My imperfections and failures are as much a blessing from God as my successes and my talents and I lay them both at his feet.
Mahatma Gandhi Quote
Category: Inspiration
Wordless Wednesday
Amma, Embodiment of Compassion
Amma, Embodiment of Compassion
For the tiny infant to the eldest elder, she is there.
For the faint of heart and the bravest of the brave, she is there.
For the rich and the poor, for the saint and the sinner, she is there.
For those who are happy and those in despair, she is there.
When I’m sad and lonely, when I’m in danger, she is there.
When my children, friends and family need help, she is there.
When I need momentum to learn and grow, she is there.
When I want a hug because I’m feeling low, she is there.
Amma, embodiment of compassion and love renowned.
I thank you with an appreciation that has no bounds.
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Note: Most of the pictures come from Amma’s Facebook Page
Written for Writing 201: Hero(ine) The assignment was to create a ballad using anaphora or epistrophe. “Anaphora simply means the repetition of the same word (or cluster of words) at the beginning of multiple lines of verse in the same poem. Epistrophe is its counterpart: the repeated words appear at the end of lines.”
The Development of Trust (Acrostic)
Day 3’s assignment for Writing 201: Poetry is to write a poem about trust, using the form of an acrostic.
- An acrostic is any poem in which the first (or last) letters of each line combine to spell out a word or a phrase, or follow the order of the alphabet.
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Here is the result of my effort!
Blind faith does not the basis for true trust make,
Experience after experience is what it will take.
Seeing- hearing, being-doing,
Time, effort and discrimination are a must.
Intuition’s a factor, but inner silence may lead to “knowing” robust.
Let go of the need for perfection, that’s not the aim;
Live, learn, let go, and allow the other to do the same.
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The act of writing this poem was an experience in and of itself. I focused on letting go and letting the words emerge rather than trying to force them. When I came to close to finishing it, I was bothered by a couple of lines and wondered if they would be misunderstood. My eyes were then drawn to the line “Let go of the need for perfection, that’s not the aim.” I reminded myself this is my third poem. No one else will expect perfection from me, and I shouldn’t expect it from myself.
Over the next hour or so I tweaked a couple of words. Soon thereafter, I realized the entire poem could be seen as a message to me. I will learn to trust in my ability to write poetry as I continue to write poems!
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A Glimpse of the Sacred (Haiku)
As a student nurse, I was most interested in Maternal-Newborn nursing, particularly Labor and Delivery. After I graduated in 1970, I spent the next 17 years working in hospital obstetric units, earning a Masters of Nursing degree in Parent-Child Nursing, teaching Maternal- Newborn nursing at the University of Washington and working as the Maternal-Newborn Clinical Nurse Specialist at Swedish Hospital Medical Center in Seattle. Even when I switched to psychiatric nursing in 1987, the therapy modality I used was developmental in nature.
So last Friday, when I saw a news story about a baby who had recently been born still in its amniotic sac I was mesmerized. As I watched the video, I sensed I was getting a glimpse of something very sacred.
Another event that was happening at the same time was that I was preparing to take Blogging University’s Writing 201: Poetry class. I’ve never written poetry before and have no idea if I have any talent for it, but I wanted to give it a try. Our first assignment was emailed to us last night. We are to write a Haiku focusing on some aspect of water. Examples the instructor gave were “A murky puddle or a glistening lake. Amniotic fluid or your grandfather’s glass of Seltzer. A bath, a hose, an oasis.” A Haiku consists of “three lines containing five, seven, and five syllables, respectively.”
When I read the instructions, the baby in the amniotic sac came to mind. Below you will find the video I had seen, and my first attempt at writing a haiku!
Haiku
fetus warm, contained
inside, new life unfolding
parents eagerly waiting
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I could have also said:
fetus warm, contained
inside, new life unfolding
God’s gift in human form
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Which poem speaks most to you?
