Tag Archives: wisdom

The Beauty of Our Souls

Sometimes we forget to look for the deeper beauty in life. Beauty is easy to see on the face of a young person, fresh-faced and attractive by the definition of the particular culture in which they live. And admittedly, we all love to gaze upon a beautiful face. Beauty gives us pleasure.

But when physical beauty fades around the edges, then we have no choice but to look deeper. And there comes a point in our own evolution when we realize: The full, deep beauty of a person lies in their heart. Ironically, it is in this realization that our own souls grow to another level of beauty. We start seeing and connecting to people in a different way. We start living from the heart.

Some inner wisdom, expressed by the model and actress Audrey Hepburn, who was revered in her time for her exquisite physical beauty:

“The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It’s the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows & the beauty of a woman only grows with passing years.”

Later in life, Audrey worked hands on in some of the poorest communities in Africa, South America, and Asia, to help alleviate poverty and be an example of what the Greeks call “agape”, or love for humanity. She became an icon for beauty yet again, but this time for a different kind, that of her heart.

Yes, (no matter our gender): The wisdom accumulated from our many life lessons, the shine in our eyes, our caring and compassion for our fellow human, our enthusiasm and gratitude for life itself, and a deep desire to keep living it with the full on curiosity and passion of a child – these are what grow us into the fullness of the inherent beauty of our souls.

© Susan L Hart 2024

Melding

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Melding

Everything fades to dust
eventually,
the wheels of progress turn
inevitably.

The elders of the tribe
woefully,
remember times not lived
respectfully.

History hides secrets
illicitly,
of the big lessons doled
cruelly.

The past is only known
truthfully,
by the ones who lived it
successfully.

If young people listened
graciously,
to the old wisdom learned
painfully,

together they could build
splendidly,
a new vision that’s forged
lovingly.

Many indigenous cultures believe that under the symbol of the rainbow, humanity will come into balance with one another and the Earth to experience the Golden Age. However, first an alignment with spiritual values, a healing between brothers and sisters, and a renewed reverence and appreciation for the Earth must take place.

There is an ancient theme that runs through many American Native legends that warns of the devastation the European white man would bring to the land. However, the myths also promise that some time in the future, when the devastation (especially as it was wrought upon the native peoples and upon the land itself) was at its worst, spiritually aligned souls among peoples of all colors, peoples of the rainbow, would feel a calling of Spirit and come together to bring things back to proper balance.

These souls, who would do no violence and would work to end violence, would be called the Rainbow Warriors.

The time of the Rainbow Warriors has come.

Time of the Rainbow Warriors is an excerpt from Our Beautiful Earth / Poem Melding / © Susan L Hart

Lifetime

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Your life is precious,
so spend your moments wisely.
Tick-tock, oops, they’re gone!

“Time is the school in which we learn, Time is the fire in which we burn” are the profound last lines of the poem, Calmly We Walk through This April’s Day, by Delmore Schwartz. It’s a beautiful philosophical ponderation on the passage of time, with a particularly great wrap-up last stanza.

The seconds, minutes, hours tick away relentlessly. Our lives are busy, and inundated with many distractions and responsibilities. Lately I’m looking at my age and the years that have passed, and thinking, “Wow! It’s going faster than I ever could have imagined when I was 18.”

Realistically, we don’t have time to sit around and ponder endlessly about the value of time and our lives. But, it’s useful to carve out a little time (from time to time) for such introspection. Because your life IS precious, and the clock IS ticking. Ask yourself in this moment, are you spending it the way you would really like to? In reply to that, I will close with my poem Tick-tock Madman:

Tick-tock Madman

That round evil man
with his shallow pretty face
leers from my wall.
Cruelly and incessantly,
he chips away at my life
with his sharp little pick-axe.

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

My days mete out
in an endless dribble of
tasks and responsibilities,
and he watches me.
Be on time, get it right!
Get up again, do it again.
and again, and again, and again.

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

I thought he was my friend
that insidious little man,
Mom said he was!
Just dress for success,
always be on time,
and your life will be right.

