Tag Archives: love

State of Grace

There are several definitions of grace, an obvious one being elegance or refinement in the physical state, particularly in movement. The woman in the picture (for me) personifies a certain physical grace. Her eyes are closed, seemingly in meditation, and I can easily imagine she might also fit another definition of grace. That is, “courteous goodwill.”

Courteous goodwill. This state of grace seems to be sadly falling by the wayside, as various factions in society bicker, squabble, and attack each other. It’s fine to have another point of view, but sometimes the behavior reminds me of children when they don’t get their way. There is also quite a lot of outright bullying going on, shaming and coercing others psychologically. Where is the grace in that?

Those who bully others to get their way are not service to others, even though they may use narrative to paint themselves as such. They are service to self. They simply want the world to be “their way”, because they believe they have all the answers. Well, in a world of 8 billion people, how can that be true? There are many viewpoints on this planet.

A state of grace comes from a place of allowance, that others might have another way of being. It also is rooted in a true caring about other people. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, grace flows from love. Achieving a state of grace in one’s self moves us to a real place of service to others.

Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
~ Martin Luther King Jr.

A Free Mind

We owe it to ourselves to expose our minds to many points of view. Reading widely and diversely is a good starting point. In a time where everything is increasingly politicized, mass media narrative can easily become a form of advertising for political agenda.

A free mind yearns to see beyond the consensual narrative and reality.

The public narrative, and particularly on social media, is becoming deeply divided. So many people seem to be locked into their chosen echo chamber, parroting what they hear from their particular group of friends and political party. Where is the independent thinking? Where is the open-mindedness, where people can at least consider a differing point of view, instead of viciously attacking the “opposition”, trying to make them conform?

Observing the meltdown in society right now, it seems that the answers will not be found in the same old paradigm, the normal duality of “it’s either A or B” choices. We need to find a meeting ground, a creative way of melding diverse ideas into a new model for humanity and society.

True to Yourself

Are you being true to yourself? This year 2020 has magnified everything – people who are critical and judgmental if we don’t adhere to their opinions (or worse, they are outright aggressive), events in our society that do not feel right, they do not ring true, but we stuff it down inside and quietly acquiesce.

These little betrayals of ourselves, our gut feelings and own wisdom, eventually add up and take their toll. It is called selling our souls, piece by piece. We can ignore the discomfort in ourselves about it for awhile, but eventually it’s time to pay the piper. At a certain point, we just do not feel good about how we are treating ourselves.

Be true to yourself. No one is going to hear you or respect you if you don’t do that for yourself, first and foremost.

Re-examine all you have been told. Dismiss what insults your soul.
~ Walt Whitman

Your Sacred, Sane Place

Technology does not only offer us speed and a wide array of information. It also gives us distraction, noise, and confusion.

Do you have a place where you can go daily to claim a quiet interlude, far away from the fray and anger of the world? Our modern world is always a noisy place, but someone turned up the volume full blast on us at the beginning of 2020. When you add it onto the discouragement and loss around the COVID scenario, mentally and emotionally it can feel like just too much some days.

People often equate the word sacred with church, but have you considered, finding the sacred has to begin with your own internal landscape? If you do not honor the sacred within you, if you do not recognize that you are to be honored first and foremost, sooner or later you will have nothing left to give to anyone else.

If you have not already done so, establish a sacred place where you can find some quiet and cultivate peace within yourself. where you can start to hear your own voice again. A little piece of nature may be a very good start.

As the famous nature enthusiast and writer John Muir said, “Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.”

“Your sacred place is where you can find yourself, over and over again. ~ Joseph Campbell

Photo courtesy Stijn Dijkstra, Pexels

Hero in the Making

A quote for our times? You be the judge.

Euripides apparently lived from 480 to 406 BC. A tragedian playwright in Ancient Greece, he has influenced drama into our modern times, especially the portrayal of mythical heroes as ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.

Make no mistake, history repeats itself until we decide to do it differently. I think we will see many heroes emerge in the coming days, people who never dreamed they had greatness within them. Will you be one of them?

Inspirational Quotes:

“Everybody is special. Everybody. Everybody is a hero, a lover, a fool, a villain. Everybody. Everybody has their story to tell.”
~ Alan Moore

“Heroes are ordinary people who make themselves extraordinary.”
~ Gerard Way

“A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“We are our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves.”
~ Tom Robbins