and you tried to change didn’t you?
closed your mouth more
tried to be softer
prettier
less volatile, less awake
but even when sleeping you could feel
him travelling away from you in his dreams
so what did you want to do love
split his head open?
you can’t make homes out of human beings
someone should have already told you that
and if he wants to leave
then let him leave
you are terrifying
and strange and beautiful
something not everyone knows how to love.

Warsan Shire

Human Incarnation

" Inevitably, maintaining our authenticity means constantly living within patterns and breaking patterns.  It is not about eliminating our humanness.  Not about eliminating our want to be loved, but curbing the stubborn ways we hurt and disrespect ourselves to get that love.   This involves recognizing the unhealthy patterns we fall into and correcting our course.   It is not helpful to label what doesn't work as bad and then strive to rid ourselves of our human flaws.   The aim is not to make ourselves pure and one-sided in our aliveness, but to inhabit all of who we are, living into the dilatations and constrictions of our strengths and weaknesses.  It is about learning how to live through being human, until the rhythm of being human can be celebrated as the magically imperfect vessel of Spirit that it is."  Mark Nepo

Dark Times

"Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,
what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.
In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.
And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am."
Sonnets to Orpheus II, 29

Rilke

Soulmates

Our soul…tries to direct us to individuals who share our purpose in life, complement our strengths, and supplement our weaknesses. But there is no guarantee that these ideal mates are going to look the way we expect, or be of our own background.
~Carolyn Miller

New Beginnings

"With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Darkness

Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,

what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.

In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.

And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.

Rilke 

A Stong Heart

"A strong heart is not a heart that has a strong armor and a sword.  A strong heart is a happy heart.  A strong heart is a joyous heart.  It is heart that can dance when you are completely free.  Only when you have that openness can you see that darkness and not be absorbed by it, but you can absorb it.  Only when you have that joy and happiness can you go to the heart of darkness.  Sometimes the heart of darkness is Congo and sometimes the heart of darkness is inside you and you can accept it and it's with joy and happiness that you can actually dance with it and absorb it into you.

Get off the warrior's horse, take the armor off.  That's not how we're gonna win the fight.  We're gonna win the fight with our own joy and our own happiness and our own beauty.  To do that you need to walk the warrior's path of breaking your own silence and you'll have to have the courage and the resilience to do it. 

It's not about saving the world.  It's about saving us." Zalnab Salbi

Breaking the Silence

"I couldn't have the courage to say that I had been raped.  I'm the feminist, right?  I'm the strong woman, talking about other rapes but I was too scare and ashamed and embarrassed to say that I had been one too.  And that inner journey was so painful.  It is about another aspect of breaking the silence.  It is about breaking our own silence and I'm convinced each woman has her story.   I know you have grown up in the privileges of America but I am convinced that each woman has to do it." Zalnab Salbi

New Consciousness Leaders

"While we will probably never grasp the entirety of God's thoughts or the wisdom of the universe, or whatever you call the vast organizing principle of existence, we can listen more deeply for inklings, we can pay closer attention to the cause and effect of our actions.  We can raise our own standards of behavior toward something kinder and grander. 

What might leadership look like if generated from a wise consciousness?   Here's my stab at some answers.  A New Consciousness Leader knows the difference between strength and force.  Strength comes from a deep, inner confidence; from loving and respecting and expressing one's own authentic self.   That kind of strength opens the gate to real love of others and life itself.  Force comes from a deep inner wound that spawns the urge to dominate and even the score.  A New Consciousness Leader uses her strength.  She is bold, direct and decisive.  She views terror and violence as the tactics of cowards and fools.  A New Consciousness leader also knows the difference between outrage and rage.  I think of outrage as Holy Anger.  Strong emotional responsiveness to the pain of others; to injustice, to ignorance.  Outrage is fierce but it never dehumanizes.  It fills a leaders sails with the winds of action, but it also fills her heart with discernment and compassion.  Rage, on the other hand, is like a forest fire.  It is impatient and it is vindictive and it is short sighted.  A New Consciousness Leader uses the energy of outrage to persuade and guide and include and create."