“I read and walked for miles at night along the beach, writing bad blank verse and searching endlessly for someone wonderful who would step out of the darkness and change my life. It never crossed my mind that that person could be me.” -Anna Quindlen
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
This section from Mary Oliver's poem Wild Geese has comforted me in times of extreme loneliness, and still does. Sometimes it can feel like loneliness is unbearable, and you can't possibly keep living in such a state, but knowing that you belong to the world and can go out and be in it gives me strength. I don't doubt that this poem has saved lives.
Here is my quote: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” -- Viktor Frankl
I have this quote printed on a wriggly piece of paper. I first came across it in my Non-violent Communication course and I remember saying, Exactly!
I breathe into the idea that I can steer my ship from reaction to response and can choose how I want to be in this world beyond conditioning.
“You don’t need clarity; you need courage.” Those words formed in my mind as I prayed for clarity about what to do: married nearly 20 years, two young children, ordained in a denomination in which it was not okay to be gay. Which I was realizing I was. At the time, I though the voice was God’s ... now I think perhaps it was my own wisdom, either arising from deep within, or from years in the future, assuring me I knew what I needed to do to be alive, and that everything (and everyone) else would follow. The voice was right; I stepped into the decisions and risks, allowing courage to flow in as I leapt.
The last words of Wendell Berry’s ‘Wild Geese’ - “And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye
clear. What we need is here.”
Probably the first poem I found all by myself - this touched a deep chord at a critical time in my young career and I have returned to it many times by myself or with groups as a reminder of our innate strength and wisdom, individually and collectively, as well as the strength that comes from my ancestors.
What's echoed through my mind in the last week is this line from Michael Coady, found in Bloodaxe Books Essential Poems from the Staying Alive trilogy (my kids find that title hilarious): "Though there are torturers in the world / There are also musicians."
I heard the voice of Mister Roger's say (paraphrasing): when you see horrifying headlines in the news, look for the helpers. You will always find them.
The only thing to do is respond in whatever small way humanly possible.
“Anything that's human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting and less scary.” -Fred Rogers
I use this to accept my own feelings, and remind my middle school students to do the same.
“Sometimes, to help someone to heal, is to help them to die. It’s helping a person come to completion.” These words were spoken by Jeffrey Yuen, a Daoist priest and teacher of Chinese medicine in an open house for a acupuncture school in 2001. What I heard was - healing is not just about the extension of life by any means necessary, but about supporting someone through the cycles of life. It might mean helping someone to die, in the literal sense, the ending of a life, ie, the blood no longer flows with qi. But I also thought about all the deaths we undergo all the time - the way an old pattern (of behavior, of thinking, of reaction - all of it, of energy flow) must die in order for a new pattern, a new flow, to fully emerge. Maybe it is part of the ego structure that has to die, to allow for a new configuration to emerge. Sometimes pain is the ache of a body preparing to deliver something new, and sometimes we don’t want to just anesthetize it, medicate it, pacify it... sometimes we may need to be the guide helping a person labor this newness into being. As one supporting others in their “healing”, it is about understanding this, for others and also for oneself. This dying is about being alive ... being alive to the ever-changing present, not getting stuck in old ditches or frozen in a repetitive pattern. It’s about opening to the flow of qi. In Jeffery’s words, I also heard “you’re not going to be a savior. Be humble.” I also heard “this is deep work - it’s not some feel good job, it’s about suffering. Are you prepared to step in? The action I took from this sentence I heard: changed my career from high school social studies teaching (which I feared was going to the the death of me, in the literal sense!) and started acupuncture school. Something in me did die. And that allowed this new path to emerge.
Feb 12, 2023·edited Feb 12, 2023Liked by Pádraig Ó Tuama
To be old is a glorious thing when one has not unlearned what it means to begin
~Martin Buber~
I came upon this line as I neared the age of 50, realizing choices needed to be made about whether to be bitter, bear grudges and hold on to baggage because it's tempting to collect them as we age. Instead I started to carry a prayer that goes something like this - For whatever years I have left on earth, may I learn to be a late bloomer for the rest of my life.
"I am a part of all that I have met" - from Ulysses, Allred Lord Tennyson
I love the give and take this implies, that we are all part of this great web of life, that simply being matters, that we all leave our imprint in this world.
A phrase within the final 4 lines of Wonder Woman by Ada Simon
Thank you Poetry Unbound.
"She strutted by in all her strengh and glory, invincible,
eternal, and when I stood up to clap (because who wouldn't have),
she bowed and posed like she knew I needed a myth -
a woman, by a river, indestructible."
the phrase ' like she new I need a myth ' stirs up emotion in me even as I write now because it speaks to me of the experience of countless unexpected encounters throughout life that have reassured me and pierced through pain and remind me of how we are all supported by an inexplicable elemental connection.
And to Poetry Unbound I stand to clap (because who wouldn't.......)
Hope you're with the weather again soon Padraig, IF being under is too weighty.!
From "What You Missed That Day You Were Absent From Fourth Grade" by Brad Aaron Modlin:
The English lesson was that I am is a complete sentence.
I love this sentence! I am. I repeat this to myself when I meditate now. The simple sentence, "I am," tells me I am enough. We are all enough, and perfect, as we are. This simple sentence has helped me to be kind to myself and others.
“I read and walked for miles at night along the beach, writing bad blank verse and searching endlessly for someone wonderful who would step out of the darkness and change my life. It never crossed my mind that that person could be me.” -Anna Quindlen
I heard: This is up to you
I did: Stop drinking
Here and clear for 8 1/2 years❤️.
