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This is about Weather and Everything Else

01/29/2023 by Aruni

This is about Weather and Everything Else

This blog post is also available on my Facebook page to make sharing it with friends and family easy for you to do.

I’m struggling for words
To describe
This week.

Times
Are—
Strange?

Yes,
It’s been
Strange.

In the inner,
And
In
The
Outer
Worlds.

The weather—

Snow,
Not a bad thing,
But
So instantly
Turning
To rain,

Which
So seamlessly
turns
To ice,

Making
The mud
Of the
Dirt roads

Mucky
And then
Frozen,

Refrozen
Ruts
Again.

A first-world problem,
I recognize.

I’m almost
(But not quite)
Embarrassed,
Being
This
Whiny
And
Self-centered
About something
As undisputable
As the weather.

Yet!
And,
Yet!

Where is the sun?

Has anybody seen
The sun?

These grey few weeks
Have given us
only
Lighter shades
Of grey
As compensation.

Yet—
It 
Clearly is
What it is.

We get—
What we get.

We do not control.

Have you noticed?

We receive.

But/and we get 
To choose
Our
Response
To
What
Is.
~~~

In thinking about
Writing this blog,

Feeling scattered 
And
Cranky,
Uninspired
And somewhat
Unwilling
To
Face
The
Blank 
Screen,

I woke 
One
Morning
And
I found myself humming
This oldie-but-goodie.

It was comforting to remember!

And then
Even better!

So much better—
I
Was
Found
By 
This
Version.

Folks, here is the Indescribable, the Best-of-All, Nina Simone:

 

~~~
Sometimes I 
Need
To be cranky.

To push away.

To create
A 
Smokescreen
That
Dulls
My presence,

That
Protects me
From…

From what??

The good stuff is harder
For me
That the less good stuff.

So—
PERMISSION TO BE HUMAN.

PERMISSION TO RAIL AGAINST
THAT WHICH IS UNCHANGEABLE.

And then?
And then
What?

To every season,
Turn
Turn
Turn.

To every 
New moment,

May we
Turn
And meet it,
As best we can.

And when we cannot—
Let’s breathe
Into 
Compassion.

Let’s exhale
Right
Action.

And relax
Into
The
Practice.

Dear friends—

Stay blessed,
Aruni

 

THE SUN IS SEEN IN BERKSHIRE COUNTRY FOR THE FIRST TIME
IN 24 DAYS!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

If It Be Your Will

01/22/2023 by Aruni

If It Be Your Will*

This blog post is also available on my Facebook page to make sharing it with friends and family easy for you to do.

The question

Of questions—

May I put it
Bluntly?

Who the heck is running the show?

Clearly,
Reality
Wins.

She
Is 
Relentless.

Each and all
Of us
Gets
What
We 
Get.

What happens
For each of us
Is
What
Is
Happening
For each
Of us.

YET/AND/

What is our role?

How do we
Participate
In our
Own 
Lives?

How do we
Take action,
And
Let go of the
Outcome?

That’s a good one,
A very
Good suggestion…

YET…

How do we do that?

What might that look like?
~~~
What about preferences?

I’ve heard it said,
The Great Way
Is
One
Free
Of 
Preferences.

Folks, that is truly
Above my pay grade.

I am not there.

To have a preference,
To live into that humanness,
To what I want—

That is growth
For this 
Wacky 
Human.

YET,
AND THEN:

To feel my preference.
To request it.
Perhaps
Ever
To work
Toward 
It.

And then:

To be
Present 
With
What 
Is.
~~
If it be your will…

How do we
Live
In
Relationship
To that which
Is greater,
Bigger,
More vast

Then our minds
Can 
Ever
Possibly
Perceive?

Call this whatever
The heck
You choose
To call it.

Call it:

  • Universe
  • Grace
  • Reality
  • God
  • Nature
  • Life
  • Prana
  • Etc.
  • And
  • So
  • On.

Inevitably
And
Ultimately,
It wins.

Inevitably
And
Ultimately
It determines
Who will
Live
And 
Who 
Will die.

Who gets 
Their diagnosis
And when.

What job…
What love…
What partner…
What child….

Something decides that.

How do we live in
Relationship
To that
Power
Greater
Than
Ourselves?

