Tomorrow is one of those days….

November 2, 2020 by

What will you surround yourself with?
Will you notice when fear starts to take hold?
Notice when anger starts to erode your peace?

This moment is all you have.
Breathe and look for the good.
Breathe and be thankful you can.

If love is all there is
If love is stronger then hate
then love will find a way no matter what.

Tomorrow is going to be a nonstop media circus, and it may go on for days.
Now is the time for each of us to decide how we want to live, how we want to experience this precious life we’ve been given.

We might as well consciously choose to accept “what is” because worry, anger, or fear won’t change it. Once we accept what is, we can choose how we want to respond.

We can choose peace. We can figure out what it really means to choose love. We can focus on what’s most important to us and embody it. It’s time.


” May love move me to co-create freedom and well-being for all.” from bell hooks

Filed Under: Choice, Love, We are creators Tagged With: , ,

Not in Control

September 11, 2020 by

I don’t control the seasons,
but I’m not helpless.
I walk on the ground with care.

I felt lost in sadness and almost a despair these last few days. And then this morning, when I was meditating, this poem came. Not being in control doesn’t mean I’m helpless.

A friend told me how great these times were because it was a chance to practice what we believe. In the midst of all the chaos and negativity, I can choose what I focus on, what I want to embody, how I want to be in the world.

If in this moment I can be fully present…. right action will follow.

Filed Under: Choice, Heart's wisdom, Life, We are creators Tagged With:

My Shot

September 9, 2020 by

Now when I don’t hear from you I worry
I used to think you were just busy
or maybe out of town or really
just having a great time

Now, is it COVID?
is the isolation starting to depress you?
were you shot during a peaceful protest?
are you running away from the toxic news?

I can’t assume you’ll be here tomorrow
so forgive me if I seem to pester you
nothing can be taken for granted
and the truth is, I love you

Social Media gives anyone a forum to voice their opinions as truth and to dare others to disagree. Fear and violence are repeated by the news until it seems the norm. My challenge is to notice when I’m being pulled under, and to shift my focus.

I believe acting in love is stronger than hate and fear. I know peace is mine if I choose it. This is mine to do.

“I’m not throwing away my shot.” from Hamilton

Filed Under: Choice, Love, We are creators Tagged With:

COVID19, BLACK LIVES MATTER…my words have left me.

July 13, 2020 by

I’ve been too overwhelmed with it all to write, thinking it’s already been said, or it doesn’t matter, or that I just don’t have the words. The questions seem to abound.

Re: COVID19- What is really true? What is really known and what is still being understood. What’s politically motivated or self serving? What is freedom? Where do personal freedom and compassion intersect? Isn’t living in fear worse the getting the virus?
Re: Black Lives Matter- Somethings were too painful to watch the first time, do I really want to talk about it again? What can you say that isn’t more dividing? How can you stop generalizing to everyone in a perceived group? Do people really want to understand “racism,” systemic bias, our history?
And what about the creative process? I’ve been asked, “Isn’t focusing on all the violence, discrimination, white superiority etc., just giving more energy to what you don’t want?

So this may be the first of a series as I sort through my answers, letting the feelings flow over me and the thoughts swirl.

I’ve come to realize and value letting myself feel the feelings as opposed to pushing them down. This has been, and is, a major part of moving through this complicated time; breathing through the feelings, not getting lost in them. And being overwhelmed at times seems like it is part of being human….and, I’m realizing, that includes me.

I also know that I can choose to live in heaven or hell right now. When I choose to see the possibilities, the genuine care of many, and when I trust that love is stronger than hate and fear, I live in heaven.

And finally, I believe these times are sacred and we are being given an opportunity to sift through what is happening, work together in ways we may never have before and arrive at a place we haven’t yet imagined.

I hope you’ll stay tuned. I know I will. LOL!

Filed Under: Choice, Fear or Courage, Heart's wisdom, Love, We are creators Tagged With: , , , ,

What Matters

June 1, 2020 by

Black lives, Gay lives, Mexican lives, Native American lives, women’s lives, men’s lives, all of God’s creations MATTER! When will we learn to see!

If you have to be on top it’s because you fear you are on the bottom. If difference scares you, angers you, makes you uncomfortable, you doubt your own life choices/beliefs.

If we assume we deserve what we have, it’s because we think we are separate from each other; that our work is independent of other’s efforts, of God’s grace. We live as victims in fear of poverty, hell, getting it wrong. We try to rise to the top through control, dominance, wealth…

Race is a myth to rationalize the horrors, the economic benefit to those who are deemed white.
The past has been distorted, not taught, diminished.

Yes, it hurts to see. But we must! And then ask, “What now?” What can WE become if we open to our oneness in God, with nature, to each other, with our inherent goodness. What if we are willing to face our own deepest fears? Is this just a soft naive feminine dream?

from Center for Spiritual Living Great Cincinnati

Can I not close my heart to those who kneel, who kneel on, who kneel before? Can I not close my heart to those who think their skin, their religion, their beliefs gives them inherent worth? Can I not turn what scares ME into “the other.”

