Sunday Morning Ruminations

I will be off shortly to teach a workshop on the chakras at Golden Heart Yoga in Annapolis, a great community.

I have recently finished meditating with a spiritual brother in my lineage, and feel ready to tackle the day - which is radiant and beautiful...

I sit at Starbucks and read the paper with my husband, and am drawn to reading my horoscope - something I have not done in years, and this is what Holiday Mathis has to say:

"An emotional wound has been healed.
It's been a slow process, but suddenly you realize
that you no longer have the pain,
a remarkable and full recovery has taken place.
Celebrate!"

I smile, because it is true - and I have shared this with many...

I rejoice in having received my new murti - a sacred statue of Siva doing Eka Pada Angusthasana II - hand to toe pose - and the new energy it has brought to my sacred space. I write these lines to a friend:

"Siva arrived yesterday [on 9/11] and I meditated in the afternoon and this morning with him - very POWERFUL!

I put him where the big Buddha was - where my altar used to be - so when I sit - he is to my right - my altar in front - and Shakti to far left and upside down Siva to left of altar.

The Siva/Shakti embracing is behind me - on top of the book shelf.

When I meditated this morning - I felt the Siva and Shakti energies merging into me from opposite sides of the room, and dancing up and down my spine. I also felt anchored by the meditating Siva on my altar - and the one behind. Amazing!"

I realize that Siva is guarding and standing vigil in the four directions - East and West, North and South...

I continue to enjoy gems of wisdom from the book - Seven Sacred Pauses by Macrina Wiederkehr, and hers are the last words I read at midnight before retiring:

"In the middle of my morning's work
I break for blessings;
a deep breath...
I honor the wisdom of pausing."

"When you work you are a flute
through whose heart
the whispering of the hours
turns to music."
~ Kahlil Gibran

"When your spirit
mingles with Spirit,
you are transformed
into a temple of God."

"Work is love made visible."
~ Kahlil Gibran

"A bitter heart is not good fertilizer
for the fruit I want to bring forth
from my day's labor."

"Each pause can be a blessing moment."

"Equanimity is the stability of mind
that allows us to be present
with an open heart
no matter how wonderful
or difficult conditions are."

"I stand before what is with an open heart.
And with an open heart I dwell in possibility."

"Sacred is the pause that draws us into stillness."

"Open my heart that I may see
the grace that waits for me in every moment."
Teach me to live awake."

"Sometimes the most important thing
in a whole day is the rest
we take between two deep breaths,
or the turning inwards in prayer
for five short minutes."
~ Etty Hilesum

"I don't know what your destiny will be,
but one thing I know -
the only ones who will be really happy
are those who have sought and found
how to serve."
~ Albert Schweitzer

"Even if you have a lot of work to do,
if you think of it as wonderful,
and if you feel it as wonderful,
it will transform into
the energy of joy and fire,
instead of becoming a burden."
~ Tulku Thondup Rinpoche