Journal of Sacred Work

Love Is

Mandala by ~liz Sorensen Wessel

Days 268-272 - This Day

"We work so hard to fly/ and no matter what heights we reach/ our wings get folded near a candle/ at the end." - St. Catherine of Siena

   May your heart be open so that Love can bless you and keep you across this day of your precious life.

-Rev. Erie Chapman 

 

 

Photograph: Woman in the Woods, copyright erie chapman 2009

Days 266-267 "...And God Saw That It Was Good"

Psalm 1

Blessed are those

who walk hand in hand

with goodness,

who stand beside virtue,

who sit in the seat of truth;

For their delight is in the Spirit of Love,

and in Love’s heart they dwell

day and night.

They are like trees planted by

streams of water,

that yield fruit in due season,

and their leaves flourish;

And in all that they do, they give life.

The unloving are not so;

they are like dandelions which

the wind blows away.

Turning from the Heart of Love

they will know suffering and pain.

They will be isolated from wisdom;

for Love knows the way of truth,

the way of ignorance will perish

as Love’s penetrating Light

breaks through hearts

filled with illusions:

forgiveness is the way.

 

From Psalms of Praying, Nan C. Merill

 

I am the tree planted by a stream of water. I am the dandelion blown away by the wind. Truth is noticing without judging…loving without conditions. Yes, forgiveness is the way.

Contributed by ~liz Sorensen Wessel

Above drawing by ~liz

Days 264-265 - Love's Return

   In the midst of fatigue, of caring for and worrying about others, of anxiety about relationships, and of the myriad stresses of the world, caregivers may often feel Love has abandoned them. This is not the nature of Love, for Love is always present. All she needs is an open heart.

Love's Return

For Love will always return

circling through every gray

to pink again the world.

 

She will reappear, inspite of everything,

to enclose & carry us across the sea

or into a further forest meadow

 

where every flowering wave

and sheaf of grass splendor-curves

in imitation of you.

 

The light of the world

imagines he illuminates your face

not knowing that

 

you are the source of Love's hope:

That you will let the always-present glow

flow through you once again. 

 

Erie Chapman

-from Woman As Beauty

Days 261-263 - Healing - Our Highest Calling

   Snow speckles the night sky. A light wind stirs a row of evergreens that line the parking lot sprinkling flakes on the faces of the few cars that remain.

   Inside an Ohio hospice seventeen-year-old Anna lives into the last hours of her life. There is no curing her. No opportunities remain to "fix" the cancer that has stolen so much of her body.  No one speaks anymore about additional chemotherapy or radiation or surgery.

   What remains is a last chance for healing. 

   Caregivers and family circle the young woman's bed. Anna's last wish has been that she live until her eighteenth birthday, now just hours away.

   Healing is the highest form of caregiving. But can any healing happen in the last few hours before death?

   The rattling sound the mourners hear is not a branch scratching the window. It is Anna's labored breathing.

   A caregiver suggests to the family that the semi-conscious Anna can probably hear them. She encourages them to say whatever they want to her.

   Her sister steps forward and whispers in her ear. Her father says, out loud, "I love you Anna." Her brother holds her hand and strokes her forehead. Her mother puts a favorite stuffed toy by her daughter's side. Her best friend stands at Anna's feet. Tears stain her face. Nearby, Rusty, the hospice dog, dozes.

   Everyone watches the clock.

   The doctors had predicted Anna would die six months earlier. Anna would hear none of it. "I want to live to my eighteenth birthday," she repeated over and over.

   At midnight, Anna's mother leans close enough to her daughter to hear faint breaths.

  "Happy 18th Birthday, sweetheart."

   A slight smile crosses Anna's face.  

   She is pronounced dead at 12:05 a.m.

   This story has become legendary at that hospice. It is a tribute to the will to live, not the will to die. It is a testament, as well, to the healing that went on in that room.

   With her courage and grace, Anna first broke and then healed the hearts of those around her. The circle of loved ones healed each other - more uplifted then broken - as they spoke afterwards of the mysterious beauty of Anna's parting.

   No one understands the difference between curing and healing better than the caregivers at the world's hospices. Assigned patients who all have terminal illness, the caregiver's goal is not to cure but to comfort, not to fix but to love.

   Hospice workers apply their caregiver skills to bring healing not only up to the end, but to the families who grieve afterwards. They ensure that no patient dies in pain, that none die alone and that family and friends are supported.

   They live Love.

