A Poem Called Encouragement ~ and A Meditation Tomorrow Morning

I wrote a poem to remind us about the joys of embodiment. We'll meditate on it tomorrow together.

Dear Friends, 

I've been thinking of you. Truly. All of you. And I have been wanting to write something that would open the lines of communication between us and maybe give us a shared experience for a moment. I wanted to write something about the joy of embodiment, about why we must be in our bodies and senses now. And I wanted to write something that might reach those of you who, like me, have been having a hard time lately. But, I didn't want to write ABOUT it, I wanted to relate...deliver it to you directly. I hope something here reaches you. Let me know if it does. Let's connect. We need each other more than ever.

Tomorrow from 9-10:15am we will have our weekly meditation. We'll work with encouragement and the joy of embodiment. We'll seek beauty and see if we can break through to Sacred World.

P.S. I recorded a reading of the poem for fun. 

POEM: Encouragement
October 2022

Here’s what I want you to know: 
Life is beautiful.
Whatever it has been for you, whatever it is now, whatever it will be…
Feel, and you will find joy in the strangest of places.
You are not lost or forgotten or abandoned or betrayed.
Sacred World is right through the doors of the heart. 
Outside habitual thinking and always surprising.
Honesty is the key.
Stand inside and feel the light.

Right now, in this moment, there is beauty to be found.
Not to be admired like a precious gem 
or priceless work of art;
found and enjoyed through this body.
Sensuality is the savoring.
You know you’re in love with life 
when you taste the ocean in your own tears;
when you hear music that's not there;
when you stop seeing them as weeds.
Me? I cry at least once a day.
Emotional hygiene, I call it. 
It’s the the way my heart expresses itself. 
It’s the way Sacred World breaks through.

Each one of us is so brave
to wake up and face the day.
What sun shines from your eyes?
Warming up the world this morning;
hands wrapped around a steaming mug of hope.
Your presence is imperative.
Even when we despair, there is still a knowing, 
or is it a nagging?
“There is something I came here to do! Now, what was it?”
The soul is nothing if not persistent.
What's the matter? You forgot the way? 
You think the vow was broken by some other lover?
Someone stole your chance to shine?
Your invitation got lost in the mail?
It was you who placed that obstacle in your way.
To grow the commitment. 
To stress test it.
To find a view like a mountain. Be the mountain.
Remember and become what is latent in you.
We all see it anyway.
Come home to your soul…
Pray.

Through the body, through this earth walk,
we get closer and closer to what is true, what matters, what is real. 
And we get closer to each other…
through our humanity...
this intimacy...
And so much compassion.
We build bridges of understanding
that we can cross together 
to meet somewhere in the middle: 
Common Ground.
I'm not saying it’s easy.
No, it’s not.
And I’m not saying there isn’t suffering.
There surely is.
But, in spite of that or because of it
there is an aliveness 
that, when fully inhabited,
reveals everything we ever wanted to know
about ourselves 
and how the world works.

And there is a deep joy 
in this ability to access 
the secret treasures
of your own story;
of our collective story. 
To not shy away from any part of the human drama, 
to not be estranged from any human experience, 
to include it all…
This is holy work and the only thing worth doing.

Stick with it.
Gradually we open more.
We see more.
We breathe more.
We move more.
We feel more.
It does get easier, it does.
And the result is ecstasy...
Bliss.
And eventually--
Dissolution.
When you realize it’s all in you now,
what else is there to become?
Even the joy must be released. Even the sweetness must go.
Because nothing can stand between us and Truth.
This is the joy of embodiment—becoming complete.

I am struck 
by the deliverance I have found in my body.
Outside the constriction of the thinking mind,
a journey deep into its mysterious ways.
It speaks a different tongue;
a language that must be remembered 
to establish dialogue;
to open the channels,
to be a worthy inhabitant,
and a custodian 
of the energies and elements 
that have arrived to represent you,
to carry you,
through every experience you were meant to have, 
and to feel, and digest fully.
Every single day,
through the pain and the pleasure,
beyond the numbness and distraction,
the joy of embodiment is our birthright.

And we earned it the hard way:
By not leaving.
Not escaping. 
Not bypassing.
Not exiting
this very moment.
Over and over and over again.
By staying.
By attending. 
By honoring.
Now...
we love,
we live,
we know 
God.
Be still 
and realize the truth 
of who you are
within this body.