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

Then one day I woke up
and my life felt all wrong.
Where are my dreams
you cunning little man?
You stole them while
I toiled to your

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

Oh poacher of my hours!
Is there time for me?
Still hope for me?
The Me you took while
I played by the rules,
always obeying time.

And that smug little man
with his false pretty face
just stares coldly at me
from his unfeeling wall.
Silent he is, but for
the relentless

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

Lifetime is from Hart Haiku Vol. 1 / Tick-tock Madman is from Soul Journey: The Poetry of Life

The Wisdom of Walt Whitman

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“This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.”
~ Walt Whitman (1819-1892) ~ Preface to Leaves of Grass, 1855

Do you think the poetry of poets such as Whitman, Thoreau, and Emerson is outdated, or are the concepts classic, and therefore never go out of style? They are the basics of life, and speak to the fundamental principles that humanity aspires to, over and over again.

Whitman speaks here (in a very eloquent way) of love, compassion, connectedness, humility, courage, determination, discernment, independence of thought, knowing and being true to one’s self.

If these principles have gone “out of style” at the moment, perhaps it’s time to bring them back…

More inspirational quotes by Walt Whitman:

“Whatever satisfies the soul is truth.”

“I am large, I contain multitudes”

“Do anything, but let it produce joy.”

“Now I see the secret of making the best person: it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.”

“Every moment of light and dark is a miracle.”

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. So medicine, law, business, engineering… these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love… these are what we stay alive for.”

Life Is a Gift (Susan L Hart)

It’s a blue-sky day,
one of those
beauteous blue-full,
joyously jocular,
splendidly splashy,
exceptional days –
I long to shout
LIFE IS A GIFT
in unmistakable
letters across the
blue shiny yonder,
to imprint them
indelibly on your
mind, so you’ll –

Remember when
the dark clouds roll
in, on a day when
life feels pissy and
oh so problematic,
to take a deep breath,
and close your eyes,
and gently pull the
gray gloom aside,
to see those big
oh so true words
I etched on blue
for you, so that
you’d never forget –

Life is a gift.

Find some free ebooks here.

Pieces of Me

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Who am I? Genetics, environment, and experience, they have all helped to shape me. I was born into this life with a touch of auburn in my hair from Dad, and long piano playing fingers from Mom.

But father, why did you not give me the flaming locks that run in your Scottish family? Why just a whisper of red for me? I have a fire inside that rages, and a call to blaze a path in this world. My Maori friend calls me “Fire”. Perhaps it is so my flame is evident only to those with eyes that see deeper?

And mother, why was I born with your hands and no musical talent? It felt cruel. It was a source of frustration to me that I failed at piano lessons. Perhaps it was so I could learn to see in myself what is, rather than what is not?

One summer afternoon, the girl I was lay on her bed daydreaming. I left my body and up I rose until I floated among the stars, tethered to Earth by a slender silver thread. I felt infinity for the first time, and I realized that I was so much more than they were telling me.

I am the artist in France, learning to express my soul on canvas. In this present life, I recall those lessons easily. Painting is like breathing to me. That other self walks in Monet’s garden, and I yearn to again. A photo of the Seine in the fog makes my heart ache with longing. It is a happy life.

I am the Japanese geisha in love with a powerful man. He loves me, but we cannot be together. Even now, pink cherry blossoms in spring make my heart both sing and weep, all at the same time. The lesson? I love and I am loved. In the end, the love is all that is important.

Sometimes when I walk along the sidewalk, I recognize a piece of myself in a stranger’s eyes. How can I say what it is exactly? It is fleeting, but I see it, and I feel it.

When I pass a beggar on the street, I attach a blessing to the coin I give. In my mind I say, “I know you, and I feel your pain. I have been where you are. It is a lesson you are learning, and it will all be okay.”

There is so much of me flooding in from the world, sometimes I feel overwhelmed by it. So I wash the dishes or sweep the floor, ordinary tasks that ground me in the here and now.

But I can never deny to myself, or to the world, that which I know to be true: I am stardust. I am Infinite. I am part of it All.

Pieces of Me is an excerpt from Becoming Bigger: In a world that wants to keep you small. Find it for sale in my bookstore here, or get this collection of life inspiration free when you subscribe for occasional newsletters here.