As I am writing this entry, I find my eyelids flickering, my body settling down into comfy covers and a growing sense of needing sleep. Even as I am engaged in one of my favorite activities; putting my thoughts out there to share with you, I hear the call of dreamland. After my full time day job, writing an article, listening to Steve Harrison’s webinar on The Secrets of Publicity Superstars…oh and sneaking in dinner, kitchen clean up, a wee bit of laundry, speaking with a friend on the phone and a conversation with my son, I can say that I am feeling seriously wiped! And I didn’t get to the gym tonight. If I had, I would be typing this at midnight instead of 10pm. I used to say “sleep is highly over-rated.” For those of you either in the throes of menopause or swimming in the energetic soup of the shifts that are taking place on the planet, you may notice wee hours of the morning awakening. I seem to be in both groups at the moment. For the past few months, regardless of what time I close my eyes, they spring open 6 or so hours later.
As I was pondering the missive for the Bliss Blog, I came upon a poem that Joan Borysenko had on her facebook page that comes from one of my favorite writers. John O’Donohue was an Irish poet, Catholic priest, scholar and philosoper. He passed three years ago and left a beautiful legacy. One of his quotes that is dear to my heart: “May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.”
This particular poem is a brilliant reminder to slooooowwww my pace, so as to rest my body and my mind and allow for the sacred to enter. Sweet dreams~
A Blessing For One Who Is Exhausted
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,
The light in the mind becomes dim.
Things you could take in your stride before
Now become laborsome events of will.
Weariness invades your spirit.
Gravity begins falling inside you,
Dragging down every bone.
The tide you never valued has gone out.
And you are marooned on unsure ground.
Something within you has closed down;
And you cannot push yourself back to life.
You have been forced to enter empty time.
The desire that drove you has relinquished.
There is nothing else to do now but rest
And patiently learn to receive the self
You have forsaken for the race of days.
At first your thinking will darken
And sadness take over like listless weather.
The flow of unwept tears will frighten you.
You have traveled too fast over false ground;
Now your soul has come to take you back.
Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles you rushed through.
Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.
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.
Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.
Learn to linger around someone of ease
Who feels they have all the time in the world.
Gradually, you will return to yourself,
Having learned a new respect for your heart
And the joy that dwells far within slow time.
John O’Donohue, from “Blessings”
www.panhala.net/Archive/A_Blessing.html
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