HOPE ever flowing freely from the heart/well of LOVE

There is a theme that is is so very strong in my life right now:  HOPE.  I came across a fragment of poem I had copied on a sticky note-Emily Dickinson's poem 'Hope is a thing with feathers' .  I had copied it months ago when I borrowed a colleague's office to see a client suffering with loss and grief.  There was the poem, just in time for what my client needed.  I brought it home to my own cluttered desk where it promptly disappeared, until yesterday it showed up,again.  Hope came up in a meeting on Friday, and in the readings from today's church service. I heard the word HOPE in so many venues over the last few days, I couldn't NOT notice. Then, when I opened my emails this morning, my friend Catharine had this in her morning blog: I share it with her permission. She in turn was inspired by a friend's blog, Cheap, Crappy Hope (Part 1 of 3). drkellyflanagan.com. 

allwillbewellperiod.blogspot.com

HOPE

Emily said it well

In three stanzas.

Hope is the thing with feathers.

It never stops singing.

Pretty much our hopes are small,

Always too small,

Even when we*ve glimpsed

Bigger things:

Bald eagles

Soaring in circles

High over Lake Superior;

Those same majestic birds

Roosting in trees

Along the Mississippi,

The river everyone knows and names,

Except perhaps the Nile

Or the Amazon.

We think these

May be the biggest hopes possible.

They are visible

Known

Heard

Soaring

Roosting in trees.

These are the hopes

We have seen

These are the hopes

We have heard

Those things with feathers

Singing

Soaring

Roosting in trees.

Even these feathered hopes

Thank you, Emily,

Are just

The bare beginning.

Here is Emily Dickensen's poem

"Hope" is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—

And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—

I've heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me.

 www.poetrysociety.org/psa/poetry/poetry.../hop_is_the_thi_wit_fea/

I am grateful for this 'thing' call "hope". I am glad it is singing so loudly just now!

Fully Experiencing Full Moon Energy

My experience with this month's full moon is as if I have been jettisoned in a hundred directions. I could feel the preparatory movement happening shortly after this cycle started, and becoming very strong in the middle of the waxing moon phase. The waxing moon is connected with doing the prep work for manifesting what you are are working with in your life. I have been working simultaneously with elements of all four aspects. I didn't consciously plan it that way, but my life is moving in ways that every aspect of myself is being affected in some way (it's all good).  As the moon neared it's fullness, I could feel some fullness within myself pressing for a new opening, requiring myself to yield old ways of doing, being, and thinking.  I have yielded to changes long overdue in my personal self, and immediately, abundance and work possibilities have shifted, renew relationships opening up for me, and new things in my collective aspect are coming into form (perhaps more will be revealed about that next month). 

When everything changes all at once, and energy and life is moving very fast (like my jettisoned feeling) it can be hard to stay clear.  What are the best practices to stay present and grounded?

Spend some time in meditation, dong a centering exercise, or in prayer in the mornings to set a tone for the day.  Even if you don't have time to journal, this quiet time will remind your Self of your intentions.

Share what is going on with someone who knows how to listen, is not a naysayer, and can refrain from giving advise.  The idea is for you to get a chance to hear yourself speak your experience out loud.  You need a good listener.

Review your Vision, your intentions for this month and the months to come for your Circle of Self year.  If you can see how these changes are supporting your direction, it can be easier to stay with them, avoid sabotage and overwhelm.

I am thinking of the serenity prayer:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.  Looking at everything happening in my life right now through that point of view, makes everything amazingly manageable!

In this season of Passover and Easter, may you be the recipient of many blessings.

Short Meditation for Embracing and Creating Your Future

Last weekend I was looking for a file in the chaos of my computer documents.  My curser slipped and I inadvertantly opend a document entitled "moving schedule"  from the May 2010.  It wasn't the moving schedule I had written for moving my household two summers ago-but it certainly was about moving my life!  The piece of writing that opened before me was a meditation I had been inspired to write-wrote and then it disappeared and I could not find it, regardless of how  much I had searched.  I am sure some of you have had that experience!

Now here it is again, perfect timeing.  I share it here and it will be posted on the website http://www.circleofself.com .

Meditation for Circle of Self Year

The 13 moon cycles of my Circle of Self gives me the time necessary to explore and embrace all the Aspects and Elements of my Self.  As I hold my commitment to myself and this work, I will gain knowledge, grow in hope, and bring balance to the whole of my life.  From this knowledge, hope and balance I will be able to bring my intentions into manifestation and experience the change for which I have longed.

As I evaluate my personal life I will begin to understand the connection between physical well-being, mental health, emotional balance and spiritual support. Each Element nourishes the others.  From here the health of my whole person is enhanced.

As I embrace my relationships, with friends and colleagues, children and family, and my partner, I may find them to be outer expressions of different parts of my inner-self.  Here I will find guidance to heal, resolve grief, create safety, and understand the meaning of forgiveness.  I can complete my Circle of Self process with a more open heart, and more fully able to be in my relationships in healthy and satisfying ways.

As I explore my Creative Self, I move from the self-limiting extremes of perfectionism and fear, and experience the life giving flow of my innate creativity. I experience this flow in my work and my leisure time, in the flow of abundance in my life and in the ways in which I am able to be in service to others and to the world.

As I engage the Elements of my Collective Self, I will find ways to create a home which shelters body, heart, spirit and soul.  I will strengthen my connections to the natural world and to the community around me. My role as a citizen of the world develops in alignment with my life purpose.

This, My Personalized Circle of Self, is my invitation to live my life to my full potential.  My hope and prayer for myself is that I may embrace my life and live my life fully, as is my birthright, without fear, hesitation or regret, but with joy, hope balance and possibility!