emotions are running the gamut of fear, anticipated disappointment, joy, fear, trepidation, elation, fear, anger, gratitude, excitement and did i mention fear. I long to be the trusting, peaceful "i know the decision will be exactly what it needs to be for us" person but quite honestly I am more often in the "if he doesn't get this offer life is just not fair what are we going to do now?" mode.
Such is my ongoing struggle to let go and trust in the universe...

Everything will be ok in the end, if its not ok, its not the end.
Right?

The trees are on fire

2010-01-27T14:51:00.000-08:00

The trees are on fire. I sit here at dusk watching the sun set out my window, pausing right behind the tree line that stands tall across the mountain ridge, the orange red fiery glow is the back drop for the solid trunks and their many long spindly arms and fingers reaching and stretching for the heavens. The glow is hot with intensity while the above skies are cool with a faded grey blue. Thus is life - in perfect balance. Vibrant passion seeps into serene peacefulness, fear into love, and sadness into joy. A masterpiece that takes ones breath away.

Answers please?

2010-01-26T10:43:00.000-08:00

How should I address the constant gnawing in my chest, the dull ache that forces the breath to be a little more deliberate? Do I go for the old "pull up your bootstraps" and get out there and do something approach? Do I sit with the discomfort acknowledging it, feeling, recognizing it? Do I sing it? Walk it? Cry it ....? Oh another thing, is there a time limit? A day or two? A week? Weeks? A Month?I just want to know....something. I'm empty, but not really. I don't want to be this way...but do I? I just want to be who I am...I think. "It is all temporary" "one thing you can count on is change"
but when?

Weak with fear

2010-01-25T05:32:00.000-08:00

Fear

when the fear is so immense, so big and all consuming....

when you know for sure it is real, are you manifesting the nightmare?

or is your intuition solid, your gut honest and is the fear the absolute response to what you know inside.

I want to know for sure... but I don't want to know for sure

Power is in the truth. I am weak with fear.

My heart is not my own

2010-01-24T06:55:00.000-08:00

Its confirmed, again. My heart is not my own. Last night one of my sons experienced, defeat and disappointment. It happened when "the man" and I were on our way out for dinner, we had no agenda, kind of free, a nice easy night... then I got the call. Return of the heavy heart, the ache. Plans shift. We meet. It is a privilege to be present to his sorrow. This tender, beautiful young man. I said he was "golden like the sun" when he was a little boy...he still is.

My heart is not my own.

heavy heart

2010-01-23T05:21:00.000-08:00

Before I even opened my eyes this morning i realized that my heart was heavy. Is it possible for your heart to actually gain weight overnight? No doubt it was heavier and larger than it was when I closed my eyes the night before. As I lay in bed observing the mass, feeling the heaviness creep up my chest and and into my throat, lingering just behind my eyes where the tears make little puddles that wait to overflow, as if to hold onto the sadness with the sense that there is more to come.

Today is the day our last son heads back to college to finish his final semester. The others have come and gone over the holiday. Today marks the end of holiday break for all. I've been here before many times with five children, this is our story. Come and go. The doors are always open to come home and then to go out... as is my heart, always open. the difference is they inhabit my heart, they never leave it not for a moment. I carry them and their stories, their joys their sorrows along with my own in my heart, my life force.

This is the divine privilege of being their mother.

I'm in a quandary

2010-01-21T05:06:00.000-08:00

I'm in a quandary.

I'm stuck between the place of "planning, scheduling our time or the alternative of "going with the flow, allowing for spontaneity, "what ever happens happens". Personally I like the sound of the later much better however it is my experience (recently anyway) that when I "allow" not much happens When the space is left open , it ends up being "space" . Granted we have spent evenings "together" sitting by the fire relaxing ...i guess? But now I'm getting restless, so I'm feeling the need to "create a memory". Is this "me" forcing an expectation and agenda... or... is this "me" just wanting something more for all of us to put in our bank of experiences. The day is before us.

I just really want it to count.

Happy Birthday to my delightful, yummy, amazing niece and nephew today. They are 4 yrs old!!

each moment is a new beginning

2010-01-20T09:08:00.000-08:00

I am coming to know more and more each day that no matter how old our children are they fill us ... our time, our hearts, our heads, our being. Just when we were thinking we were getting close to "the end" ...we have have come to understand, there is no end, just truly new and different beginnings. There is a new beginning in each and every moment.
Rejoice!

breathe

2010-01-19T04:50:00.000-08:00

How did I come to own this "banner of shame"? the one I woke up with this morning, the one that feels like a cinder block on my chest, the one that holds me to hiding? Is it the phone calls not returned. the bills not paid, the i should have done this why didn't I do thats that stand before me the moment I open my eyes?

