Blog Archives - Heartfelt Dolls

Sesa Woruban (I transform my life)

11/6/2012

A friend was stopped and ticketed for travelling 62km/ph in a 50km zone. Instead of the predictable reaction of anger, frustration, bargaining, belligerence or rudeness, she turned the situation around. Knowing she had a long journey ahead, on icy and narrow roads, she was grateful for the reminder to drive cautiously and safely.

Give me pause today to see the world with a grateful heart.

Sesa woruban: an ideogram used on clothing in Ghana

Become

10/6/2012

A persimmon does not long to become an orange.
A tulip does not yearn for the scent of a rose.
A cow does not covet the speed of a cheetah.
An earthworm does not hanker after a life in the sun.
Each simply becomes what it was created to become.

We need to    still ourselves;
                      centre ourselves;
                      unburden ourselves
so that we may hear or feel or intuit what we are called to become.

May we delight in simply being who we are called to be.

BECOME

Flora

9/6/2012

Mircea Eliade wrote,

"In the beginning were the waters.
Matter readied itself.
The sun glowed.
And a lotus slowly opened,
holding the universe on a golden pericarp."

Today, may we pause, and ready ourselves, to receive the beauty around us and within us.

FLORA detail

Sacred ground

8/6/2012

An invitation
to take Love's arm, to tiptoe
onto sacred ground

Dusk. Twilight. The gloaming.
The cusp between light and dark,
between day and night.

May we 'take our shoes off' as we step onto the sacred ground
of the cusps in our lives - the times of transition.
Indeed, these are 'holy ground'.

SACRED GROUND

Just one look

7/6/2012

How closely do we look?
What do we see?
Do we take time for our soul to assimilate the information our senses record?

Andrei Rublev, a Russian icon writer, wrote several versions of 'The Angels At Mamre'.
In the most famous, three angels are seated at a small table under an oak tree.
The central figure is said to be Jesus.
On the table is a chalice.
If you trace the outline of the table, it too forms the shape of a chalice.
If you trace the outline of the wings of the outer angels, down to their feet, across and up again, another chalice if formed. And Jesus sits within it.
A powerful insight.

Today, let us take more time to look, to see, to assimilate the rich treasure trove around us, forming us if we just give it time.

JUST ONE LOOK ... a serendipitous placement of two discarded doll faces

Play

6/6/2012

Madeleine L'Engle begins her poem, "The Children At The Party" with
"The children at the party
sit in a circle playing games,
rhythm games, singing games, clapping games,
and finally the whispering game:"

When did we forget how to play?
To lie on our backs and see creatures in the sky?
To lie on our stomachs and watch ants scurry along the path?
To gather together fallen branches or driftwood and make a castle?
To throw blankets over chairs and make a fortress?

Let us play today ... idle companionship with ourselves; our friends; our beloved earth.
May this time renew and refresh us.
May this time rekindle LOVE.

PLAY

Offer

5/6/2012

What do I have to offer?
I offer to you the gift of self.
I offer to you the gift of time.
I offer to you the gift of presence.
I offer to you the gift of attentiveness.
I offer to you the gift of prayer.
I offer to you the gift of divine love revealed.

May we today unwrap the gift of unconditional love.

OFFER

Essence

4/6/2012

I agree with Frederich Nietzsche when he says,
"The essence of all beautiful art,
all great art,
is gratitude."

Let's pause today and
give thanks for the works of art in which we are immersed:
the smile of another;
sunlight dancing on blades of grass;
the purity of a clear sky;
the trickle of fruit juice down a chin.

ESSENCE glass window in St Mary's, Rotorua. Design by John Skudder. Craftsmanship by Henk Buissink.

Simplicity

3/6/2012

Gary Snyder writes,

"fewer the artifacts, less the words,
                            slowly the life of it
a knack for non-attachment."

May we today, jettison our baggage;
                                     our burdens;
                                     our false expectations;
                                     our heaviness of heart
and travel lightly into the arms of LOVE.

SIMPLICITY

Awash

2/6/2012

"It was red and yellow and green and brown
And scarlet and black and ochre and peach
And ruby and olive and violet and fawn
And lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve
And cream and crimson and silver and rose
And azure and lemon and russet and grey
And purple and white and pink and orange

And blue"

Our world is awash with colour.
We are drenched in daily.
Colours that bounce and clash and zing
and calm and soothe and resonate and shout
and titillate and amaze and delight

and fill our hearts with gratitude at the over-abundant generosity of Mother Earth.

May we stand today awash in the colours of generosity.

AWASH