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Written, in part, for Writing 201: Water
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Wordless Wednesday
Wayne Muller Quotes: Being Special in Importance and/or Woundedness
Grandiosity and Importance
“As we grew, we began to feel responsible for how everything around us turned out– the happiness and suffering of our parents, our spouses, our friends, our colleagues and our children. One of the reasons we learned to judge ourselves so mercilessly is that we held ourselves to a much higher standard than the rest of humanity. Others were allowed to fail, to falter, to seek the help of others; we, on the other hand, were required to do it all perfectly, by ourselves, without a mistake, without the aid of anyone else.” Continue reading “Wayne Muller Quotes: Being Special in Importance and/or Woundedness”
Tomorrow’s the Big Day!
Tomorrow is the day most of Seattle has been waiting for, the day of The Super Bowl! I definitely want us to win, but to me this season has been a major success regardless of what happens tomorrow.
In my mind, the city of Seattle, the state, the region and beyond became a family last year as they rallied around the Seahawks football team. That community experience was so powerful, and I expected it would be similar this year; but as far as I’m concerned that sense of community grew exponentially during this season.
There have been rallies occurring here for weeks. On Blue Friday’s so many people wear their Seahawks jerseys to work and in their lives. As the big day approaches a sea of Seahawks jerseys can be seen every day of the week. Apparently on the day of the NFL championship game, 91% of the televisions that were turned on in Seattle were tuned in to at least part of the game. Seattle area fans are streaming towards Arizona whether they have tickets to the game or not.
Seismologists keep track of the rumbling in the earth during the games, as Seattle is known for being one of the loudest stadiums. The dancing and cheering that happened when Seattle came back to tie the game in the NFC championship caused activity equivalent to a level 2 earthquake. The press box was shaking so much that some of the press thought that a real earthquake was occurring! Take a look at the seismic readings below. The Beast Quake happened a different year; but notice the difference in the reading during the Dance Quake and that of the Overtime Touch down which resulted in the Seahawks winning the NFL championship game! For more information click here.
Governor Jay Inslee created a proclamation that called for all 12’s (Fan’s are considered the 12th “man” on the football team due to their level of support) to engage in three moments of loudness in support of the Seattle Seahawks: at 12:00 p.m. on Jan. 30, Jan. 31, Feb. 1, 2015. He requested that the fans get LOUD, LOUDER, and LOUDEST for 30 seconds on each day.
Government buildings have the U.S. flag, the Washington State flag, and the 12 flag flying. There are 12 flags or lighted displays everywhere. Google Images shows an impressive selection of them.
Celebrating the Seahawks has also become a family event. I heard someone being interviewed yesterday that said their one year old was the biggest Seahawks fan in their family!
Tears rolled down my face as I watched the joy that the children in the video below were expressing. I think the video exemplifies much of what I am trying to put into words in this post.
(I cried as much when I re-watched the video in preparing this post as I did the first time I saw it!)
So, whatever happens tomorrow I will have had the joy of experiencing a sense of community that is so palpable that in some cases it can be recorded as seismic activity!
GO SEAHAWKS!
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मनसा सततं स्मरणीयम् – Let Us Always Remember
I received an email from one of my Sanskrit teachers today asking us to learn a new chant. I listened to it and loved the tune. I then found a YouTube version that had the Devanagari script, the transliteration and the translation. The translation brought tears to my eyes. I think the chant is so beautiful in every way.
Here is the translation and the video:
Let us always remember,
Let us repeatedly speak out:
Our duty is to do good to humanity.
Let us not focus on material pleasures
Nor lay in the lap of luxury;
Let us be awakened always that
Our duty is to do good to humanity.
Let us not enumerate our sorrows
Nor constantly reflect on our happiness
Let us step up to take action:
Our duty is to do good to humanity.
Let us sail over oceans of misery,
Let us scale mountains of difficulty.
While roaming through the jungle of adversity,
Our duty is to do good to humanity.
Be it a dense forest of extreme darkness
Or surrounded by kith and kin
When we travel these paths,
Our duty remains – to do good to humanity.
(Note: Kith and kin means friends and relatives.)
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Never Say Can’t
A friend just sent me this five minute video. I hope you find it as inspiring as I did!
Living, Learning and Letting Go 