Author: becomingandbeholding
As a hospice chaplain and a menopausal woman, I find myself on a journey of awakening to who I really am. My writing is my personal and deep exploration of what I notice along the way.
Nurture
You are but a drooping plant
with a bowed-browned bloom.
Your light is not reflecting –
the shadows grow.
Grief visible like this
is more easily watered.
It calls out for nurturance.
When hidden,
it festers
and roots into every pore,
making us sick –
stealing the colors.
This is the usual way…
for we are all good at facades
and hiding.
We smile brightly,
despite the pained cracks within.
Where does it hurt, my friend?
Show me the place
and tell me the story.
Dig out the pain from
your hardened crusts – fashionably covered.
Lift your voice and let the cry be born.
Let me know what is needed.
Take the covers off
and allow the hurt to move you
to a new place of freedom.
All is well, and
I am here with you.
You belong.
Copyright© Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2019
In the Deep Blue
With eyes closed
and distractions put away,
I settle and still.
Muscles release and
gradually, breathing deepens.
I am quiet.
Sensing an opportunity to connect
in silence,
my cat curls into my lap.
I look inward and notice things and
gradually release the grip –
that way of being
which contracts me.
I let go.
Soon, the colors arrive –
they move about in my awareness
and before my mind’s eye.
I see red and green,
purple – and finally blue.
When I get to the deepening blue,
I am touching awareness and
I disappear for some time.
It does not scare me to disappear…
but feels like freedom.
The deep blue teaches me
in ways that soothe.
In its presence, I become one with
the breath of creation.
I flow with the ocean waves,
glow with the trees,
and share the song of the birds.
I see the eyes of Love
looking back at me.
The wisdom of the ages finds me
and its touch heals.
In the deep blue,
I learn that God is real, and
in my very being.
In the deep blue,
there is peace.
I bring it with me.
Copyright© Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2019
In the Chill of Winter
In the chill of winter,
build a fire big enough
to warm
your fingers and toes.
Allow the warmth
to travel to
your center –
let the grip of
cold and contraction
relax.
As you loosen and warm,
release your fear
of harsh winds
and insidious ice
which, in its blackness,
sneaks up on you
and threatens to knock you down.
In the chill of winter,
burn with awareness.
Let go of complaining
and resistance,
for they hasten the cold
to root in your being.
Instead, look to creation.
Honor the season.
What can the cold teach us?
The trees do not argue.
The squirrels settle in.
The birds accept the change
and move southward.
The plants rest.
All of nature flows with the seasons.
So, in the chill of winter,
build a fire,
rest and be warm,
discover wonder and joy
at the coating of the white –
a pure dusting
which baptizes in beauty,
reflecting the light.
Let this inspire you, and
when you are ready,
learn to play with the cold.
Build a snowman.
Copyright© Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2019
Grace Made Real
Be a Tree
You can stand in your ground
with roots that grasp to
all that matters
and holds you in place.
You can reach for the light and
blossom in its glow.
You bloom and grow,
bloom and grow –
shedding what is no longer needed,
in the appropriate season.
Other beings are attracted to you…
they sense your peace.
Its good to allow them
to hug you,
and be in your presence.
For sharing the strength and life
of your core
brings healing –
and releases the knots of
tension and contraction which cause
unnecessary twisting.
As the winds and storms arrive,
remember who you are.
You are not the weather.
You are a tree.
You observe.
You lend air.
You stand tall and alert, and
your stillness blesses.
Copyright © Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2019
Another Year
As in a game that stacks,
each brick a year in length,
we add them to the pile,
observing how they stay.
Some years there is more wobble,
stability stressed by balance.
Some years the heights are awesome,
our vision stretched and soaring.
The years they come so swiftly…
we sing this song together.
Life has a way of moving
each moment easily lost.
We long to learn the secret…
Who builds this life we live?
We look at its construction,
our gratitude gives us vision.
Copyright© Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2019