-Erie Chapman

Days 259- 260 Be Still and Know

As I look back on my formative years, I can enthusiastically say that I received a great education from dedicated teachers, who had their  student’s best interests at heart. However, we often learned facts through memorization, which was my least favorite method for integrating knowledge.

I have often wondered what the benefits might be if we taught students, of all ages, relationship skills such as communication, listening to understand, mediation, conflict resolution,  clarification of values, and ethical decision-making, to name a few.

 In recent Journal reflections, Erie Chapman has helped us explore a gateway into the present moment by simply noticing the rhythm of our breathing. Interestingly, if one practices mindfulness, we may notice very subtle changes occur over time. Without any conscious effort on our part, we naturally gravitate towards self-care and healing.  We experience less stress and fear-based thinking with an overall sense of peaceful well-being.

As we turn our awareness to this one breath and then the next, we may sometimes question the effectiveness of sitting with our eyes closes.  Especially, when our mind is full of thoughts that can distract us from settling in to a state of tranquility.  Yet, even when I am restless, afterwards I notice a greater calm throughout my day.

Regardless of the seeming quality of my contemplative time, there is a deeper knowing that this practice is essential for my well-being, and so I return again and again each morning to sit quietly and notice the ebb and flow of my breath.

This following video illustrates the remarkable transforming power of meditation. I applaud the teachers  of Visitacion Valley Middle School, San Francisco for initiating a creative and innovative approach to helping students cope with extraordinary life challenges.

~liz Sorensen Wessel

Above watercolor by ~liz

 

Days 257-258 - Expectations

Expectations

 

Surrender Expectations.

Can we make the indifferent sky shine or cloud?

Embrace the day.

 

Surrender expectations of others.

Does it help to suppose they will fit the mold we have crafted?

Embrace them as they are and you will fall in love.

 

Surrender expectations for victory.

Will hand-wringing turn the tide?

Love doesn't care who wins.

 

Live in the now of defeat & of triumph.

Expectations straight-jacket love.

 

Now is the rhythm of your breath.

Surrender to Love.

 

-Erie Chapman

Days 254-256 - The Good Doctor

"The artist is not a special kind of person; rather, each person is a special kind of artist."

 At age six, I lay ill with the mumps. Fever delivered it's discomfort. 

   It was back in the days of house calls. Dr. Brooks arrived, black bag in hand, his face dressed with reassurance.  The moment his compassionate and loving energy arrived in my room I felt better. 

   The good doctor hadn't administered any medicine yet. It was his presence that I found healing. 

   Of course doctors, like artists, are not special kinds of people. But each one "is a special kind of artist."

   When we enter the presence of others, we raise the light or we lower it depending on the quality of light and Love we bring. When caregivers enter a room in which we sit, the same thing occurs. Their presence will enhance our energy or, perhaps, diminish it.

  We don't take our good news to doctors or other caregivers. We go to them with our pain and our worry in the hope they will dissolve both.

   Because caregivers are trained to diagnose what is wrong, it can sometimes be difficult to draw their focus to something that is "right."

   I remember visiting a doctor once for a physical exam prior to entering a biathalon. After working hard to get into great shape, I was not only hoping he would clear me but that he would compliment me on my "terrific" fitness. Instead, all he said following the exam was, "Well, I can't find anything wrong." He even seemed a little disappointed. After all, our health system rewards doctors for treating illness, not for maintaining our health.   

   The "good doctors" are the ones who affirm our health as well as treating our illness, bringing competence as well as compassion. The good doctors are the ones who listen to our sacred hearts as well as to the ones that beat in our chest.

   The good doctors are the ones who live Love, not fear.

-Erie Chapman

Days 252-253 Make a Joyful Noise

Note: this reflection is dedicated in loving memory to Dr. Stanley van den Noort whose life was an extraordinary symphony of Love's healing in perpetual motion. Happy birthday Stan!

Sound strikes a universal chord of recognition and connects us to our heart center and to one another.  Often imperceptibly, music can instantaneously move us into an experience with some of our deepest emotions.

A melody can catapult us into time travel, perhaps to other eras before our arrival here. Music is as primal as our heartbeat as it drums the elixir of life through our veins.

 The rhythmic flow of our breath continually gives and receives in an ebb and flow of continuance.  Just like our life force, music has the power to sift through the bedrock of time and awaken memories hidden in stratified layers within the unique history of our being.

To be in the circumferance of people who join together to create music is pure magic. Their intuitive ability to harmonize can be very precise and choreographed or spontaneous and free spirited. Music is a universal language of Love that informs beyond the confines of ordinary. I find that when I listen to world music, even though I do not understand the words, the Beauty of sound and song infuses my soul with essence.

