Category Archives: Peotry

Kindness – Naomi Shahib Nye

Before you know what kindness really is
you must loose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened both.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side if the road
you must see how this could be you,
hoe he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes any sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

Naomi Shahib Nye

 

 

Kindness in 2016

Kindness – Naomi, Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is

you must lose things.

Feel the future dissolve in a moment

like salt in a weakened broth.

What you held in your hand,

What you counted and carefully saved,

all this must go so you know

how desolate the landscape can be

between the regions of kindness.

How you ride and ride

thinking the bus will never stop,

the passengers eating maize and chicken

will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,

you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho

lies dead by the side of the road.

You must see how this could be you,

how he was too was someone

who journeyed through the night with plans

and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,

you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.

You must wake up with sorrow,

You must speak to it till your voice

catches the thread of all sorrows

and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes any sense anymore,

only kindness that ties your shoes

and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,

only kindness that raises its head

from the crowd of the world to say

it is I you have been looking for,

and then goes with you everywhere

like a shadow or a friend.

We have forgotten what kindness is in this world, as our news works to show us only suffering.  We forget that we are deserving of kindness, and those around us are doing the same thing we are; working to move through the world.  Today, find to places where you can be kind to yourself and two places where you can be kind to others.  Make this your habit every day, kindness toward yourself and toward others.  The world needs a little more kindness.

Becoming Polished

“If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?”
Rumi

We don’t know why we are on this planet. There are hundreds of religions that have guesses and ideas, but that is what they are. We are all on this beautiful planet in a universe that is in constant chaos. We are in an island, floating trying to figure out why we are here. We also don’t know why bad things happen to good people.
The universe is about constant creation and destruction. Sometimes creation is not pretty. It is not kind or simple. The beautifully polished stone has been thrown, ground, rubbed, and injured. To create that beauty there had to be difficulty and pain. Beauty is not created in idea situations. The best sunsets are not those with clear skies, but those with clouds.
Some of those tumbles are bigger than others. Some of us have gone through hell, and some of those hells are unimaginable. Those hells are also opportunities to shine the brightest. Those of us that have seen the darkness, if we let ourselves we can see the light as well. We can let others know that while there is darkness there is beauty as well. But we have to let ourselves be polished. We have to be OK with the fact that the world is dark and that the darkness has touched us.
If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished? Some go through more “polishing” than others. It is up to us how we accept the pain of being polished. If is up to us if we decide to see the beauty we can become, or continue to live in the darkness and pain.

Who am I?

The question we will ask ourselves our entire lives. Who am I? Am I successful? Am I playful? Am I intelligent, sarcastic, trustworthy, fun? What makes me, me? The difficulty is that what makes up each one of us changes. We have pieces of us that are consistent. When we are stressed, feeling romantic, feeling playful, working, in general we have a certain reaction. You aren’t the same person when you are having fun as when you are working, or when you are stressed.

The tricks is finding the parts that you like in each situation and cultivate them. I heard a couple of you say that you have a hard time finding things that you like. We are trained from a young age to find the problems. As a culture and as a country we focus on problems and “solutions” instead of focusing on what is going well and building from there. It is considered egotistical to like something about ourselves. It is seen as narcissistic. Narcissists is believe they have accomplishments they don’t, they haven’t earned. Confidence is seeing where you are strong and allowing yourself to build on those strengths.

Ultimately we are who we decide to be; we are the habits and characteristics we cultivate. If you want to be a source of light for others, find the light within yourself and help it grow. You have it in you, no matter how buried it is by life’s experiences. Find people, find experiences, find the joys that help the light grow. You decide who you are in any given moment. Decide wisely.

 

I wonder
from these thousand of “me’s”,
which one am I?
Listen to my cry, do not drown my voice
I am completely filled with the thought of you.
Don’t lay broken glass on my path
I will crush it into dust.
I am nothing, just a mirror in the palm of your hand,
reflecting your kindness, your sadness, your anger.
If you were a blade of grass or a tiny flower
I will pitch my tent in your shadow.
Only your presence revives my withered heart.
You are the candle that lights the whole world
and I am an empty vessel for your light…

Rumi

 

You do not have to be good…

You do not have to be good.

you do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert,

repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your

body love what it loves

Tell me about despair,

yours,

and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun

and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are,

no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imatination,

calls to you like the wild geese,

harsh and exciting-

over and over

announcing your place

in the family of things.

 

Mary Oliver

 

Living life isn’t about repenting (though I know some religions that disagree).  It is about learning from our mistakes, not making them again, and learning to cherish that which can be cherished.

 

 

Kindness – a poem

Kindness – Naomi, Shihab Nye

 

Before you know what kindness really is

you must lose things.

Feel the future dissolve in a moment

like salt in a weakened broth.

What you held in your hand,

What you counted and carefully saved,

all this must go so you know

how desolate the landscape can be

between the regions of kindness.

How you ride and ride

thinking the bus will never stop,

the passengers eating maize and chicken

will stare out the window forever.

 

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,

you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho

lies dead by the side of the road.

You must see how this could be you,

how he was too was someone

who journeyed through the night with plans

and the simple breath that kept him alive.

 

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,

you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.

You must wake up with sorrow,

You must speak to it till your voice

catches the thread of all sorrows

and you see the size of the cloth.

 

Then it is only kindness that makes any sense anymore,

only kindness that ties your shoes

and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,

only kindness that raises its head

from the crowd of the world to say

it is I you have been looking for,

and then goes with you everywhere

like a shadow or a friend.

 

We have forgotten what kindness is in this world, as our news works to show us only suffering.  We forget that we are deserving of kindness, and those around us are doing the same thing we are; working to move through the world.  Today, find to places where you can be kind to yourself and two places where you can be kind to others.  Make this your habit every day, kindness toward yourself and toward others.  The world needs a little more kindness.

All the true vows

All the true vows
are secret vows,
the ones we speak out loud
are the ones we break.

There is only one life
you can call your own
And a thousand others
you can call by any name you want.

Hold to the truth you make
every day with your own body,
don’t turn your face away

Hold to your own truth
at the center of the image
you were born with.

Those who do not understand
their destiny, will never understand
the friends they have made,
nor the work they have chosen,

nor the one life that waits
beyond all the others

By the lake in the wood,
in the shadows,
you can
whisper that truth
to the quiet reflection
you see in the water.

Whatever you hear from
the water, remember

it wants you to carry
the sound of its truth on your lips.

Remember,
in this place
no one can year you

and out of the silence
you can make a promise
it will kill you to break,

that way you’ll find
what is real and what is not.

I know what I am saying.
Time almost forsook me
and I looked again.

Seeing my reflection
I broke a promise
and spoke
for the first time
after all these years

in my own voice,

before it was too late
to turn my face again.

David Whyte
River Flow