Alive in the rain
Dripping
With trust
© Salem Islas-Madlo 2014
*photo by Antonio Grambone
Month: August 2014
The Secret Mirth of Rain
Light
Casting shadows
Of cloud
Across hills
Rolling in abundant
Emerald
With touching fringes
Of evergreen
In the misty rain.
© Salem Islas-Madlo 2014
*Photo found on http://pinlovely.com/glen-coe-scottish-highlands-scotland/
Touching the Earth
For a moment
You listened
And smiled
It was enough
Now
I touch
The earth
And remember
Your name.
© Salem Islas-Madlo 2014
*photo found on http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/07/1116810/-J-Town-Got-Post-August-7-2012
What is the Next Step?
“We already have everything we need. There is no need for self-improvement. All these trips that we lay on ourselves – the heavy-duty feeling that we’re bad and hoping that we’re good, the identities that we so dearly cling to, the rage, the jealousy and the addictions of all kinds – never touch our basic wealth. They are like clouds that temporarily block the sun. But all the time our warmth and brilliance are right here.
This is who we really are. We are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake. Looking at ourselves this way is very different from our usual habit. From this perspective we don’t need to change: you can feel as wretched as you like, and you’re still a good candidate for enlightenment. You can feel like the world’s most hopeless basket case, but that feeling is your wealth, not something to be thrown out or improved upon. There’s a richness to all of the smelly stuff that we so dislike and so little desire. The delightful things – what we love so dearly about ourselves, the places in which we feel some sense of pride or inspiration – these also are our wealth. You can start just where you are.
When we hear about compassion, it naturally brings up working with others, caring for others. The reason we’re often not there for others – whether for our child or our mother or someone who is insulting us or someone who frightens us – is that we’re not there for ourselves.
There are whole parts of ourselves that are so unwanted that whenever they begin to come up we run away. Because we escape, we keep missing being right here, being right on the dot. We keep missing the moment we’re in. Yet, if we can experience the moment we’re in, we discover that it is unique, precious, and completely fresh. It never happens twice. One can appreciate and celebrate each moment – there’s nothing more sacred. There’s nothing more vast or absolute. In fact, there’s nothing more!”
-Pema Chödrön-
Availability
The kingdom of God
Is available
Here and now
The question remains
Are we available to it?
© Salem Islas-Madlo 2014
Invented Fears
Mind patterns repeating
From one situation
To the next
© Salem Islas-Madlo 2012
*art by Catherine Hollens
Tenderness…Ternura
I am thankful for the tenderness of my heritage which the ancestors have passed down to me. I honor the tenderness of their spirit. And the fragility that comes with it. An unending wealth of spiritual riches! It is my strength. Thank you ancestors for the abundance of my soul. We all have the same incredible capacity to love and heal each other. With each breath let’s live…
Live the breath.
Rough translation:
Estoy agradecido por la ternura de m herencia que los antepasados han transmitido a mi. Honro la ternura de su espíritu. Y la fragilidad que viene con el. Una riqueza inagotable de riquezas espirituales! Es mi fuerza. Gracias antepasados por la abundancia de mi alma. Todos tenemos la misma capacidad increíble de amar y sanar entre si. Con cada respiración vamos a vivir…
Vive la respiración!
The Simplicity of ‘It’s Okay’
“The nectar of compassion is so wonderful. If you are committed to keeping it alive, then you are protected. What the other person says will not touch off the anger and irritation in you, because compassion is the real antidote for anger.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh-
I have always been an open book for all to see. My mom used to tell me, “Don’t wear your heart on your sleeve.” I didn’t get it for the longest time. I simply didn’t understand which is why I got hurt so often. I also had the tendency “to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders” to quote my mother yet again. That gets really heavy. Now I find myself at a time of transition. Alone. I have tried so hard to make peace with myself. In fact, I really found a path in this life that supports me a great deal. However, the age-old demons that plague everyone in this life, like fear and anger, take their toll.
Time has a way of grabbing hold of our thoughts and feelings and squeezing tight till we are out of breath. Fear rises up. And then there is a mad scramble to protect ourselves. To control. What we don’t realize is that we are giving our strength away. We forget who we are and take on an identity associated with fear and anger. Fear or anger shouldn’t necessarily be shunned, but we should greet it with compassion and patience. We cheapen our essence by shutting out fear in ignorance. I am slowly waking up to the fact that compassion for ourselves is the very protection we seek from our fears. Fears that we might not even understand half the time because they spring from our imagination.
It’s okay to lose our balance, but when we do, instead of being critical and judgemental we can mindfully choose to approve of ourselves. We can concentrate our energy on self-compassion when we make mistakes instead of taking out our anger on ourselves. David Kessler once posed the questions,”What if we started taking some chances, if we stepped into our fears? What if we went further, if we were to pursue our dreams follow our desires? And if we allowed ourselves to experience love freely and to find fulfillment in our relationships? What kind of world would this be?” Sometimes the only way forward is to move through our fears. We can embrace them and still proceed on our journey. It doesn’t have to be a paralyzing process that zaps all our strength away. We are new each morning. We have the opportunity each day to open to life. To BE. When we find that our strength is gone we can whisper to ourselves, “It’s okay.” Then we find that place of belonging. That safe place within where our soul can breathe.
I would like to conclude with another quote, “Now is the only real moment we have, and love is the only real emotion because it’s the only one that occurs in the present moment.Fear is always based on something that happened in the past and causes us to be afraid of something we think may happen in the future. To live in the present, then, is to live in love, not fear. That’s our goal, to live in love. And we can work toward that goal by learning to love ourselves. Infusing ourselves with love begins the washing away of our fears.” -Elizabeth Kubler-Ross-
Live the breath my friends. ❤
Air Bubbles
I peer within myself
Air bubbles sink
To the depths
Giving my soul
Breath.
© Salem Islas-Madlo 2014
*photo from http://www.pinterest.com/source/news-world.us/
Honoring Ancestors
“If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh-
Through the hot blast
Of summers long past
I had to run fast
Before little inner me
Was a lost memory.
© Salem Islas-Madlo 2014
Deep Souldiving 