Music heals, and we are drawn to what nourishes us. Listen often, let music fill you to overflowing, thrill you and tickle your fancy.

~liz Sorensen Wessel

The above pastel by ~liz  

The Piano Guys, "What Makes You Beautiful"

 

Days 250-251 - Our Dearest Friends

What would we do without the strength our deepest friends bring to us. How can we give care to others without a knowing that our loved ones will come to us when our hearts are torn?

Dearest Friends

 My dearest friends stand rugged as chimneys.

Their fires know mine.

 They have listened to the rhythms of my quaking heart.

They have raged at my enemies until they retreat.

 Once again their ragged skins touch mine.

Once again they polish my heart.

 

Now my lies are burned away.

Now I come to you scorched, cleaned, true. 

-Erie Chapman

Days 247-249 - Breath

"as though to breathe were life. Life piled on life were all too little." - Alfred Lord Tennyson

   One of my dearest friends can no longer take a breath without the help of an oxygen tank. For her, there is no such thing as breathing the way most of the rest of us do. The idea of a healthy breath is especially precious in her memory.

   We reach for our first breath even before we take our mother's milk. Those who linger in their last days signal by their changed breathing when they are close to the end.

   Caregivers often attend our first breaths and our last ones. They are present for some of our most painful exhaling.

   Members of the Inuit tribe (some know them as Eskimos) have many words for snow. We could benefit from more words for breath.

   There are the gasps of runners, the slow breathing of sleep, the passionate rhythms of love, the breaths of fresh air we treasure, the aroma of food.

   We are even urged on Labor Day and on other occasions to rest by "taking a breath."

   Poet Sharon Olds touches the quality of our lives as she recollects her life at age seventeen:

"...her breath in the house 
at night, puff, puff, like summer 
cumulus above her bed..." 

   Tennyson yearned, like all of us, for a life that was more than breath. If all we do is breathe then what is the point of our existence?

   We thrive only when we breathe Love.

   Eckhart Tolle says that every time we complain, we are seeking to inflate our ego by exhaling our superiority. We are, as we exhale negativity, suggesting that we are better than whatever we attack.

   What happens to the energy within us and around our world if we inhale the negative and transform it to the positive?

   What if we breathe to the rhythm of Yes?

-Erie Chapman

Photograph - Mother & Child #2 - copyright erie chapman 2010

Days 245-246 "Blessing the Space Between Us"

Think of Others ~by Pema Chödrön

 "Sharing the heart is a simple practice that can be used at any time and in every situation. It enlarges our view and helps us remember our interconnection."
"The essence of this practice is that when we encounter pain in our life we breathe into our heart with the recognition that others also feel this. It’s a way of acknowledging when we are closing down and of training to open up. When we encounter any pleasure or tenderness in our life, we cherish that and rejoice. Then we make the wish that others could also experience this delight or this relief."
"In a nutshell, when life is pleasant, think of others. When life is a burden, think of others. If this is the only training we ever remember to do, it will benefit us tremendously and everyone else as well. It’s a way of bringing whatever we encounter onto the path of awakening compassion."

This Labor Day week-end many of us will enjoy the relaxation offered by an extra day off. You may gather with family and friends to share in the fruits of your labor. Think of those who have given so much for our benefit and offer them your gratefulness.

Blessings for Celebration  -by John O' Donohue

"Now is the time to free the heart / Let all intentions and worries stop, / Free the joy within the self , /Awaken to the wonder of your life."

" Open your eyes and see the friends / Whose hearts recognize your face as kin, / Those whose kindness watchful and near, / Encourages you to live everything here."

 "See the gifts the years have given, / Things your effort could never earn, / The health to enjoy who you want to be / And the mind to mirror mystery."

 Remember too, those who are laboring without the luxury of a relaxing weekend; let's hope that their turn will come soon.

 For One Who Is Exhausted  (Excerpt) -by John O'Donohue

 "When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic, / Time takes on the strain until it breaks; / Then all the unattended stress falls in / On the mind like an endless, increasing weight."

 "Weariness invades your spirit. / Gravity begins falling inside you, / Dragging down every bone."

 "Take refuge in your senses, open up / To the small miracles you rushed through."

 "Imitate the habit of twilight, / Taking time to open the well of color / That fostered the brightness of day.

 "Draw alongside the silence of stone / Until its calmness, can claim you. / Be excessively gentle with yourself."    

 Contributed by ~liz Sorensen Wessel

Blessings of John O' Donohue from his book "To Bless the Space Between Us"

Mandala by ~liz