02.26.2024. Bare Truth

" ....there is no loneliness like the loneliness of having your light unmet." 
– Maria Popova

This we each know is the bare truth. Deep in our preverbal bones we know the grief, the  loneliness of not being seen, reflected, being mirrored–our gorgeous Light not met. A teacher once long ago shared a deep wisdom truth that has stayed with me now some twenty years, and still rings in me. A bare truth. As she sat with her Rabbi she asked him, “All these many years you have been sitting with people in their joys and sorrows, what have you found to be the most healing?” He replied, “...just repeating, saying someone's name.”  

This I know is the bare truth, we can do this for each other. We can gaze. repeat each other’s name. see the light. the beauty of who we each are, and be blown away by the exquisiteness of being human, in all its complexities, and behold the sanctuary of another’s soul. 
May we see and remember this truth of who we are, 
the light that pours forth which holds and reflects the beauty 
of each gorgeous raspberry, of each dry decaying leaf, 
of each morning joy-grief song, of each human, everywhere.

Today is Metta Monday
When: 2pm
Where: 1765 Glenview Road, Glenview in the Patio Shops
Cost: No Fee. Donations and poems appreciated

Where two or more are gathered something beautiful grows. 
Love, Wini

PS. Below. 7 Heart Offerings: 2 Poems. 3 Quotes. 1 Heart Advice. 1 Video  + 1 Instagram Post.

🌸 Two Poems 🌸

A Blessing | Jan Richardson
To receive this blessing,
all you have to do
is let your heart break.
Let it crack open.
Let it fall apart
so that you can see
its secret chambers,
the hidden spaces
where you have hesitated
to go.

Your entire life
is here, inscribed whole
upon your heart’s walls:
every path taken
or left behind,
every face you turned toward
or turned away,
every word spoken in love
or in rage,
every line of your life
you would prefer to leave
in shadow,
every story that shimmers
with treasures known
and those you have yet
to find.

It could take you days
to wander these rooms.
Forty, at least.

And so let this be
a season for wandering
for trusting the breaking
for tracing the tear
that will return you

to the One who waits
who watches
who works within
the rending
to make your heart
whole.


Autobiography in Five Short Chapters | Portia Nelson
I.
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in. I am lost. I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

II.
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I still don't see it. I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place.
It isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

III.
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it there, I still fall in.
It's habit. It's my fault. I know where I am.
I get out immediately.

IV.
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

V.
I walk down a different street.

– From There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk: The Romance of Self-Discovery
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Three Quotes | Etty Hillesum. Joan Chittister. Donna Ashworth.
“There is a really deep well inside me. And in it dwells the Beloved. Sometimes I am there too.But more often grit and rumble block the well, and the Beloved is buried beneath. Then she must be dug out again.”  — Etty Hillesum

Sitting with… she must be dug out again. amen

“Darkness deserves gratitude. It is the alleluia point at which we learn to understand that all growth does not take place in the sunlight.” — Joan Chittister

Read on repeat. An offering for your tender soul to remember. 
All growth does not take place in the sunlight. amen.

“You don’t move on after loss, but you must move with. You must shake hands with grief, welcome her in, for she lives with you now. Pull her a chair at the table and offer her comfort. She is not the monster, you first thought her to be. She is love. And she will walk with you now, stay with you now, if you let her. And on the days when your anger is high, remember why she came, remember who she represents. Grief came to you my friend because love came first. Love came first.”  — Donna Ashworth from her  book Wild Hope: Healing Words to Find Light on Dark Days

Grief, welcome her in. amen.
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Heart Advice | on Meditation, Pema Chödrön's 
If you are a good horseback rider, your mind can wander but you don’t fall off your horse. In the same way, whatever circumstances you encounter, if you are well trained in meditation, you don’t get swept away by emotions. Instead they perk you up and your awareness increases.  — Compassion Cards: Teachings for Awakening the Heart in Everyday Life. 

Little bits of wisdom for your day. Pull a card. Keep out on a shelf to see. A teaching-phrase with a short commentary, to ponder, to grow with for the week.
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One Video | Kintsugi. The Japanese art of fixing broken pottery - BBC REEL (5:46 min).

Kintsugi (Kin = gold; tsugi = joining together/joinery/repair)
​
An exquisite short film on Japan’s ancient art of celebrating broken pottery. Kintsugi is rooted in an eastern philosophy of finding beauty in imperfection and accepting our flaws – and fosters a sense of peace and fulfillment.

This film is not only a visual beauty to watch. It helps me, reminding me/us that our brokenness is our gold. Our scars and flaws are our beauty. It is not about hiding our brokenness but embracing. Holding our hurts, broken, cracked-open as sacred. As precious as gold because it is.  It is our treasure.
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One Instagram Post | Roberta Flack singing Killing Me Softly with His Song
Holy. holy. Robert Flack. singing. Opening the heart with the gorgeousness of just voice! And what a song! A beautiful way to start your week. Opening me softly.

And this quote to close this week's offering…. 

“In the silence of listening, you can know yourself in everyone, the unseen singing softly to itself and to you”. — Rachel Naomi Remen

                      🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 Have a blessed day 💖 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