Feel better and eat some soup, Padraig!
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
This section from Mary Oliver's poem Wild Geese has comforted me in times of extreme loneliness, and still does. Sometimes it can feel like loneliness is unbearable, and you can't possibly keep living in such a state, but knowing that you belong to the world and can go out and be in it gives me strength. I don't doubt that this poem has saved lives.
“ There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in” - from Anthem( Leonard Cohen)
“I have never tried that before, so I think I should definitely be able to do that.”
Astrid Lindgren, Pippi Longstocking
I heard my heart singing the sound of joy!
I opened up, saw with new eyes a different perspective, and found the courage to live fully.
Here is my quote: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” -- Viktor Frankl
I have this quote printed on a wriggly piece of paper. I first came across it in my Non-violent Communication course and I remember saying, Exactly!
I breathe into the idea that I can steer my ship from reaction to response and can choose how I want to be in this world beyond conditioning.
Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the song without words and never stops at all Emily Dickinson ❤️
“You don’t need clarity; you need courage.” Those words formed in my mind as I prayed for clarity about what to do: married nearly 20 years, two young children, ordained in a denomination in which it was not okay to be gay. Which I was realizing I was. At the time, I though the voice was God’s ... now I think perhaps it was my own wisdom, either arising from deep within, or from years in the future, assuring me I knew what I needed to do to be alive, and that everything (and everyone) else would follow. The voice was right; I stepped into the decisions and risks, allowing courage to flow in as I leapt.
The last words of Wendell Berry’s ‘Wild Geese’ - “And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye
clear. What we need is here.”
Probably the first poem I found all by myself - this touched a deep chord at a critical time in my young career and I have returned to it many times by myself or with groups as a reminder of our innate strength and wisdom, individually and collectively, as well as the strength that comes from my ancestors.
What's echoed through my mind in the last week is this line from Michael Coady, found in Bloodaxe Books Essential Poems from the Staying Alive trilogy (my kids find that title hilarious): "Though there are torturers in the world / There are also musicians."
I heard the voice of Mister Roger's say (paraphrasing): when you see horrifying headlines in the news, look for the helpers. You will always find them.
The only thing to do is respond in whatever small way humanly possible.
“Anything that's human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting and less scary.” -Fred Rogers
I use this to accept my own feelings, and remind my middle school students to do the same.
"Watch how your mind judges."--Ram Dass
I've been cultivating my interior Witness, trying to make her my friend. It's a practice; I carry her in my heart.
“Sometimes, to help someone to heal, is to help them to die. It’s helping a person come to completion.” These words were spoken by Jeffrey Yuen, a Daoist priest and teacher of Chinese medicine in an open house for a acupuncture school in 2001. What I heard was - healing is not just about the extension of life by any means necessary, but about supporting someone through the cycles of life. It might mean helping someone to die, in the literal sense, the ending of a life, ie, the blood no longer flows with qi. But I also thought about all the deaths we undergo all the time - the way an old pattern (of behavior, of thinking, of reaction - all of it, of energy flow) must die in order for a new pattern, a new flow, to fully emerge. Maybe it is part of the ego structure that has to die, to allow for a new configuration to emerge. Sometimes pain is the ache of a body preparing to deliver something new, and sometimes we don’t want to just anesthetize it, medicate it, pacify it... sometimes we may need to be the guide helping a person labor this newness into being. As one supporting others in their “healing”, it is about understanding this, for others and also for oneself. This dying is about being alive ... being alive to the ever-changing present, not getting stuck in old ditches or frozen in a repetitive pattern. It’s about opening to the flow of qi. In Jeffery’s words, I also heard “you’re not going to be a savior. Be humble.” I also heard “this is deep work - it’s not some feel good job, it’s about suffering. Are you prepared to step in? The action I took from this sentence I heard: changed my career from high school social studies teaching (which I feared was going to the the death of me, in the literal sense!) and started acupuncture school. Something in me did die. And that allowed this new path to emerge.
To be old is a glorious thing when one has not unlearned what it means to begin
~Martin Buber~
I came upon this line as I neared the age of 50, realizing choices needed to be made about whether to be bitter, bear grudges and hold on to baggage because it's tempting to collect them as we age. Instead I started to carry a prayer that goes something like this - For whatever years I have left on earth, may I learn to be a late bloomer for the rest of my life.
"I am a part of all that I have met" - from Ulysses, Allred Lord Tennyson
I love the give and take this implies, that we are all part of this great web of life, that simply being matters, that we all leave our imprint in this world.
A phrase within the final 4 lines of Wonder Woman by Ada Simon
Thank you Poetry Unbound.
"She strutted by in all her strengh and glory, invincible,
eternal, and when I stood up to clap (because who wouldn't have),
she bowed and posed like she knew I needed a myth -
a woman, by a river, indestructible."
the phrase ' like she new I need a myth ' stirs up emotion in me even as I write now because it speaks to me of the experience of countless unexpected encounters throughout life that have reassured me and pierced through pain and remind me of how we are all supported by an inexplicable elemental connection.
And to Poetry Unbound I stand to clap (because who wouldn't.......)
Hope you're with the weather again soon Padraig, IF being under is too weighty.!
Thank you all for enriching sharings.
From "What You Missed That Day You Were Absent From Fourth Grade" by Brad Aaron Modlin:
The English lesson was that I am is a complete sentence.
I love this sentence! I am. I repeat this to myself when I meditate now. The simple sentence, "I am," tells me I am enough. We are all enough, and perfect, as we are. This simple sentence has helped me to be kind to myself and others.