The Woman in Your Life

Is You*

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Seven-hundred-and-sixty-five-years ago,
I came out.

I was born
A tiny lesbian
Without 
Any clue
That
It
Was
“A thing”,

A possibility,
A world
Of
Itself.

Suffice to say,
Much confusion,
Pain,
Shame,

And so
Very
Much
More
Of
Everything
Unfolded

Until
1973,

When
I left
My
Husband,

Moved 
To
New York,
New York,
(We say it twice to celebrate its power)

And
Came 
Out.

I found
(Was found by)
The lesbian-feminist-
Separatist
Community.

A trillion things
Unfolded.

Strangely,
Surprisingly,
Oddly,

Coming out
Was not
The
Answer
To
All
Of 
My
Problems.

(In Twelve Step,
I practice
“acceptance”
As the
Answer
To all
Of my
Problems…).

But it
Was
the 
Beginning,
It
Was
The
Doorway
Back 
Home.
~~~
I couldn’t 
Understand
The 
Theories
Of
Separatism.

I couldn’t
Listen
Or
Even
Concentrate.

Truly,
I 
Didn’t
Try.

I was 
Stoned
And
Drunk
And
DELIGHTED,

Crushed out
On
Every
Other
Woman,

But
Only,

ONLY

If
On some level,
They were
Unavailable
To 
Me. 

(Yeah, that’s a thing.)

It was
Painful.

And wonderful.

I LOVED
Women-only
Dances
And
Music
And
Festivals
And
Coffee shops
And
All
Of 
It.

NO MEN,
YAHOO.

So sorry
That
I wasn’t
Able
To grok
The
Essence
Of separatism—
The theories,
The 
philosophies.

I do
Have
Some
Regret.

Yet
I just
Rode 
The
Waves
Of
Its
Energy.
~~~
It would
Be
Years
Till 
I 
Got
Sober.

That
Changed
Everything.

Men
In
Meetings?

Their words
Brought
My 
World
Alive.

Kripalu men?

Kindness
And
Service.

Being
Sober
Changed 
It all.

~~~
Yet,
I must say,
Looking around
At our world,
Today,

Our
World
On
Fire.

Perhaps
We 
Were
On 
To
Something?

More women
In leadership?

More of the
Global
Majority?

???????
~~~

When the Women of Iceland Went on Strike…

13 minutes—worth watching, folks.

Sunset

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Day is done.
Gone the sun.
From the lake
From the hills
From the sky.

All is well.
God is nigh.
And goodnight.

We sang this
Around 
The campfire
Night
After
Night,
Always
Our
Last
Song.

Or if 
Miss Ruthie
Was in camp, 
Our bugler,
Strong
Woman! 

She would
Play
Taps.

And…

The sound
Would
Echo
Throughout
The camp,

Closing
The
Day
Down
With
Such
Defined
Dignity.

Done.

Day
Is
Done.

My camp.
My girl scout camp,
Which probably
Saved
My
Life

Taught me
Amongst
Countless
Other
Things,

How to 
Bring
Closure
To
the
Day.

~~~
Ah, an update:

The move!

Yes.
The
Move
Moved.

I moved.
July 13,
The day,
Happened.

And then
July 14
Arrived.

Life is
Like that.

I returned 
Back
To my
Home,

The one I left,

Long story,
Too long,
Too tired,
Feet throbbing,
Too much
To say.

But 
Oh,
Suffice
To say,

So
Good
It
Is
To 
Be 
Here
Now.

Home
Now.
~~~
Driving back
After one
Final 
Cleanup
Round,

Going slowly
Along the hills,
My favorite route,
Through 
The
Alford 
Hills,

Watching
The sunset,
I kept
Thinking,
Hearing,
Feeling:

Day
Is
Done.

A circle 
Completes 
Herself.

I did
The work
I needed
To
Be
Able
To
Return.

Now
I
Am
Home
Again.

~~~
This song comes to me, 
I don’t know why.
Tonight,
Sitting in this house
I know
So well
Yet
Not at all, 

I
Am
Touched
By this:

So Unbearably Human…

So Exquisitely Divine.

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

When was the 
Last Time 
You 
Moved?

I mean—
Moved.

Like,
Relocated.

Like,
Looked 
At the stuff
Around you,
And considered, 
Piece
By
Piece…

The choice:

To schlepp 
To
The next Place?
Or
To 
Bid adieu?  

The
Bigger
And
More
Interesting
Question
Emerges, 
Of course:

What
Is
All
This
Stuff
Gathered
Around me?

Announcement:

Moving
(Relocating)
Is 
NOT
For the
Faint
Of 
Heart.  

Like every
Single 
Other
Thing
We touch,

That 
Touches 
Us, 

Moving
(Yes, relocating,
You get it…)

Is 
A
Shinny
Mirror,

Into which
We see
Ourselves.

Full of foibles,

So unbearably 
Human,

So exquisitely
Divine.

~~~
A few years ago
I was 
Going through
A rugged,
A difficult
Time,

A dearest of
Dear friends
Gave me 
A sign.

It said:

THE BEST IS YET TO COME.