~~~
PARTNERSHIP.

Partnership.

Partnership.

~~~
I (Little Human Me)
Take action.

I lean 
Into
The
Direction
I choose.

I do my best.
I let go.

LIFE
Does
The
Rest.

Partnership.

I row.

The Current
Determines
The direction.

Will
And
Surrender.

Take action.
Let
Go
Of
The
Outcome.

Relax with what happens,

To relax
With what
We are given.

~~~
This classic Leonard Cohn song has always both taken away my breath, while, in the same moment, filling me with inspiration and energy.    

Here is a stunning version of it, introduced by Leonard and sung by the Webb Sisters.

Please do listen.

If It Be Your Will

~~
The picture above:
The Stockbridge Bowl…

Water
To
Ice.

Ice
Brushed
With
Snow.

Snow
Blown 
By wind.

Trees,
Framing
It
All. 

All the layers.
All the iterations.
All the nooks
And crannies
Of our world.

Dear Friends,
In gratitude,
In possibility,
In hope,
Wise,
Wise
Hope.

All blessings,
Aruni

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Inviting Gratitude

01/15/2023 by Aruni

Inviting Gratitude

This blog post is also available on my Facebook page to make sharing it with friends and family easy for you to do.

 

A Meditation

“The root of joy is gratefulness.
It is not joy that makes us grateful—
It is gratitude that makes us joyful.

Eyes see only light, ears hear only sound, but a listening heart perceives meaning. Everything is a gift. Grateful living is a celebration of the universal give-and-take of life, a limitless yes to belonging. A lifetime may not be long enough to attune ourselves fully to the harmony of the universe. But just to become aware that we can resonate with it — that alone can be like waking up from a dream.”

Brother David Steindl-Rast

~~~

In the yesteryear, when I would hear “gratitude” proposed as a topic in one of my 12 Step meetings, I would shudder a bit.

“Oh, not that again,” I would think, and have enough sense, hopefully, to not say aloud.

My spiritual evolution, you see, had eclipsed the simple, the elementary of a mere gratitude practice.

OH, dear Aruni, what arrogance.

I am oh, so slowly beginning to appreciate the maturity and profundity of gratitude as a practice, as an entryway into a connected, joy-filled living.

~~~

In this realm, for this week’s blog, I have two offerings.

The first, here is Brother David, beloved 96-year-old Benedictine monk, author and founder of The Network for Grateful Living.

This is called A Grateful Day.  Enjoy, dear friends.

Watch here

~~~
And secondly, here I am, offering us Inviting Gratitude, a Meditation.

Please use this as a practice.  Imagine sitting with it, sitting with me, on a consistent basis, while we together lean into our “listening hearts”.

Listen here

~~~

Dear Friends,
The blessings are bountiful,
No matter what is happening.

The gifts are everywhere,
No matter how waylaid
Our minds
Become.

Give us the courage
And the strength
To open
Into
Our
Listening
Hearts.

With gratitude,
For you—
Exactly as
You are.
From Aruni,

Me,
Exactly
As I 
Am.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The Strength of Surrender

01/08/2023 by Aruni

The Strength of Surrender

This blog post is also available on my Facebook page to make sharing it with friends and family easy for you to do.

Dear Friends,

If I didn’t believe that
Life is coming to heal us…

If I didn’t believe that,
Even and especially
In the pain,
There is new life…

If I didn’t believe that
The journey we are on
Is one of healing,

Of
Wholeness,

Of the
Recovery
Of ourselves—

No matter what is happening…

If I didn’t believe this
I could not
Possibly
Get out 
Of bed,

Put on shoes,
And move
Onward
With
The
Day.

~~~

I believe.

I believe 
The circumstances
Of my life,
Of your lives
Are offering us
Doorways
To healing
And
Wholeness.

Certainly,
 I have
Experimented 
Plenty
With the
Life strategy
Of trying
To change
The people, 
The situations 
Around me.

I have concluded
This is not
An effective
Life
Plan.

REALITY IS RELENTLESS.
It wins.

If reality is my partner,

Can I 
Be present
And
Bend
With 
The 
Wind?

Can
I
Soften into the sensations,

Relaxing as best I can
Into the moment.

Surrendering 
Into
The 
Moment.

I practice,

As I can…
And
When
I can.

And when I can’t,

Is it possible—
To be okay,
To be fine,
To accept
Even that,

Even my own
Damn
Humanity?