A new day is dawning, it must be within my grasp,

moment by moment,

breathe in breathe out.

say yes.

HOPE

2010-01-18T17:05:00.000-08:00

In the midst of winter, darkness,
helplessness, despair, devastation in Haiti
We reach.. We grasp.. We hold oh so closely to..
HOPE

Here I am again. without intimidation(for the moment),without expectation, without fear. because I need a creative outlet, because the blog world intrigues the hell out of me, because i need to show up (even if its just to myself) and because it's here that i've been inspired and touched and moved over and over again. and right now in this dark cold winter month...i am heavy and dry and this little blogspace is something for me to hold onto.

*photo by I blogger I love: d.schwedhelm

...and today is the day I begin again.

2009-08-02T17:26:00.000-07:00

This blog has been calling me back for quite some time now and I have been quite resistant.
Why? I am unsure... is it because I am insecure about my writing?
... is it because I don't want to expose myself ?
... is it because I love, and am inspired, and in awe of so many delightful
blogs that the comparison paralyzes me?
... is it because I am so weak in computer skills and I lack the
courage and patience to learn?
... is it because I don't have the time?
... is it because I don't make the time?

But... today I am here. I begin again, to show up and share and write and risk.

Here I am.

Welcome back to me.

A Simple Gift

2007-03-22T07:26:00.000-07:00

This morning I received a package from a dear old friend...we've created this lovely ritual of sending boxes filled with delightful little thoughts and gifts chosen carefully to bring a smile or a nod we send them at random for no specific reason. When a box arrives I savor the thought of opening it until I have a moment to relish each treasure with a cup of tea or glass of wine. The anticipation is as joyful as the opening itself. It is the honoring of a friendship, the time and tenderness of the packaging, the surprise and caring, not specifically the content, that I love (although the contents are truly wonderful!!) Receiving this box out of the blue, not for my birthday, not out of obligation, with no strings attached, validates me, whispers "you are loved", celebrates me. Oh what a gift...what a priceless gift.

(I'd love to share some photos but am struggling to post...when I click on the add image icon nothing happens. Any suggestions?)

Stuck

2007-03-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

I started this wonderful blog...sent a few comments to others and then I GOT STUCK.
First of all there was the fear of no response, I was afraid to open my blog because I was afraid I would be left alone with my Hand & Spirit posts ( which by the way would not be totally unreasonable since I just entered this whole world) however the insecurity was louder than logic and I just avoided this space for a while....but then 2 days ago I peeked and YES!!! I had a few comments YEA! and THank-you THank-you THank-you. Next came the fear ....What if I show up and they don't like me?!?! Silly me, Silly thoughts, I am 45 years old and I KNOW all the mature true ways to respond to a fear like that .....but I did vow to be honest here and so I am. Anyway this morning I went to go off to work and my car wouldn't start after making a few calls and some arrangements I surrendered to the fact that I would be "STUCK" at home today. The irony of being stuck home alone with my "stuckness" prompted me to move forward.
I have had a wonderful weekend which started on THursday with the birth of 10, yes 10 boxer puppies! All went incredibly well, and our dear Keano is a wonderful mommy. So as a result we have had a bevy of friends and family stopping by to see the sweet new babies as well as two of my sons home from college to visit and meet them. It is always sooo delightful to have them home. Oh...I forgot to mention that on Friday we had a huge snow storm arrive which cancelled some previously scheduled activities and allowed us to stay home and enjoy each other, the new puppies and all our visitors!!! The other little bonus I got from this flurry of activity was a great excuse to put off all the things I've been afraid to tend to, you know the things that make your heart a bit heavy or show up as eye twitches or just plain exhaustion. And then today....WA LA! My car won't start and I get stuck to become unstuck....and this post my dear friends is first step to begin that process.

My First Step

2007-03-04T17:46:00.000-08:00

Ahhhh.....here goes my first step into bloggie world. I enter slowly with little trepidation, I long to share and connect but at the same time I hesitate, I can be slow to open up , fearful of being misunderstood or not taken seriously. I first discovered this way of connecting when a friend suggested I view "A Walk in My Shoes" blogspot. Darlene was so raw and eloquent and true in telling her story I was completely drawn in and have continued reading and caring about her journey since...I was in awe and deeply moved by the loving caring and present community she had in her fellow bloggers. Thus here I am, hopeful, dedicated and trusting to another way of being present, of reaching out and letting in.