Tag Archives: poetry

Sweeping the Nation with Sentimental Hogwash

June 2, 2014Aging, Change, Empowerment, Life, Peace, Poetrybaby fish mouth, Ego, Flaming June, Frederic Leighton, grief, Ingrid Michaelson, Inner Clarity, It's a Wonderful Life, Life, Maya Angelou, peace, poetry, Potential, purposeful perception, Self Perception, Sex in the City, Still I Rise, UC Santa Barbara, When Harry Met SallyBorn to Be

Recommended Reading Soundtrack: Keep Breathing by Ingrid Michaelson

The past week. I have felt unsure of what to say. Between the UC Santa Barbara shootings, to the death of Maya Angelou and the release of an American POW after 5 years of imprisonment- it seems that the world seemingly continues its typical journey of inhaling and exhaling. A journey of ups and downs, where we are all collectively growing and contemplating big questions. In today’s world we are more connected through technology than ever before. We are vastly aware of our global challenges and their many potentials. Ironically it is prompting a contemplation about the nature of human love and the connection that exists outside of technology. The connection that comes from some place impossible to label, yet we feel compelled to search for it and understand it as it is felt on a grander scale due to the oxymoron that is technology.

As I was tidying up some dishes the other morning in contemplation, I picked up a coffee cup that was given to me 16 years ago as a gift during more transitions. The gift displayed one of my favorite paintings by Frederic Leighton, titled “Flaming June.” I received the gift after I had just witnessed the painting’s phenomenal power with my own eyes and heart in an exhibit at the National Gallery of Art.

I had just moved out of my parents’ home and into a group house in Northern Virginia. My best friend’s sister, Jane, gave me this mug for Christmas- and on it was a quote by William Shakespeare from Hamlet, “We know what we are, but know not what we may be.”

I love gifts like this. Some may label them as “sentimental hogwash” like the greedy Mr. Potter in the film “It’s a Wonderful Life,” but they tell a story whenever I look at them. Hundreds of moments flow through my mind, and I’m suddenly carried down a river through time and whisked into old places that seem new again because I am viewing them from the fresh (you could insert cynical in here, but let’s not go there today!) perspective of my older self.

Look at Maya Angelou. What a life! I mean, her voice was a shining example of how one can harness their power through choice and thrust it forward only to create joy like she probably couldn’t have imagined when she was young, sexually abused and mute for 5 years. Our life’s story is a part of us, but it doesn’t have to solely exist as “what we may be.” Our past and our potential exist in tandem, dancing with nothing but a fine line between them.

Our life story is the driver for choosing something that goes beyond what we think we are, it is the backup plan- the place we can revert to if we feel like we don’t know who we are anymore. There is a great Sex in the City episode where the main character Carrie loses years of work on her laptop when her hard drive crashes and burns, leaving her angry and speechless. Then she is asked the ultimate crap question, “When was the last time you backed up?” The problem? She had never backed up, and that was the end of that story- but not the end of what she “may be.”

“But ‘baby fish mouth’ is sweeping the nation?

Sometimes I feel like Harry and Jess in “When Harry Met Sally” during their Pictionary game. I’m struggling to understand what is being communicated, from “Mick Jagger is a baby?” to “baby fish mouth,” when all Sally is trying to say is “Baby Talk.” Maybe “baby fish mouth” really is sweeping the nation. But then, clarity arrives. While I was driving on the evening of Maya Angelou’s death, NPR played her recitation of her poem, “Still I Rise.” I cried as I listened to her striking words. They struck my heart like a masterful musician commanding their audience. She commanded me to remember, that amidst all the chaos that appears in the world around us, hope really does win every time, no matter how much my ego wants to shout “sentimental hogwash!” There are always going to be Potters in this world, but the most powerful ones exist in our own demons.

As Ms. Angelou spoke, so did my heart-

“Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.”

Visualize This- Untying the Roots of Perception

July 24, 2013Acceptance, Attachment, Awareness, Ego, Empowerment, Love, Mind, Perception, Self PerceptionAnne Hillman, Attachment, awareness, Buddha, Ego, Elias Amidon, Elizabeth Roberts, Empowerment, Forrest Gump, Life, life coach, Life Prayers, mind, Perception, poetry, purposeful perception, Self Perception, self-love, Tom HanksBorn to Be

Sometimes this picture is the perfect physical expression of how I feel inside. When I look at this picture right now, I see a beautiful Buddha. A representation of the creative, divine nature of my being slowly emerging from the lanky, strong root system of an ancient tree obscuring my truth and happiness at this very moment. That’s right folks, I said it- an ancient tree rooted into the ground with all its might. Such are my old perceptions and belief systems that give rise to this feeling of helplessness and a desire to run like Forrest Gump from the fire I have created (2 Tom Hanks’ references in once sentence- yes!). Here I am, wrapped up in feelings that must be connected to a place where my ignorant mind dwells searching for an identity that doesn’t exist like a child playing a game.

