fire & ice
Spiritual maturity is not a function of age, or of years on the path, but of a powerful & discerning choice from within to cultivate gratitude as a way of being in the world. Like contentment, gratitude arises from learning to discern clearly. To praise is to choose gratitude even in hell. One description of ‘faith’ is ‘love of the unknown,’ meaning, ‘I am given everything I need, even if it is not what I imagine that I want.’ Faith says, ‘I choose the life I am given.’…..Mariana Caplan
hot & cold….this is how we live…. going deeper…coming up for air now & again..but ultimately realizing there is only one path…the one we walk on….when we see the other’s suffering, the mask is stripped away…& the flood of gratitude gifts us with an after-rain-washed-clean resting place…
who do you gift your story to?
There is a beautiful Tibetan myth that helps us to accept our sadness as a threshold to all that is life-changing & lasting. This myth affirms that all spiritual warriors have a broken heart- alas, must have a broken heart, because it is only through the break that the wonder & mysteries of life can enter us. Being a spiritual warrior is about the sincerity with which a soul faces itself in a daily way….Mark Nepo
Make Believe Boutique 
beautiful picture. I agree with Mariana Caplan.
Love that this resonates for you….thanks Francina….
Heartquakes… Causing cracks to open and yearning to be filled with understanding… That was how my journey began…
heartquakes….how perfect!…..understanding…..what a lifetime’s journey indeed……thanks g.f.s….
I know … when I wrote that word I thought it need a poem to go along with it …
I like Caplan’s definition of faith, and Nepo’s notion of the broken hearts of all spiritual warriors. There is so much that is unknown in life, and the bombardment of so many proposed certainties and absolutes can undermine our search for an authentic life. Another great post!
I so agree….the minute we are certain of the ‘answers’ is when we lose our authenticity & opennness……there is more than one answer & we truly are a human family…..how we communicate with each other seems to come up here doesn’t it? thanks so much Mark….
This was a beautiful post! I am forwarding it on to a friend.
So pleased this post found its way to a like-minded soul….thank you….Blessings…..
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may be ,that is why,more poems are written on broken heart or at the time of going through that!
Great comment:) We need our poets to help us through……Thanks Sonali……