At that time,
I was so 
Terrified
About
Every
Single
Thing.

Yet
I 
Had 
A tiny
Knowing
In me,

A tiny
Belief,

Evidence-based
Data,

That
Whispered 
To
Me
Of
Possibilities.

No matter
How freaked
Out I was

Still—
I quietly
Knew
It 
Would be
Alright,

I
Would
Be
Alright.

I couldn’t feel it.
But I knew it.
Somewhere,
Somehow,
I 
Trusted 
It.

Today,
I have
Outlived
My
Feelings.

Today,
I
Am
Living
Into:

THE BEST IS YET TO COME.

~~~
As we outlive
Our feelings,
The
Next
Level
Of 
Solace
Emerges.

~~~
This will be a simple blog
For a complicated
Few 
Weeks
In
My
Life.

Much is unfolding,
So much 
Collapsing
Into
The
Same
Time
Frame.

I am preparing to teach
Quest for the Limitless You
Starting like, now.

Then movers
(Large men
In
A
Truck)

Come 
Next 
Week
To fetch
My
Stuff.

The move 
Is the program.

The program
Is
The
 Move.

~~~
What can console?
What can balance?
What can realign?
Me with me,
Me with you.
Me, with all?

Us, with ourselves?

Here are two
Possible Points
of
Inspirations:
~~~

Stand By Me

When It All Seems to be Going to S__t…

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

When the world
Around us
Appears
Headed
In 
The
Totally
And
Absolutely
Wrong
Direction,

When it all seems
To be going
To shit,

What is it exactly,
That we do?

Somebody 
Remind 
Us, 
Please.

~~~
Feel what
Is there.

As best you can.

And…

Look for the beauty
Look for the grace.

Right?

Be with
Reality’s
Harshness
And
Find
Its
Softness,
Too.

Softness?

Listen for
The bird call,

Feel the
Touch
Of
The
Sun.

Hug a dog,
(Probably one
That you know),

Call a loved one.

Swin.
Dunk.
Get
Those
Tootsies,
Those 
Tired
Old
Feet…

Cooled
The
F___
Down.

(That’s the
Technical
Term.)

~~
What else?
How else
Do we
Bear
The
Unraveling
Of
What
Was?

OH!

Feel it.
Notice it.
Consider it.

Be present
With
What
Life
Is
Giving 
Us.
~~~

Remember?

We get it all.
We get it—
All!

We must
Attend
To
The
Softness,
The beauty.

We must
Not
Deprive
Ourselves…

~~~

And 
From 
This 
Place
Of self-connection,
Of
Larger-sourced
Connection,

TAKE ACTION.

Get to a rally.
Write a congressman,
Send a letter.

No matter how
Futile
It
Might
Feel…

TAKE ACTION.

VOTE.

Of course.
Vote.

Donate money, 
However
That 
Might
Make
Sense
For 
You.

as well as—
Smile
At 
Someone
You
Don’t 
Know.

Hug
Someone
You 
Do.

~~~
Remembering
The profound
Words
Of
Joanna Macy,
Activist
Scholar,
Buddhist,
Environmentalist
For
Decades:

We are meant
To be here
Now,

To
Bear witness,
Now.

We are here
To bear witness
To the suffering.

~~~
Joanna says it best in just three minutes.  It is a privilege to offer her wisdom to you:

 

Dancing with Paradoxes
Solstice Morning Sunrise

It’s all sacred.
It’s all true.
It’s all—
Inevitable.

I have said
These words
For—ever.

I’ve said them
To you,
On coaching
Calls.

I’ve said them
To you,
In the
Forest Room
At Kripalu.

I’ve said them
To myself,
When
The proverbial
Shit
Of 
Course
Hit
The
Proverbial
Fan.

Only now,
Like,
Right here
And
Right 
Now

Am I 
Beginning
To
Grok, 
To
Feel
The
Depth,
The truth
Of this,

This
Experience
Of 
Our
Humanity, 

Our 
Dancing
With
Paradoxes.
~~~

Paradox
a situation, person, or thing that combines contradictory features or qualities.

I have known
The most amazing
People,

You.
Us,

People

Who are 
So resilient,
While being
Beyond-
Tender-hearted.

These qualities
All exist
In the same being,
Us!

In the same moment,
Us.

I am beginning
To recognized
My own
Heart-shattering
Horror
At the inequities,
The injustice,
The suffering,
The dismantling
Of truth, 
The dismantling
Of 
Our
Democracy,

While…
Celebrating,
Enthralled
With
The glory 
At
The
Solstice
Sunrise.

It’s all sacred,
All true,
All inevitable.

We don’t get
One side 
Of the picture
Fully,
While
Denying
The 
Other.

We
Get
It
All.
~~~
The gift 
Of this 
Practice,

This dance
Of seemingly
But-not-really
Opposites,
Is

Spaciousness!
Freedom!
Expansion!

We get
It
All.

The effort 
It takes
To deny
One side
Blocks 
Us
From 
Receiving 
The other.

We are busy.

We miss
The doorway
Home.

The pause,
The relaxation
Into
Whatever
Is happening,

That sacred pause,

Frees us.

~~~
Here is a reminder: