word of the day: sky

Storm Duck, Essex U.K, (c) Bev Hadland, www.cloudappreciationsociety.org

Make time to stare at the sky.

Take in its vastness.
Try to imagine how it feels to live without limitation.

Did you ever notice how the sky blankets us,
embraces us from above,
yet never smothers us?

Spend time with the sky in all kinds of weather,
at all times of day and night.

Watch it move from dark to light,
from blue to purple to red, orange, and gold.

Find a horse in a billowing cloud;
see a wagon with wheels flying high.

Shriek and scream at lightning that fills the sky
on a warm summer evening,
at thunder that rumbles right down to your toes.

Stargaze and find your place
in an unending universe.

The sky helps you remember how big life can be.
How small are the details.

And how starry-eyed we sometimes must be,
to think ourselves the center of it all.

The Milky Way Galaxy Over Ontario, 07/29/08, digital composite by Kerry-Ann Lecky Hepburn

the whole world is listening: poem for the rootops of iran (video)

This poignant poetry was recorded by a woman on June 19
as she filmed the rooftop shouting of Allah O Akbar (God is Great!).
During the current uprising in Iran, the traditional call to prayer –
and one-time revolutionary chant–has become a cry for freedom .
Listen! as you read the subtitles.

can you remain awestruck during tough times?

These words are from a book on Faith currently under development by a publisher who shall remain nameless. The NASA image of the sun is not a Summer Solstice photo-but it sure gets me in the mood!

Ultraviolet-wavelength picture of the sun, 10/23/03, NASA

Be Awestruck

Although it isn’t always easy,
the toughest times require you
to believe in the greatest, grandest possibilities.

Can you allow yourself to be brought to your knees by miracles
and finely orchestrated “coincidences” that defy rational thought?

Can you soften your gaze and recognize the truly extraordinary
when it happens right in front of you?

If you think small,
if you believe that your own mind contains
every potential outcome,
you miss an infinite universe of possible scenarios.

Are you willing to see the unseen at work,
to marvel at how your simplest steps can lead
to unimaginable conclusions?

Can you sufficiently chip away your armor
and swoon before the unmistakable awe that exists
just inches outside your usual concerns?

Untold beauty and inexplicable synchronicities
are at work in every moment.

Toss aside your rigid pictures
of how things are supposed to occur
and acknowledge the grandeur of how they actually do.

Only then do you reclaim the true meaning
of the word “awesome”
and the vastness and beauty of all it contains.

what there is to love about a man: journey

This excerpt is from my out-of-print book, What There Is To Love About A Man.
The art is by British artist David Preston-Earley, who adds,
” This image is about a mythical journey where the people of the world
are carried on the back of a turtle. The turtle is a symbol of
fertility and long life. To the Native Americans
it was associated with the lunar cycle and also female energies.
The spirit of the turtle can also teach us about our relationship with time,
it does not move fast, the turtle knows it has all the time in the world.”

Journey, by David Preston-Earley

When a man goes on his true journey,
it’s hard to know who might return.

His quest requires that he strip down to his authentic core,
that he litter his pathway with the baggage he no longer agrees to carry.

He will pass through uncharted territory with no map
and little understanding of where he’s headed.
The trees will be covered with thorns
Large, lumbering dragons will appear without warning
and breathe hot fire into his face.
Winds will shift
and golden fruit will hang just out of his reach
when he is starving most.

It is a pilgrimage he must make alone,
though able guides are recommended.
He begins when he is ready,
When he can no longer tolerate who he’s become.
When his only choice seems to be
implode or explode.

Loved ones, wait patiently.

When the journey’s complete,
the pilgrim is reborn.

fearing clearing? get your move on & deal with your stuff!

I am an inveterate nomad who carries the DNA of a migratory desert dweller. When I feel called to relocate, I prepare with little or no hesitation. Oftentimes I pack and stand ready for months while the energy lines up for actual physical movement. For me, moving is a sacred ritual and a potent symbol of an engaged life journey,  and I bring to bear as much presence as I can muster.

Suddenly, it seems everyone is on the move. They’re moving away from relationships, jobs, houses, towns, cities, communities, states, and heading to something new. Something unknown, perhaps. Some of you have had the rug pulled out from under you and feel desperate and dislocated. Others are manifesting long-held visions and await “The New” with radiance and outstretched arms.

Indian Family & Belongings, from "Material World"

Ultimately, no matter why, where, how, or with whom you are on the move, the energy you bring to the experience is wholly up to you. So, what’s it gonna be? Pain or Pleasure? Resistance or Surrender? Miracles or Madness?

Truly, what do you want to take with you? In even more blunt terms: How are you dealing with your stuff?

Each and every item you live with carries an energetic signature and is imbued with memories and past experiences. I recently watched someone throw old, dusty, rumpled, mismatched, broken, dirty pieces of life into crates and boxes. I observed quietly (No small feat, that!) and saw the patterns in this individual’s life. Things are never brought to completion. Everything is left half-finished. Beginnings and endings are glossed over, never acknowledged, let alone honored. To “let go of” is fraught with loss, grief, and the emotions they carry.

Nope, this isn’t about housekeeping, and it’s not about living on a limited budget. Nearly everything I own has come to me via consignment and thrift stores, free boxes in front of homes and in alleys, and as a result of helping others clear their clutter. I routinely ask friends if I can review their castoffs — and generally then offer to take the bones to the donation drop-off. I continue to be astounded at the new and nearly new items relegated to dumpsters: Why not just crumple up dollar bills of every denomination and roast marshmallows over the fire?

Japanese Family & Belongings, "Material World"

Everything is vibration, therefore, everything is “alive.” These so-called inanimate objects have a life cycle, too. They need to be with people who love them, appreciate them, and will give them the opportunity to express “themselves” in appropriate ways. If they’re “done” in their current form, they’re free to go. Face it: If you reincarnated as a blender, wouldn’t you positively yearn for the opportunity to puree, mix, froth and whip? (More on this concept in my earlier post, The Secret Life of Words Revealed, found here.)

There is no better opportunity to wipe your slate clean, than when you are moving house, apartment, double-wide, tipi, or shop. Do you actually desire to drag all your old baggage (physically and metaphysically) into a brand-spanking-new life?

Does it honor the memory of your dear, departed mother if you toss her old things into a box that once transported chicken breasts to your local Chinese restaurant — or might it be a more loving gesture to wipe them off, wrap them up with gratitude and love, and then give them another shot at being enjoyed by someone else?

If you haven’t already seen “The Story of Stuff,” check out this quick tease below. For the whole story, click right here.

you are your own responsibility

I just found the guts of this poetry scribbled 6 or 7 months ago on
three little pieces of paper stapled in the corner.
I then stumbled upon the work of Steve Banks,
a wildly creative artist from Davenport, Iowa.
I couldn’t resist this image, or his description of it,
“…The all-seeing Priestess straddles two worlds. One of technology
and sensory over-stimulation, and the other world,
one of loosely flowing organic serenity.”

Priestess, by Steve Banks, mixed media

You are your own responsibility
Uphold your end of the bargain!
You have been asked to walk in fields of glory
To sing with angels and push through idle fear.

Time after time,
You have been given the wisdom to make choices that will reverberate beyond eons
The strength to catapult rippling beacons of hope over fiery ramparts
Greater fortitude than you could scarce imagine
Lambent predisposition in endless supply
Still, you have faltered in the shadow of hesitation.

Your influence, called forth to righteousness
Has sputtered and arced by the side of the road
You have radiated a whiter shade of pale
Voiced arguments laced with rhetoric yet weak in substance,
Relied on the machinations of uninformed minds
And demanded that others listen
Whether or not you had anything worthwhile to say.

With responsibility comes reward
With devotion, amaranthine recompense
The sparkle of salubrious reclamation echoes through unmapped canyons
What rests at your feet is yours alone!
Do not let precipitous pride disallow your kneeling to pick it up,
All you once sought now fades in the rearview mirror
A newly visible landscape unfurls before you (did it ever exist?)
Unseen by eyes half-closed in limitation.

Step up into the face of your own ill-served behaviors
Old assumptions must be cleared to make way for the new!
Question each action as it careens helter-skelter the ziggurat
Temple steps recede beneath your every footstep
So-called mistakes require correction and nothing more.

Reach past your paralysis and speak the words I Love You
Travel beyond your blockades of fear and cry as the eagle, I Am
Shatter the walls you have erected in the name of protection
It is no one else’s job to scale your breastwork with blood-scraped hands!
Step aside with a smile when asked to dance with charlatans
Save your deepest bow for those cloaked in naught but truth.

