If you don’t know the kind of person I am

and I don’t know the kind of person you are

a pattern that others made may prevail in the

world

and following the wrong god home we may miss

our star.

 

For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,

a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break

sending with shouts the horrible errors of

childhood

storming out to play through the broken dike.

 

And as elephants parade holding each

elephant’s tail,

but if one wanders the circus won’t find the

park,

I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty

to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.

 

And so I appeal to a voice, to something

shadowy,

a remote important region in all who talk:

though we could fool each other, we should

consider—

lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the

dark.

 

For it is important that awake people be awake,

or a breaking line may discourage them back to

sleep;

the signals we give — yes or no, or maybe —

should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.

~William Stafford

our rememberings can move us to wind our way backwards….to be our dilemmas rather than hold them…..we acquiesce to fear so easily….

inquiry for today~ describe a moment when perfection really didn’t serve your sight or your sorrow

sassy

This life? It can be hard. But we all have moments of brilliance- experiences that wake us up to the sheer beauty of universe and chip away at our cynicism and distrust. Interactions that feed our souls, open our hearts, and convince us that just-possibly-maybe-perhaps life really is inherently good. And those moments, my sweet friends, only occur under certain circumstances. When we are safe, or brave, or distracted, or bad-ass-crazy enough to lower veils, dismantle the walls, and blast the hell through that numbness into a place of deep feeling. And I mean deep, people. Brilliance never settles for superficial. Brilliance only happens when we let ourselves be moved. But there is a catch. One little guru-fab caveat that I will let you in on, because I totally think you are ready: brilliance rarely feels entirely gentle. Yes, it can be transcendent and awe-inspiring and all kinds of fabulous. But it can also be utterly terrifying. Brilliance exists so far outside of our everyday detachment that it can rock our worlds. Talk about being moved- brilliance of the life-altering variety can feel like a whirlwind around-the-world-in-80-days mind trip.   ~Jeanette LeBlanc