Archive
MONDAY’S POEM: Anger
Life is so interesting! Last week I finished a summer series of Qigong classes with the theme: “Transforming Emotions to Virtues.” I followed the Five-Element scheme so deeply rooted in Chinese approaches to life and health. And my first class several weeks ago was on the Wood Element and transforming Anger to Creativity through Forgiveness.
Today, as I searched through my archives and journals for a “Monday Poem” I came across this one I wrote in February 2010. This was a few years before I began my intense practice of Qigong and study of the Five Elements! But even then I knew how to transform Anger. And yes, my predominant element is Wood!
Anger
It’s easy:
Just fear the mistakes,
Fear failure.
How does that feel?
Anger is a defense.
Anger trumps pity.
It is better than loathing.
It can feel good.
Anger can be productive.
It can motivate.
It can compensate,
And cover insecurity.
Mostly it destroys.
Shiva rises and
Clears the path
Through the waste of failure.
Anger operates at
An instinctual level.
Grow and forgive.
Breathe and live!
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
FRIDAY’S POEM FROM “RHYTHMS AND CYCLES” – The Four Directions of My Life
Here is a personal poem from my “Rhythms and Cycles” collection. The theme of this week’s blog posts has been about bringing more light into the world. This is a way I do that:
The Four Directions of My Life
Vision: The rising Sun
Pulls me forward to reveal
Deep Truths to be shared
With the many. These truths
Are my Truths, your Truths.
This is my work in the world.
Growth: The summer Sun
Pumps juice through the green grass
To feed the many. It all starts
With the grass. Throw open the tent flaps
To the purifying Sun.
This is my work in my home.
Rest: The setting Sun
Pacifies the heart, stills the soul
To a quiet place. Yet in that stillness
Lies a deep potential for Love.
There is a strong slow Earth-rhythm
Waiting to awaken me to ecstasy.
Generation: The hidden Sun
Propels me toward new vision,
New growth; the next cycle is about
To begin. The spiral of life
Through days, months, years holds
Me to a certain course toward Love.
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
FRIDAY’S POEM FROM “RHYTHMS AND CYCLES” – Muluc
This week’s posts have been about tools for self-knowledge. I use many tools to continue and further my journey. I have used a number of card-decks over the years from versions of the Tarot to “oracle-style” decks that bring a message or an affirmation to my days. I am currently using the Mayan Oracle Cards and enjoying the openings to that source of revelation.
The other day I drew Muluc which suggests we read the signs and understand the symbols that come to us. These are signals from the Universe, working to awaken humanity to a higher calling. I wrote the following in response to the card. I am putting it in my Rhythms and Cycles collection because the awakening process is ongoing and cyclic; we awaken in levels as more is revealed to us and we peel away the layers of forgetfulness.
Muluc
Perception is everything. It is truth, beauty, wisdom, and ultimately salvation.
And we can change our perception in a blink or a breath.
Perceive the signs from the Universe that are available moment-to-moment.
Open to all that your senses, all of them, have to tell you.
Listen with your heart. It is the largest sense-organ and cannot be filled!
Muluc is the key that turns the lock and opens all the senses to remember.
Star-children are awakening to Truth.
The key is turned, the lock undone.
Remember! Re-member!
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
MONDAY’S POEM: Leo Sun
I wrote today’s poem about three years ago under a Leo Sun. You probably know by now I was born in Leo, my wife, Rosemary is also a Leo (same birthday!). I have a brother, Jerry who is a Leo (also same birthday!). Our nephew is a Leo. Today is my sister-in-law’s birthday – making her a Leo. And, last and best, our new grandson, Tristan is a Leo! Wow, a lot to celebrate! And we still have a few more days with Sun in Leo to continue the celebration. My poem today is dedicated to ALL LEOs! Enjoy the Sun!
Leo Sun
Our newest Leo, Tristan
Seek the light within;
This is where the fire burns.
It is a golden light,
A speck of the burning Sun.
Breathe in the golden beams;
Feed the inner fire.
The Lion Heart consumes
The flame; rejoice!
Bright August frames
This happy time
When inner shines so bright.
Rejoice, again rejoice! – before the night.
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
FRIDAY’S POEM FROM “RHYTHMS AND CYCLES” – Undefining
My word for the week has been “transparency.” I’ve worked with this notion a bit more and reached a deeper understanding of the meaning of “undefining” as it applies to oneself, the ego, the persona we so often hide behind.
I’m putting this poem, which came from my ruminations on transparency, into my “Rhythms and Cycles” collection because I believe as we grow and evolve as humans we go through a cyclic process of trying on costumes, masks, personae to see how they fit and feel. And then, as snakes shedding their skins, we grow out of them, beyond them and reach for a new way of being. We are in a constant state of becoming; notice the rhythms of becoming in your life!
Undefining
Let all masks, personae, identifications fall away.
Rise above all definitions that seem to fit, to feel good.
Let the “costumes” fall to the floor, around your feet.
What remains?
Stand naked, transparent,
Unashamed and unabashed
By the true essence of self you stand within!
There is nothing here but you…
And nothing between that you and all else:
Others in community, the Universe.
You meet here in that All:
The unmasked, unadulterated, Universal All…
The transparent water drop,
Naked, alone, pure light
Blends into the Ocean of becoming.
Nothing remains but bliss…
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
MONDAY’S POEM: Transparency
I have several ways I reach inside myself to gain insight (inner sight) into energies around me, intuitive knowing within me. One way is to use cards of various kinds: everything from a number of Tarot decks, to spirit and goddess cards by several authors and artists. I recently picked up a new set of cards that has been in our collection for some time but had remained untouched – The Mayan Oracle deck by Ariel Spilsbury and Michael Bryner. There is deep wisdom in these cards and the writing describing them. I am enjoying the study and the guidance they are bringing to me. I particularly like the subtitle: Return Path to the Stars!