~~~

Dear Friends,

Like the tree
In the wind,

May we bend
With what is.

Like the tree
May we stand
Grounded 
In ourselves.

May we reach out
To the skies above us.

May we draw sustenance
From the earth.

May we strengthen
From our surrendering 
Into
The
Winds 
of life.

May we give ourselves 
A giant pass,
A massive break—

And keep practicing
Being
Right here,
Right
Now.

~~~
Friends,
Here is a poignant and powerful video from singer, songwriter, woman-empowerment-beacon, India Arie.  

Join her as she offers her gratitude to Wayne Dyer, spiritual teacher, with a powerful humility that  illuminates the power of shared inspiration.  

Listen as she sings her song, “I Am Light”, and—she is.

And so are we.

Watch Here

~~~
Dear Friends,
May the time
We spend together
Benefit all beings.

With gratitude,
With possibility,
With wise hope—

Aruni

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Wise Hope, Quiet Courage & Gentle Peace

01/01/2023 by Aruni

Wise Hope, Quiet Courage & Gentle Peace


Our Blessing for a New Year

This blog post is also available on my Facebook page to make sharing it with friends and family easy for you to do.

 

You were born during strange times
But our grandmothers saw this coming…
So under the slightest light
Of a crescent glimmer
They birthed and mended and dreamed up
What it might be that we would need
To transform and be transformed
By these strange and heartbreaking and hopeful times.

            Excerpt from L. Sixfingers, 2021

 

It is strange out there.
It is strange in here.

And still—

Peace.

For this new year,
Help us to
Lean into peace,
No matter
What
Is
Happening.
Peace, no matter what is happening.
Peace, no matter the moment.

Not fancy-schmancy peace.

Not prematurely transcended peace,
Not peace, separate from life.

Peace in life.
Peace
In
The
Moment.
Resting.
Relaxing.
Stopping.

Praying for the quiet courage
To stop…

Stopping the chatter.
Stopping the busy mind.
Stopping the

Internal
Mumbling
Of the Kingdom
Of
Doom.

Turning off
That channel.
Turning on 
The channel
Of hope.

That is an act
Of quiet courage.
Wise hope.

Not hope, to check out with.
Hope, to check in with.

Wise hope.

Wise hope.

For 2023,
May we
Practice
Wise hope.

May we practice
Quiet courage.

And
Gentle
Peace.

~~~
Roshi Joan Halifax says,

“Wise hope is not seeing things unrealistically
but rather seeing things as they are,
including the truth of suffering—
both its existence and our capacity to transform it.”

~~~
Give us the courage
And the willingness
To touch into the truth
Of our own suffering,
As we are able.

Give us the courage,
Quiet courage,
And the willingness
To imagine
Our capacity
To transform
What is around us,
And 
What is inside
Of us.
~~~
Friends,
We are meant to be here,
Right here.
Right now.

We are the ones to witness,
To be present with
The changes,
The unravelings
Around us.

We are equipped
And
We
Are
Able.

Leaning into the tripod;

Wise hope,
Quiet courage,
And gentle peace.
~~~
For our hearts, as the old year departs, as this new year opens her arms to us, here is IZ Kamakawiu’ole, Hawaiian singer, songwriter, musician, and Hawaiian sovereignty activist.  This song offers us the beauty in endings as well as beginnings, in dying as well as in living.  Please watch till the end:

~~~
Dear Friends,

Wise hope,
Quiet courage,
And
Gentle peace
To you
And 
Yours—

May your new year
Be filled
With Grace

Stay blessed,
Aruni

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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Latest Entries From Aruni’s Blog

  • This is about Weather and Everything Else 01/29/2023
  • If It Be Your Will 01/22/2023
  • Inviting Gratitude 01/15/2023
  • The Strength of Surrender 01/08/2023
  • Wise Hope, Quiet Courage & Gentle Peace 01/01/2023

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