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A Valentine Poem: Human Virtues
Rosemary “downloaded” these five virtues, or qualities, the other day in meditation. She brought this up in “Circle” when speaking of the qualities needed to complete a circle for whatever human purpose the circle is called.
As I meditated myself on these qualities this poem emerged. I gave it to Rosemary to celebrate today, our togetherness, our circle, our humanity. She wants to share it with the world. Happy Day!
Human Virtues
Love:
It all begins with love,
The creating force alive
Through the whole world
From deepest deep to highest above.
Honor:
A state of being derived from love,
Self-love, the source of all;
A principle that upholds, ennobles,
Creating the foundation for Human.
Integrity:
Springing from honor, Human
Knows place in the world; holds
Space firmly on that foundation,
Rises to each occasion to bless.
Community:
Integral Human reaches outward
To serve humanity in blessed community.
Community blesses Human in sacred symmetry
Echoing voices of goddesses and gods.
High Purpose:
The highest purpose is to love,
Honor, grow in integrity, serve
Community in a spiral blessing rising
Through the evolution of Humanity.
©2019, Richard W. Bredeson, all rights reserved.
Monday’s Poem: Heartwood Doors
Rosemary leads a Sunday morning Celebration on the first and third Sunday’s of every month. (http://CenterforaNewAlliance.org) I gladly support and participate in this gathering of like-minded/hearted spirits where we “celebrate our spirituality without dogma.”
Yesterday Rosemary led a powerful mediation that took us deeply inside to the doors of our hearts. I went there as my initiation continues to lead me further into this heart-centered realm, as I move from thinking to feeling, leading with my heart rather than my head.
Today’s poem, on the eve of this significant election in the US, is an attempt to capture my meditative journey to and through the doors of my heart:
Heartwood Doors
The winding path is neither
Straight nor narrow.
An arrow’s arc, graceful and true,
Is not a wanderer’s way.
One step, half-step aside, back-step,
Turn, pause, a jagged spiral
Tracing ragged sojourns upward
Outward, blocks, lessons learned.
Heartwood doors block the way;
Bright brass fittings, heavy knocker
Lifts and thuds with thunder heard
And felt in the deep awakening chamber.
No key is found, no clock is wound,
The tic-toc sounds loud on the inside.
The calling is an echo, a dream
Of another time, place, All Love.
The doors glide wide, smooth, easy;
No sound now, no groan of hinges.
The light bursts forth from the deep,
Bright sun streaming through parting clouds.
All Love flows from self-love quotes the Sage.
Heavy doors protect and block the two-way
Street. How to greet all passers-bye?
Hold wide those doors, let out the light!
©2018, Richard W. Bredeson, all rights reserved.
VOTE!
ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Honor and Love Yourself!
This is a time to honor yourself and to LOVE yourself! Most of our training is about loving others, caring for others, helping others. But I have come to see that this training can lead us to believe that serving others means denying our own needs, serving until we are depleted and forced to cry ‘uncle.’
This moonth is about loving yourself enough to have love and service energy to spare to give to others.
Lisa Nichols teaches about ‘serving from the saucer.’ She says that a teacup represents you and the saucer catches the overflow when you are filled up. Don’t serve others from the teacup, which you must keep filled if you want to be of use to others.
Instead, serve from the overflow in the saucer. When the saucer is empty, you must fill up the cup (you) until it overflows again. If you empty the cup, there is nothing to give to others.
This makes sense, doesn’t it?
I frequently hear clients struggling with trying to find balance between taking care of others – children, parents, spouse – and taking care of self. Sometimes they have to get sick to get a day off! I hope you hear Lisa Nichols’ idea as permission to fill up your cup before you have to get sick.
Love is a powerful energy. It is meant to be shared, to radiate outward. But, remember, that ‘All love flows from self-love.’ Until you really embrace that belief, you will give until you are depleted and then you cannot help either yourself or others.
Self-love is not the same as the selfish belief that others don’t matter. Self-love says, ‘I love myself enough to take care of myself so that I am able to take care of others.’
That spiel on the airplane about ‘put your own oxygen mask on first before you help someone else with theirs’ has real meaning. If you pass out from lack of oxygen there are 2 of you in trouble!
So during this time, ask yourself, ‘How can I best serve myself? What is my inner self needing/wanting? How can I give that to myself?’
Maybe it’s time to explore what is holding you back from having great joy in your life. Dissolve the blocks that keep you from manifesting magnificence. Let them go as the moon gets smaller in the sky.
Clear the way for the new energy that is wanting to come in at the next New Moon on Friday, March 20 at 5:36 am Eastern Daylight Time. This will be a special day – with a Total Solar Eclipse and the Sun moving into Aries – Spring Equinox!
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.