Poetry is wisdom that enchants the heart. Wisdom is poetry that sings in the mind. If we could enchant man's heart and at the same time sing in his mind, Then in truth he would live in the shadow of God. Kahlil Gribran

The Universe is in a Sheet of Paper

"If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either. So we can say that the cloud and the paper inter-are. "Interbeing" is a combination of "inter-" and the verb "to be", which creates a new verb, inter-be. Without a cloud, we cannot have paper, so we can say that the cloud and the sheet of paper inter-are. If we look closer at the sheet of paper, we can see the sunshine in it that grew the forest, which made the paper. Without "non-paper elements", like mind which is perceiving it, the logger and his parents who made the logger possible, the sun, the rain, etc., there would be no paper. As thin as the sheet of paper is, it contains everything in the universe in it." From Thich Nhat Hanh

A Song of Faith

A rendering showing some of the 18,000 objects that are being tracked in earth's orbit

A SONG OF FAITH by Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1916
My glass of life with its brew of Being,
I lift, with a toast, to the Universe.
Though black guns bellow and mad men curse
And a sick world hurries from bad to worse
I trust in the might of the One All Seeing--
The One All Knowing, to set things right.

Though hate in the heart of the race may thunder,
In rifle and cannon and bursting shell,
And the sea and the air their tales may tell,
Of the minds of mortals that seethe with hell,--
Yet in God's vast plan there can be no blunder--
He is blazing the trail for the Super-man.

The creeds of ages may totter and tumble,
And fall in ruins, but out of the dust,
And out of the wreckage of old things, must
Rise better religion, and stronger trust,
And faith that knows, and knowing is humble.
(Humility ever with knowledge goes.)

This speck in space on its orbit spinning,
Swings safely along without aid from me,
A Mind that can order, an Eye that can see,
Back of, and over it all must be--
And will be--and was from the first beginning,
Not mine to question or doubt the Cause.

But mine to worship the Mighty Master
And Maker of all things; mine to raise
Ever an anthem of love and praise
In the light of the sun or in shadowed ways,--
In the world's bright hour, or in world disaster,
To see His glory and sing His power.

So my glass of life with its brew of Being
I lift, with a song of the One All Seeing--
Of the One All Knowing; though earth seems hurled
Out into chaos, I see it lying
In God's great palm--and my faith undying
Cries, "Lo! He is moulding a better world."

Native American Prayer

Let there be beauty before me as I wander,
Let there be beauty behind, as I wander,
Let there be beauty above and below me,
Let there be only beauty from this day on.

Napping and the Biological Clock

I took a nap. I had to quiet that voice within saying no, guilt-trip, too much to do, etc. I felt so wonderful all cozy under the warm blanket, well cared for. Take a nap. Let it all go for a bit of a lazy afternoon. Look what the experts say and don't feel guilty!
Contrary to popular belief, except for insomnia sufferers, a brief afternoon nap does not necessarily interfere with nighttime sleep. In fact, an afternoon nap may be perfectly compatible with a finely-tuned biological clock. For most people, the sleep/wake cycle includes being awake for about 16 hours and then asleep for about eight. But what many people don't realize is that the body's clock is set with two distinct dips in alertness within a 24-hour period: one at about 2:00 am and another at about 2:00 pm, corresponding to the midday dip. Fighting off the urge to sleep during these times is challenging, especially for someone already suffering from sleep deprivation.

Gregory Belenky, MD, Research Professor and Director of the Sleep and Performance Research Center at Washington State University, recommends naps as a way to make up for lost nighttime sleep. He says, "The beauty of naps is that they add to total recuperative sleep time," adding that "A large number of the world's people divide their sleep into two blocks (with the afternoon sleep called a siesta in Spanish-speaking countries). It is even possible that divided sleep is more recuperative than sleep taken in a single block."

A Blessing for You

"May there always be work for your hands to do, may your purse always hold a coin or two. May the sun always shine on your windowpane, may a rainbow be certain to follow each rain. May the hand of a friend always be near you, may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you."
- Irish Blessing

Forgive

All your images of winter
I see against your sky.
I understand the wounds
That have not healed in you.
They exist because God and love
Have yet to become real enough
To allow you to forgive