Tag: presence
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
When Loved Ones Return
Its a strange gathering –
all of us in our cars at the airport
anxious and watchful for that familiar smile and gait
to be seen among the masses…
Everyone is searching for that connection
to home.
It is like the perfect metaphor for life…
for daily we get lost in the crowdedness
of others in our space
as we journey anxiously –
searching and expectant –
until we are finally recognized, and
our place in the midst of it all
is secured.
We understand where we belong.
Now parked and watchful –
cell phones busy with directions,
our eyes finally meet.
Once bags are stowed,
and the heated car is filled,
the lively chatter of connection begins.
We navigate the traffic,
and reach the hearth and tree alighted,
exhausted in a happy way.
My daughter releases her bag to the floor –
“I didn’t hug you yet.”
Arms wrap around,
and eager hearts touch.
Christmas has arrived.
Copyright© Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2018
This Is It!
Between
Between my hand
and your hand –
between doing
and being –
between yes
and no –
between the beat of the heart
and what the eyes see…
there is space.
Its gift is as big
or as small
as is our ability to be awake
to the quiet that reveals it.
One knows when they have encountered
a soul who is
acquainted with this space.
For to be in their presence,
is to be
showered with unconditional Love,
grace and attention.
Souls who have done the work,
know deeply that
our travels in life
are best navigated when
there is no rush
between this
and that.
Life is best lived with joy
when our inner brake
is awake
and effective
and we are watchful
of the spaces.
So, be alert to the openings.
Honor them.
The dance of life awaits.
Ask yourself this –
what lies between each breath taken?
Copyright© Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2018
The Art in Stepping Aside
Giving Thanks
It is far too easy
to focus on lack, pain,
or fear.
After all, the suffering
seems to be
at every bend and corner.
This is what the world gives –
the constant dis-ease
which keeps us unsettled.
But, what is – THE MORE
continues to invite us…
and heal us
when our eyes are open to seeing it –
when our arms can stretch to receive,
and our hearts dare to soften.
Giving thanks
is about giving voice
to THE MORE –
which is always present.
So, let us raise our voices
and sing the song of grace.
Let us share its music
which beats in the
rhythm of our hearts.
Let us open our eyes
and see
all the goodness
embedded in every moment.
When we do this together
around hearth or table,
the music of our voices
helps us touch
the deep places –
the ones that sustain
and heal us
and bring us to dancing.
Blessings to you
and through you.
Let us be present for each other.
Copyright© Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2018
Calming the Outer Storm
It is a slow creep –
the way the stress of life builds.
We live bombarded
by the need to rush,
bending over backwards
to meet the demands.
The expectations given
feed our perfectionistic patterns
and we get lost
by the constant doing.
That is what living from the outside
is like.
It exhausts and
makes us into fools
who think we are being productive.
To live from within,
one must commit to
slowing the pace, and
nix the needy drive
that cares too much
what others think and believe –
that invests in having
and holding
all the things
that make us look good.
True peace resides
where inner knowing lives –
blanketed by what is true,
and by the power
of the unseen.
Living from the inside
means listening to
the whispers underneath –
the voice that beckons
and seeks to heal us –
Take a walk on the beach.
Let your feet crunch a wooden path.
Allow a cat to rest in your lap.
Bow your head and offer a prayer.
Observe and honor a compassionate moment.
These are places where the whispers await…
To live from the outside
is to get lost
in the whirlwind of
the superficial.
But to live from the inside
is to be fueled by
purpose and
to be connected to
a larger dimension –
a place that
too few find.
Love is the main thing, of course.
It is the thread that connects us
at the soul
to God’s heart.
The only way to find peace
on this weary planet of ours
is to realize
that each one of us
is born to be free.
Our job and journey
is to discover that.
When we do,
the peace within
which passes all understanding
will bless us
and enable us to be a blessing
for others.
Copyright© Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2018
I Can See Who You Are
We hustle.
We bustle.
We cover up.
We avoid.
In the constant press forward,
the moments are lost.
When able to still ourselves,
we can catch glimpses of
what is real.
I sat with a patient,
one of the sweet ones
with dementia.
Her eyes alive
with love and openness…
Her speech cute and senseless
most of the time.
I am present to her
and focus on being –
instead of doing.
When the time for goodbye comes,
I touch her shoulder
and lean in.
Her eyes widen
as these words spill forth
in clarity and affection:
“I can see who you are!”
Grace finds me
and I am blessed by her glimpse.
I am reminded…
I am Love.
Copyright@ Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2018
Becoming and Beholding 