I am face to face literally with this part of my existence that is grasping in the form of attachment to some perception of who I am supposed to be- yes this is really how I feel! This perception is the root I see in this beautiful picture, linked to a feeling of massive overwhelm. At times I simply wonder why life can feel like this grueling process of emergence when it has the potential to be so simple and easy. How do we move these roots of obscuration out of way? I hear myself singing the same old song of expectations on how I am “supposed” to be feeling.

It’s Process Time!

When you look at this picture, what do you perceive at this moment? Start with your feelings and ask yourself-

“What moment, person, or expectation do these feelings link to in my ignorant mind?”

Then breathe in the awareness you have shined into your heart.

Feel how simple it is to love yourself, no matter what you see in the world around you.

Ask to see any barriers you might be imagining between you and your greatest desires and imagine them easily dissolving in this love.

There is an excerpt from a poem by Anne Hillman in the book “365 Prayers, Blessings, and Affirmations to Celebrate the Human Journey” by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon that I’d like to share as it relates-

As we experience and accept
All that we really are…
We grow in care.
We begin to embrace others
As ourselves, and learn to live
As one among many…

Let’s Rock Big Love together everyone, we’re all we truly have on this human journey.

That’s All Happiness Is…

June 13, 2013Attachment, Awareness, Buddhism, Carl Jung, Ego, heart, Joy, Life, Love, Mind, Perception, Poetry, Reflection, Self Perception, self-help, transformationbuddhism, Compassion, emptiness, joy, Life, love, oneness, poetry, purposeful perception, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, Self Perception, self-help, self-loveBorn to Be

It’s just the heart being free.

About 4 years ago I saw the above music video made for Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, also a spoken word artist, poet and marathon runner. The video and poem blew me away and I knew I would never be able to get it out of my head. Which is funny, because it is all about being in your head. I love this video because it incorporates something very relatable to me. Some of my attachment in this life has to do with electronic music, and combining music with imagery and profound words really gets my heart going. I feel joy, joy, joy! What can I say?

I love this poem by Rinpoche because it expresses the passion I have in my heart to explore perception also in a relatable way. In the end of the video he says:

When you’re happy, I’m happy.
That’s the formula.
First you, then me.
That’s all happiness is…
It’s just the heart being free.

The ignorant mind’s primary sense of being comes from the idea that it’s just “me”. It strives to prove every day that we are separate from one another through habitual thinking. But when you decide to train your mind to think outside of itself, and see that everyone’s experience around us is our experience then happiness becomes abundant. When we see happiness in others, it grows within us. Envision a garden that thrives in the joy of others- that is our heart.

I remember coming home one night from a dinner stopping at an intersection with a homeless man holding a sign in need of assistance. It was probably 30 degrees outside and 8:30 pm. I had nothing but a $20 bill, so I decided to just give it to him. All I could do was cry with joy on my way home because he felt so happy. Doing things for others changes our self-perception from being all about me, to being all about us. This is the development of purposeful perception, and another opportunity to love from the heart.

Please share this video with others if you feel inspired by it too.

“Let’s Rock Big Love!” Jessica

Weekly Writing Challenge: Carry Me to the Stars

June 10, 2013Awareness, Buddhism, heart, Life, Life Coach, Love, Nature, Peace, Perception, Poetry, Self Perception, self-help, transformation, UncategorizedDPchallenge, Ego, Life, mind, Perception, poetry, Self Perception, self-help, self-loveBorn to Be

This is a poem and photo story displaying my heart’s connection with the perception expressed in the poem- connecting the words with pictures I have taken on my journey to a more purposeful perception daily in my life. The journey is important, as it is part of reflecting where our perceptions have come from. I urge you to reflect in your heart where your most limiting self perceptions play out in your life regularly and share in this blog. Remember to scroll down and click through each page!