Your response is the initial salvo in a heart-splitting symphony
How long must others peer deeply for a glimpse of recognition…

…before you deign to raise the shades?

enjoy billy joel while i’m warming up in the greenroom: and so it goes (video)

Saints be praised! I can feel the stirrings of a new cycle of blogging, poetry, and other shared pursuits. While I’m shaking off the residual cobwebs, enjoy this poignant classic by Billy Joel.  These poetic words and his sensitive performance seem to characterize where many of us are these days: Letting go of the old (whether by choice or circumstance) and opening our tender hearts to new ways of being, feeling, and engaging with others.  Enjoy! Both tears and smiles are appropriate responses.

PS: There’s no footage of Joel singing; only a black background with the lovely, touching lyrics.

patience (mine and yours) is a virtue

Apologies for not posting anything new in a while. If you noted my recent post (see below), I’ve been without a working computer for, oh, a couple of months now. I’m borrowing here and there to check email and moderate Comments, but it’s been hard to maintain a consistent creative flow.

This, too, shall pass – and I’ll be back with fresh, new inspirational poetry and more, before you know it. Thanks for your patience and your trust. In the meantime, poke around in some earlier Posts or check out the Pages in the right-hand sidebar.

PS to the two people who have contributed to my “technological rent party” : Thanks for demonstrating your support for my work; may it return to you three thousand-fold!

words of the day: be, begin, believe

To encourage and support your becoming, here are three words excerpted from my book, Words of Wisdom for Women (Barnes&Noble/Fall River Press). Though the book’s title is gender-specific, the content is universal.

If you enjoy these, hop on over to my sister blog, Just Say Yes Now!, for a trifecta including Refuse, Remember, Restore.

Be

Remember that life is in the being, not the doing. Be every bit of everything that you are. Be tough, be soft, be dramatic, be subdued. Be a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Be the one who always shows up on time or be the one who lives according to her own inner clock. Be the one who never forgets a detail or be the one who never remembers. Be happy when you feel like it and be sad when you’re down. Be who you are — not who they told you you should be. Be able to cry in front of someone you hardly know, if it’s time to cry. Be willing to be real. Be talkative if you are; be quiet if you’re not. Be ready to drop your masks and your protective armor and be genuine. Be in the moment, be in the light. And just when they think they know exactly who you are, be prepared to be something altogether different.

Begin

Start something! Put one foot in front of the other and inch forward ever so slightly. Show up. Say Hello and begin a conversation. Ask Says who? and begin a revolution. Write one sentence and begin your novel. Begin again, this time in a different key, at a different tempo. Begin putting yourself first. Begin enjoying it. Begin an intentional community if that’s how you want to live. Begin a reading group and focus on women who made bold new beginnings. Begin a new way of eating, a new way of moving, a new way of getting your needs met. Begin as soon as you finish reading this page. Begin at the beginning and don’t even think about where it will take you. Now begin!

Believe

Believe in the power of believing. Say I believe and believe it. Believe in fairy tales for what they can teach you about real life. Believe in happy endings, and believe that they don’t always happen. Believe in something, anything, that gives you the courage and strength to continue on when it would be so easy to give up. Believe it when a friend says you’re beautiful. Believe it when you hear the words You deserve to be happy. When someone tells you smething, believe the parts that feel right, that resonate in your belly, and discard the rest. Believe that you have choices and that you can choose wisely. Believe your own instincts above anyone else’s. Believe that you can do more with your life than you’re doing, and then do it. Above all, believe in yourself. When something seems truly unbelievable, it may be worth believing. Can you believe that?

online rent party: help keep rachel writing!

Mackenzie, my trusty classic Titanium Mac PowerBook G4 (c. 1999/2000), has finally given up the ghost — after months of band-aid fixes, excrutiatingly-long stretches of inoperation, rampant unpredictability, and a valiant battle on behalf of all who loved her.

My local, friendly Mac guys (Insert Plug Here for Boulder MacRepair) are ready to transplant her relatively new hard drive into another, younger powerbook G4 — so I can keep on writing, keep on blogging, and keep on keepin’ on.

So far, I’m about one-third of the way to the required $600, so am now throwing the technological equivalent of a Rent Party…

…and you’re invited!

If you have ever received inspiration, encouragement, comfort, upliftment, entertainment or enjoyment from my work, please consider tossing something into the jar so I can keep on doing what I do best.

The handy PayPal Donation button is in the right-hand sidebar, and I am joyously poised to receive contributions of any amount with gratitude and appreciation. Thanks for your support – and for sharing in the hope and promise of a world in which each of us reclaims prosperity as our birthright.

Remember: What comes around, goes around…