Tag: healing
That Part of Me
My heart is working hard these days
with loss and loneliness.
I am an orphan seeking home.
The grief of moving through the landscape which
is my life
tugs at the ways I have
stitched myself together.
This waking up is painful –
but as I move forward,
I open my heart to it.
It is a time of deepening –
of allowing the mystery to instruct
and show me
the location of my true belonging.
The older I get,
the more acquainted I am
with this type of deep reckoning.
It is familiar terrain and
I have visited it often.
When I look back, I can see this.
But in this moment,
choosing to be present
feels like valor.
I gradually take on the challenge
as little pieces of me mend.
I begin to hear again the
warm and forgiving invitation.
It calls to me like
a song over the hillside,
sending music to my ears and heart.
I allow this embrace of mystery which
wells up within my very soul.
This is the place which
connects me to the beauty of it all
and the realization of belonging.
I find my way home again
and I learn to dwell in a sweet peace.
I dare to hold everything –
all the precious pain and longing.
Thanksgiving visits me –
I am surprised as it wells up like a wave
and invites me to rest in a beautiful tenderness.
This is Life and Grace
given and received.
They had never left.
Copyright© Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2019
“Secret work is being done in us of which we have no inkling.” John O’Donahue
Big Love
When one of us is lost,
all that is needed is the touch of another
whether to tender skin or the wounded heart.
For none of us are perfectly on track
all the time, are we?
So we help one another to steer and soften.
When one of us is sick,
it is time for a cup of Big Love –
we fill it with grace mixed with empathy
so the sickness cannot take root,
causing the soul to wither,
in a feeling of aloneness.
If disconnection broadens,
it is time to seek your teacher –
that wiser one who loves as God loves,
without measure, and
while nurturing the current lesson to birth.
A good teacher mirrors your imminent Spring
as you struggle to blossom
and see.
This is what Big Love looks like –
its embrace feels like freedom on the wing.
Its presence is grace realized
as sibling souls open and
reach out to you,
sparking Truth and Light
so you can be healed.
Copyright© Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2019
Photo credit to Gary Stanton, my husband, who also gave me the mug recently when I was sick – the inspiration for this poem. Thank you, Honey! xoxo
When Life is Hard
When life is hard,
and each day a challenge,
look for the soft places
beneath and below.
Uncover what is there
and be comforted.
When each day is an effort,
relax your muscles
and decide on purpose
to seek what frees.
Do more of that.
When the weight on your shoulders
is slowing you down,
go slow.
It is okay to rest.
Share your load and
ask for help.
Listen to the whispers of God –
for you are being directed to learn
something important.
Perhaps this is the time you finally understand that
joy can be found
in the pain
when you change your thinking.
Everyone gets lessons along the way…
Now is your time
to blossom in winter.
So, take comfort in the crocus
which perseveres through
hard frozen ground
to rise and shine,
transcending into Spring.
For you are the crocus.
Copyright© Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2019
Snow on Trees
Don’t despair the soul season
when all the green is gone
and you feel darkened
and bare.
These are the times when
you stand alone, while
everyone looks past you
to escape to the horizon beyond.
You feel planted in place
with nowhere to grow, and
the present brittleness
makes you snap easily.
Though unpleasant and cold –
while in this raw nakedness,
please be reminded that
you are in a good position.
You are in the right place –
the proper season.
You are ripe for grace.
A season of cold and dark
is a gift like no other.
For when the white glow arrives,
softly blanketing and
offering beauty and peace –
healing is gifted.
You are born again with the
verdant seeds needed
to bloom again
and commune with others.
Copyright© Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2019
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
Ultimate Lesson
This Journey
On the other side
and over the hump,
I catch a vision of the new
before me,
and within me.
It was a rough season –
all the falling and stumbling
behind me.
I look back –
and though I do not want
to go back again,
my heart sings –
for I am grateful.
The lessons have arrived –
some like a ton of bricks…
but after getting knocked down,
I got up –
again and again.
You assisted –
helping my legs remember their strength
and teaching me to rest, too.
I surrendered to the season –
reluctantly at first…
but as I let go,
healing arrived.
Now here I stand.
I am firmly grounded
in a whole new way of being.
Thank you.
Thank you from the bottom of my feet
through my heart and
radiating upward
and outward
from every pore of life in me.
May the lessons gained
root deeply in my soul.
Understanding has blessed me, and
I am fashioned anew.
Thanks be to the One
who gives beyond measure!
Holy is your name.
Your creation of me continues
with deepening grace.
I am in awe.
Copyright© Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2018
Lighted From Within
Oh, the view that blesses
when the horizon glows
whether morning or evening.
The bright moon in the distance
also inspires
as it illuminates the soul.
Seeing light from a distance
is an invitation
that instructs…
For I can wander in the darkness
for days
or even months…
but when the light enters in
from afar,
a new energy
begins to germinate again
as its beams touch me.
I become sprouted and fed –
even if only for a bit.
These glimpses provide for me.
As I grow and heal
and new branches form –
stretching me beyond
all the ways and limits –
daring to ignore the broken places –
the glow given grows.
I know healing has arrived
when I have less need
of the horizon
and all its sparkling colors.
Sure, the hues and brilliance
still are a gift and reminder…
They show me what lies deep within me –
the colors that shine and beam
through me
in a never ending way.
I am lighted from within
and I know where to look
when I need the horizon.
Copyright© Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2018
Becoming and Beholding 