Can I, can we, be more?

We can’t go back to normal. We can’t…….so, what is mine to do now?

Filed Under: Choice, Creating with others, Oneness, We are creators Tagged With: ,

Distancing

April 16, 2020 by

Physical distancing,
not social distancing.
People are not threats.
Fear, a tax, depleting
our country.

Written in response to the Chalkboard prompt “Taxes” by Kathy Jacobs. Thank you to all those who make this adventure possible!

Words matter. They create images in our minds. They trigger unconscious fears that then connect to the words/ideas being popularized.

Pay attention to the seeding of this new norm: that social or personal contact with another human being is dangerous; that internet connections are safe, easy and essentially the same.

Using the word “social” distancing is deliberate. It connects being with others to being in danger. It plays on our fears of being vulnerable.

Also deliberate is the promotion of technological solutions to connecting e.g, texting, Instagram, Zoom, GoToMeeting, Google etc. All of these and many more are touted as the new normal. The implication is that this is how you will have relationships the future. To a generation being weaned on their cell phones, this will seem totally natural and obvious. So what is wrong with it?

Relationships are messy. Dealing with feelings unavoidable. Whereas with texting, and in most internet exchanges, you can avoid dealing with them. You can shift gears, disconnect, not answer questions/concerns, scream at without dealing with the consequences.… You can even multitask while you “talk.” You don’t have to learn the interpersonal skills needed to deal with feelings face to face. You don’t have to be vulnerable. Relying on technology for relationships comes with a cost.

We are facing choices about our future. What will we do when “this” is over? I’m voting to maintain messy social connections, and to our developing the conscious heart connections that make us human.

P.S. Technology has its place. But the point I’m making is it’s just “a place.”

Filed Under: Choice, We are creators

Who Rules?

October 17, 2019 by
besliter Sky Series

Who rules your world?
Controls your thoughts?
Tells you what is right?

Fire them!

response to the Medium prompt “Rule” by JK Mansi
Published on Medium’s Chalkboard site 10/17/19

Filed Under: Choice, We are creators

Change

October 13, 2019 by

I walked
this morning
bare feet on grass
numbing with the cold

Fall is here
less light to
wake me, less
to give me energy

The desire
to hibernate
growing stronger
with each shorter day

Seasons
Cycles of life
Can I pay attention
to the call of what is?

from Cincinnati Enquirer
from Cincinnati Enquirer

I’m noticing I have preconceived ideas of how I should be and of what I should be doing. Ideas of what is socially acceptable, expected, the cultural norm.

Probably my whole life I’ve done what I thought I should, what was right. Now I just want to do what is mine to do. Listening to my inner voice, not always have reasons to back it up. Trusting!

Cincinnati is the host of Blink, a light based art festival covering 30 city blocks. How can I not want to see what will undoubtedly be fantastic art? But I don’t. I’ve revisited my reluctance numerous times until finally I got the message:

Accept what is. You don’t want to go!

Filed Under: Choice, Fear or Courage, Heart's wisdom

CRAZY

September 20, 2019 by

“…it wasn’t because I didn’t know enough
I just knew too much”…
Does that make me crazy?”*

besliter Port Charlotte, FL

On overwhelm seems the norm.
Out of control racism, sexism,
“other”isms, climate change…

I ache to know an answer.
My body gets heavy with the
not knowing. I want to pull back.

I ground myself in the dirt,
see what’s growing, listen
to the heartbeat of the earth.

I looked in a waiter’s eyes yesterday.
He seemed startled, he noticed.
Really seeing a person, a start.

*Gnarls Barkley – Crazy

I should know. I’ve taught courses on racism, sexism…how could I still get surprised? “I’m a good person, at least I strive to be.” Yet, like a fish in water that doesn’t see water, I’m in a culture where white is shown as intelligent, good, the norm; shown as the face of Jesus.
Others make the news in the crime section of the paper, serve us in restaurants, work in our yards.

Do we have the courage to look, to see clearly? to get over ourselves? Can we stop putting individuals into buckets of stereotypes? Can we work our own shadow and stop projecting our fear, our anger, our neediness onto others?
All “isms” have a history but we need to stop doing what we are doing today. See inequality as affecting the lives of people, not making them inferior, not making us better.

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better. “. Maya Angelou

Filed Under: Choice, Life, Love, We are creators

REVOLUTION

September 17, 2019 by

Questions drive me
What am I?
What am I not?
What do I know is true?

Moving away from
those who proclaim to know
I’m listening to a different voice.

One deep inside
that whispers next steps
demands my unconditional yes
reveals my deepest heartfelt desires

One demanding
I strip bare, stepping away
from my conditioned self to

Sculpture by Debbie Flowers

seek the truth of where
my ideas have come from.
Examining the unexamined,
trusting myself, risk going it alone.

Our world is too much run by fear
too much by the conditioning of others,
the norms they’ve set, serving their own needs.

It’s time to set ourselves free!

Filed Under: Choice, Fear or Courage, Life, We are creators
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