6 Poems With a Focus on Mindful Living, Including the Gift of Love

From Moment to Moment

May I remember that I am not my body,
thoughts or feelings; I am the
Awareness, Compassion and Loving-Kindness
who observes and witnesses my
bodily sensations, thoughts and feelings…

May I remember that, in my moments of
suffering and conflict, I am able to be
acknowledged and embraced by the loving
essence who resides within me…

May I know that I am forever
one with the eternal and all of creation…

May I trust in the leading of the Tao
and in the fruits of my meditative practice…

May I remember to follow my path with heart…

May I be in the present moment,
living in the now of life…

May I remember that no other person,
including my inner critic, can define
who I am as a person…

May my life be an expression of loving-kindness
towards all living beings…

May my words be honest, helpful timely and kind…

May I live in peace and in the joy of being.

The Gift of Love

To love someone for themselves
and not as an extension of who I am
or what I need them to be…

To view someone else’s needs as being as important
as my own…

To cherish my partner’s being
as a gift to be acknowledged
and nurtured…

Moving beyond myself,
into another’s universe…

The union of opposites
and shared values…

To be a whole person,
yet interdependent…

Merging together, transcending
our singular gifts…

Experiencing a oneness that requires
commitment to achieve…

The gift of love,
the utter joy of such a partnership…

Experiencing the deepening essence of life
that only such a journey provides…

The manifestation of the Divine’s living
and healing Essence, within,
and between each one of us…

Thankful am I, for the gift of love.

Who Are We?

We experience…
We attempt to understand our experience…
We create storylines describing our experience…
We identify with our thoughts about our experience,
We suffer from our beliefs regarding our experience,
and we are not our thoughts…
If not our thoughts, who are we?
We are the witnessing observer of our
thoughts, storylines, beliefs and suffering…
We are awareness,
that quiet essence we experience
in the stillness of simply being present.

A Sierra Stream

The ever-moving, crystal-like flow of a Sierra stream,
cresting over its clear, rock-coloured currents…
Shadows dance off this reflective, tree-shaded body
as it rushes along its pathway…

A quiet, muted roar fills my ears…
Every so often a “plunk”-like sound interrupts
the symphony of the rushing stream
as its waters move a rock and ever-so-slightly alter
its flowing current…

A Sierra stream, ever moving onward,
and yet, ever-present…
No beginning, no end…
A place to take stock,
to sigh and relax,
to listen
and become, once again,
present…

It is so easy to become estranged from the
stream’s gift,
to become cut off from being
at one with the moment,
to become scattered,
fragmented from our place in nature’s order,
sitting beside its flowing ways,
being led back to ourselves.

A Nation Divided

Fear…
Frustration…
Flawed interpretations of facts
and understandings of issues…

Our fear of differences
between ourselves and others…

Our fear of change,
and the unknown…

Our frustrations over things
not being the way they should be,
all provide us with the lens
though which we perceive what others say,
and interpret the motivations
for what others do…

Often, as a consequence,
we define the reality of what is
from the perspective of
what isn’t…

And our alienation
and suffering continues…

Seeing in the Mirror Dimly

If we look through the lens of
ignorance, fear, prejudice, racism or misogyny
and project our shadow issues onto others,
we will never be able to see the person
who stands before us, or view the issues
that need to be addressed for what they are…
We will be forever lost in the wasteland
of our own unconsciousness.

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