Yesterday I drew a “lens” card, Transparency. I am challenged by it to become more open, clear-minded – like a canvas on which to paint a new self! Today’s poem came from considering this challenge!
Transparency
An open book, a sheet of white paper
Waiting for words, reaching for wisdom.
A gateless gate, the clear sky beyond
Flowing to then, leading to lessons.
A faceless face, the makeup in jars
Tempting the soul, offering a mask.
Five empty lines, a staff with no strokes
Begging for notes, listening for music.
It all begins somewhere, nowhere, now
In the emptiness and purity of light.
This is transparency!
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
A FRIDAY POEM FROM “RHYTHMS and CYCLES” – Community
Today’s poem is a reprise from about this time last year. I”m putting it in Rhythms and Cycles because a community is all about rhythms and cycles: the rhythms of working and playing together, singing and dancing; and the cycles of creating, expanding, breathing a community into health and wholeness. And it is about birth! We continue to celebrate the birth of our newest Grandson, Tristan! His closest community is pictured here:
Community
Safety
Numbers
Together
Family
Extended
Tribal
Sharing
Working
Playing
Singing
Stories
Dancing
Creating
Caring
Healing
Wholeness
Heart Center
Love.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
MONDAY’S POEM: Connection
The theme I started today’s poem with is “Connection.” I am feeling connected. The last several days have been all about connection: from our trip south, connecting along with way with family and friends, to the event we attended with Red Elephant and connecting with the “herd” at the Stand, Speak and Profit program, to the Ashram, Amrit Yoga Institute and yoga practice, and now prepared to return “home” – to reconnect. The Big Connect for these days is to the future – our newest grandson, Tristan, who brings a new light into the world! Can I summarize all of these delicious feelings in a poem?
Connection
I like the feeling of the word.
I like the sense of it –
The two “ns” in the middle
Are connectors –
Like twins holding hands
Across the word.
I like the feel of the “co”
Within the breath –
A catch in the throat and
A soft exhalation.
Across the “ns” we connect
With the click
In the throat and
With the tongue.
Another quieting sound
Of the breath moving to the close
Of the word
With the trailing n.
Connection.
We are all looking for connection.
And as with all things conscious
The connection begins within.
There is no outer; we create with
The connection within.
It is all inside.
And from there the connection
With breath begins
The connection with the All.
It is deep, inside.
It grows there expanding
Ever deeper and higher and wider
Taking in the totality of it all.
Connection can only expand
From the inside.
Just as all love flows
From self-love,
So too does all connection flow
From inner connection.
Breath
Body
Vibration
Prana
Yoga
Union
Connection.
It is all right here.
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
A FRIDAY POEM FROM “RHYTHMS AND CYCLES” – A Poem for Tristan
Yesterday was an eventful day! Our newest grandson, Tristan Wallace Bredeson, was born! Rosemary and I are at a conference in Orlando which also started Thursday. We knew some additional testing was being done for the baby, not due until August 24, but did not expect his arrival so soon! When we got word of his impending birth we began to wait and wonder; just as excited as expecting parents ourselves!
I began this poem while we still did not know; parents had not wanted to know the gender of this child and we did not even know name choices! I completed the poem after a few details were added. I include it in this volume, “Rhythms and Cycles”, because birth is certainly the beginning of another cycle! And I’m happy to share the joy of this new cycle!
A Poem for Tristan
I hold my breath
Waiting to hear in the silence
That first ring of life-news.
Is he here? Is she breathing?
Has our new grandchild
Joined us on the Mother’s surface
Breathing the Mother’s air?
And I wait.
I glance at my phone for signs.
I see only a dark face.
Cold technology is waiting
for some signal to let us know
All is well.
The phone remains inert,
Resting in that space of silence
Between breaths, between updates.
I take a breath.
Does baby take a breath?
I take a baby-breath
As baby takes his first breaths.
“Can I make my breath
As soft as a baby’s?”
Can baby breathe a healthy
Breath of air – and spirit?
Yes, I believe he can!
Then all comes to life
As we learn the joyous news
That all is well and he is here.
He may be early, anxious for
Sun, Moon, Stars to be just right.
He may be small, for now;
He will grow into his big name!
Tristan Wallace Bredeson is here!
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
A FRIDAY POEM FROM “RHYTHMS AND CYCLES” – Grandmother Moon (a reprise)
It hasn’t been that long since I published this poem. But for you new followers, in case you missed it, here it is again. And here we are again, sinking with the moon as she falls ever further behind in her race with the sun. I seem to be sensing the “death” of this particular moon, into the Leo sun, even more powerfully than usual. Maybe the Lion’s jaws are fierce and strong and Grandmother is falling toward them with more than her usual reluctance!
Do you feel the effects of the “old moon” a day or two before the new moon? Check in with your intuitive nature. The moon is there to support that feminine side of you!
Grandmother Moon
She is dying into the arms
Of the Father.
She is old and worn,
So close to his breast.
What will you give her
To offer the Father?
Her emptiness can hold all
You have to release.
Are your standards so fixed
To forgive and forget?
Let fly the high-horse
To Grandmother Moon.
Release your regrets
To her skinny white arms.
She’ll fold them and hold all
To burn with her heart.
In three days she’ll appear
Reborn and renewed.
Look to the west for the joy
Of her face and rejoice.
You too are new!
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Men and The Goddess 