Nancy Lankston
I am not old… she said
I am rare.
I am the standing ovation
At the end of the play.
I am the retrospective
Of my life as art
I am the hours
Connected like dots
Into good sense
I am the fullness
Of existing.
You think I am waiting to die…
But I am waiting to be found
I am a treasure.
I am a map.
And these wrinkles are
Imprints of my journey
Ask me
anything.
~Samantha Reynolds
Happy Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.
Our Sun is at its furthest north position in the sky
and that means long luscious days filled with light. Enjoy!
Pause and take a few moments to honor the Sun, bringer of light and life.
This. This is how we transform the world…
“Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.
Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good.
What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take “everyone on Earth” to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.
One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire.
To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these – to be fierce and to show mercy toward others, both, are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it.
If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of the strongest things you can do…”
~Clarissa Pinkola Estes
“To transform the world, we must begin with ourselves”
~Jiddu Krishnamurti
How did Krishnamurti get so wise? Time alone with himself. Time alone in stillness.
Give yourself the gift of time away from the world. Sit in stillness and explore your thoughts and feelings. Do this and you will eventually learn to stop looking to the outside world for answers or satisfaction.
The outside world is not your problem. It is not your solution.
Get still.
Explore the river of you.
The entire Universe is waiting within.
☾☽
“The more you know yourself, the more clarity there is.
Self-knowledge has no end – you don’t come to an achievement,
you don’t come to a conclusion.
It is an endless river.”
“The place where you feel your truth, that is Shakti.
That is her speaking… moving you.
That is where you can find her.
That’s where she is so close.
And in times of crisis or
when things are challenging in this way,
It is so easy to put that connection aside.
…In times like this, you are growing.
Think about yourself as a new sprout in you.
And you have to find ways to take care of it.
You need to finds ways to
feel your feet and feel the Earth.
Find ways to connect in small ways.”
~Chameli Ardagh
Saraswati Sadhana
“I don’t know if I’ve learned anything yet! I did learn how to have a happy home, but I consider myself fortunate in that regard because I could’ve rolled right by it. Everybody has a superficial side and a deep side, but this culture doesn’t place much value on depth — we don’t have shamans or soothsayers, and depth isn’t encouraged or understood. Surrounded by this shallow, glossy society we develop a shallow side, too, and we become attracted to fluff. That’s reflected in the fact that this culture sets up an addiction to romance based on insecurity — the uncertainty of whether or not you’re truly united with the object of your obsession is the rush people get hooked on. I’ve seen this pattern so much in myself and my friends and some people never get off that line.
But along with developing my superficial side, I always nurtured a deeper longing, so even when I was falling into the trap of that other kind of love, I was hip to what I was doing. I recently read an article in Esquire magazine called ‘The End of Sex,’ that said something that struck me as very true. It said: “If you want endless repetition, see a lot of different people. If you want infinite variety, stay with one.” What happens when you date is you run all your best moves and tell all your best stories — and in a way, that routine is a method for falling in love with yourself over and over.
You can’t do that with a longtime mate because he knows all that old material. With a long relationship, things die then are rekindled, and that shared process of rebirth deepens the love. It’s hard work, though, and a lot of people run at the first sign of trouble. You’re with this person, and suddenly you look like an asshole to them or they look like an asshole to you — it’s unpleasant, but if you can get through it you get closer and you learn a way of loving that’s different from the neurotic love enshrined in movies. It’s warmer and has more padding to it.”
~Joni Mitchell
☾☽
#WiseWoman
#Love
#Union