Poetry, Soul Wisdom, Books and Gifts for Tending Joy, Touching the Divine, and Bringing the Sacred Home...
from the book What Holds Us, New and Selected Poems
I wrote this poem shortly after 9-11, when I was feeling stunned and unsure of what we are meant to do in our ordinary and yet sacred lives- with such turmoil in the world.
Sometimes the first line is missed in the playing of the slideshow (shoot!) It is: “I hung hope out with the laundry…clothes-pinned tenderly beside a pillow case and two sheets. I could tell she needed air, a sweet puff of wind…”
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Take a moment
to follow your breath.
Breathe in Peace,
Breathe out Love.
Breathe in Peace,
Breathe out Love.
Breathe in Love,
Breathe out Peace.
Breathe in Love,
Breathe out Peace.
Allow yourself to be nourished
and awakened by this simple
practice often.
from the book, Good Mother, Welcome
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Whether you are aware of it or not,
you are whole.
You are perfectly imperfect…
You delight the Universe
and you are good enough.
~From The Joy Book
Love everything. Love your way into Joy.
Happiness lies in thinking or doing
that which one considers beautiful.
~Hazarat Inayat Khan
With so much emphasis this new year on reviewing the past and planning the future, it would be easy to become lethargic or overwhelmed. I am vowing here to appreciate the gift of this life, and to trust in what I love; to trust my own rhythm; to celebrate beauty, love, poetry, generosity, joy, and deep and present intimacy with the soul of the world…
As we enter the season of gratitude and generosity (two of my favorite ingredients for a happy life,) I offer you these excerpts from my book Simple Graces for every Meal, and a link to a list I once created on the Best Things in Life. Wishing you all lovely Thanksgivings, with many moments of love, appreciation, and peace. ~Ingrid
Such Blessings we receive!
Such gifts of grace!
If we have wandered from the path of gladness,
Point us back to Life!
~
Let us join together
In the sweetness of this hour
With full and thankful hearts;
Thoughtful and generous minds.
~
Divine Wisdom, Eternal Love,
Infinite Beauty, and Radiant Joy,
We humbly ask your blessings
On this and every day.
~
Let us savor our days,
as we savor this meal.
Let us linger to enjoy
the bounty of each season.
Let us live to declare
we find life itself delicious.
~
We are gathered together
in a circle of plenty,
a circle of love, and a circle of light.
With peaceful hearts, we welcome each other.
With grateful hearts, we give thanks.
~
We dedicate this gathering
to the nourishment of each other,
through good food, thoughtful listening,
loving words and grateful hearts.
May the light of this occasion
reach every corner of the earth.
~
Let the depth of our compassion
nourish all we meet
just as the bounty at this table
nourishes us.
~
In our highest hopes
we see that the world is
one great family:
where it is possible that none go hungry,
where it is possible that justice, love, and health abound,
where it is possible that we may
never question our oneness.
~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff
On my way to vote this morning, I stopped by Lucy Vincent Beach. It was serenely beautiful, with the most gentle waves caressing the shore. I invite you to watch this video, and imagine the fretting of your mind being soothed, and your natural well-being restored. It works for me!
The Tug of Autumn
At noon I stood in stillness
amidst a cathedral of browning oaks~
chin up, mouth agape, watching
leaves languish from the trees.
It was raining and the tug of autumn
was surely here.
I would like to be wiser, calmer,
more at home in the world.
I’d like to give my days
the delighted artfulness
of courtship, merging, lingering,
bearing witness, offering praise.
I want to hold what holds us.
~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff
Lately I’ve been considering this question from the Zen poet Ryokan, “If you point your cart north when you want to go south, how will you arrive?” I think I might do this often- second guessing myself, my deepest calling- trading in the inconceivable for the conceivable, which is often too small. Does this ever happen to you?
I’ve been doing a bit of walking lately, and asking myself some good hard questions, like “Is it God I converse with on my trail, or my own wide and mysterious life?” and “Is it a visitation I wait and long for, or the awakening of an awareness?” Must a distinction be made? Must I choose? Could it be both/and?
These kinds of questions prompt two desires: the first is to escape into the arms of a lovely sleep. And the second is to lean into the mystery, and see how I am held.