Remembering feelings sparked by a note
A sound, so sweet and subtle
Only your heart knows it is there
Giving rise to feelings light
You forget what is weighing you down

The ignorant mind trailing behind you like a predator
Wondering why you are not paying attention
In its small, small world
A perspective limited and stuck without motion

Yet my heart- tugging me forward like a child
I shall follow, carry me into this knowing
Remind me of what it is to be
So light and airy- remind me of love’s truth

A truth so full it explodes in the sky before me
Yet it continues to be, forever full.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Illumination

January 11, 2013Buddhism, Compassion, Death, Film, Forgiveness, heart, Life, Love, Meditation, Nature, Reflectionbuddhism, Compassion, death, film, forgiveness, joy, new mexico, peace, poetry, postaday, santa feBorn to Be

Living the light of my heart
On again, off again
My light switch, my ego’s fear
Dancing, illuminated-
Light’s alliteration playing a game of hop-scotch
With each syllable sounding out
A glimmer of hope bounces from my outer to my inner
A sanctuary of joy ready to open widely
If only for a moment
Let there be light, let there be love.

When I took this picture it was my second adventure in New Mexico, only this one was one of those experiences where your heart is hunting kismet. Stopping in Madrid, a small artist community an hour from Santa Fe where they’ve filmed such regal cinema as “Wild Hogs” (just joking on the regal), me and my friend met this local shop owner that had a very open heart. She invited us to go check out a ceremonial place where locals would meet and have drum circles, and walk a labyrinth. When we got there it was like stumbling upon the love of their land in a balanced ritual of Goddess magic. I took this picture as I pondered the imagination that had been infused into the land of New Mexico from its magical past.

The light illuminated these colorful twists of prayer next to some Tibetan prayer flags. Believe it or not, Santa Fe, NM, has a large Tibetan population. The Tibetan scholar and consultant for Scorsese’s film Kundun, Lobsang Lhalungpa, lived in Santa Fe until he passed away due to a drunk driver accident. At his funeral, it was said that when he came to New Mexico and meditated, it was the closest thing to Tibet he had ever experienced in his life, which is why he moved there.

At the funeral ceremony someone said that before he died, he told his wife not to feel anger toward the drunk driver. That we must feel compassion for him. It was an illuminating experience, just as this light in my picture. A room of 400 people were able to create so much compassion in that instant that would again be infused into our land for generations of healing. Even on his death bed he forgave and created a wave of love. I hope that when I pass, my life will end in such a peaceful state as well, cultivated by the compassion and kindness of so many others.

COLOR ME SKY ANEW

October 16, 2012Awareness, Buddhism, Compassion, Ego, Emptiness, Joy, Life, Nature, Peace, Poetry, Self Perceptionbuddhism, Compassion, DPchallenge, Ego, emptiness, joy, Life, peace, poetry, self-loveBorn to Be

This recurrence of feeling appearing from somewhere
Walking around this labyrinth of moments- singing and laughing
Something is happening as a dancing wisp of light
Lifts me into the sky and I am somewhere, again
Everyone wishing for this light to seep into their denseness
To become something other than the heaviness of the mind
Opening up my arms to the possibility
Where is everyone?
A leaf twists in a dollop of warm air that drops from my mouth
I shall blow my dreams upon you little leaf
And you will carry them for eternity
Even when your color turns in the midst of a changing temperature
You will ride another wind into a soft tuft of grass where I shall lay my head
As you blend into the earth beside my worn face
You will give me compassion and I shall cry
As I water the earth with my heart and tears
We shall become new again.

When I wrote this poem, I was sitting outside on my patio one evening admiring the New Mexico sky and all its amplified color. Living in New Mexico I am lucky to live as a guest and witness to some of the most extraordinary light. This light illuminates the world around me in a way that is inspiring. Witnessing nature and all it reveals to us is a gift and a place of contemplation in simply being. I am grateful every day for all that nature reveals to us through the movement of the sun and moon each day, and through the changing seasons. Here we are again, fall…..autumn.

Autumn gives us a cyclical opportunity to remember that at every moment change has occurred. My body, emotions, and mental state- they are changed and different with every passing second. There is no permanent “self”. My body that once was born and small enough to be held by my parents is now 5’7” and again- forever changing. Nature has taught me that no matter how permanent my ego tells me I am, it is not true. And I can use this as a subtle opportunity to remember to love and not be so hard on the world around me and my own perceived self. Every moment of compassion brings about more change and what once “was” between me and another person may be anew with understanding and gratefulness.

I am grateful even for this small opportunity to write and share with you how your beauty that has been reflected in this season we call autumn has changed me, once again.