The Way of the Heart -A way to relax your body, calm your mind and embrace your soul…inspired spiritual living with Jane Rosalea Brown, Author of In Silence, Discovering Self through Meditation (Author name Jane Rosalea Booth) Meaford, Ontario
I loved all the New Year Wishes from my friends and family. New Year’s Eve was quiet for us. We had a seafood dinner and then settled in for the evening to watch New Year’s Eve tv programs. What I loved best was Paul Anka, in Times Square, NY, singing “My Way” that he changed to “Our Way” to encourage peace and love. Then he sang “Imagine” by John Lennon. It was lovely and encouraging to have hope for our future. Paul Anka was a teenage idol of mine!
So on this New Year’s Day, I am so grateful for my dear family and friends who fill my life everyday with love and compassion so “we can live as ONE”.
I began to take acrylic painting lessons last September. Creating something new is a wonderful way to heal and to lift our spirit! That is why I love to create a Peaceful Way Gathering for Women each year. I love our Sacred Circle where we create a beautiful, heartfelt mandala! We begin with bowls of natural items and each person helps to create our ‘wheel of wholeness and harmony”. As we sit around our mandala we share our inner most thoughts, pray and meditate, dance and sing. Then understanding, laughter, sometimes tears, compassion and love always flows.
I know that there are millions of creative, loving people in the world who will create a better world for us to live in harmony. I believe this is possible…light and love always outshines darkness.
I thank all those who come to my blog and wish you a Very Happy New Year 2024 filled with good health, happiness and peace. May we who follow ‘a peaceful way’ keep on our journey, supporting one another and creating peace and love in our own families and communities in ‘your way’!
Meditation…a time within my heart…has always been my refuge. As I meditate, I embark on a journey that takes me within to listen to what I call my “soul self” and where I often view a beautiful place, often a garden. In this ‘garden’ I feel safe and protected. As I listen, I begin to feel an intimate relationship. I feel a spiritual presence, a connection, a sacred moment. It is a wondrous experience that is difficult to describe, but it always calms me and gives me a place to release my fears…and fill my heart with hope.
This spiritual practice of meditation gives me a refuge in darken times. It is helping me now. I hold deep gratitude for the ‘Spirit’ that flows through me and all life. In this way, my life becomes sacred and I evolve, create and love more deeply. In this way, I can bring peace to myself and my family.
Yet, each day our news is filled with news of war, destruction with families and children suffering. My heart aches and I try to comfort my friends who have family and friends in the Middle East.
My prayers and love are with those who are suffering through so much loss and devastation. Only love, forgiveness and compassion will heal, but now anger and rage is flowing. Hopefully, there are billions of loving people in the world that will support families as they rebuild and move on to create a better, peaceful life….that is the vision I hold for them in my heart.
The Persian poet Hafiz says “Now is the time to know”.
Now is the time to know That all that you do is sacred. Now, why not consider A lasting truce with yourself and God?
“Now is the time to understand That all your ideas of right and wrong Were just a child’s training wheels To be laid aside When you can finally live with veracity and love.
Now is the time for the world to know That every thought and action is sacred. That this is the time For you to compute the impossibility That there is anything But Grace.
Now is the season to know That everything you do Is Sacred”
Hafiz (1325 –1389) Persian Mystical Poet.
May the presence of ‘sacredness’…a spirit of love…that unites and flows through the hearts of all beings bring hope and comfort today. May we return to love.
Do you love the sound of a rippling river or stream? I live in an area that is blessed by many rivers that wind their way towards Georgian Bay. My husband and I love to spend our mornings sitting on the banks of these rivers sipping a coffee or tea. The riverside is a wonderful place to enjoy rippling waters and changing seasons. We take time to meditate, each in our own sacred space and listen…
A few years ago, I came upon the Japanese style of poetry called Haiku, A Haiku is a short, unrhymed poem that adheres to a specific three-line, seventeen-syllable format. But as I explored Haiku I realized that this was an intriguing form of poetry where there is much to learn about its form and meaning. You can find out lots about Haiku from poet Neena Singh ~ https://thehaikufoundation.org/new-to-haiku-advice-for-beginners-neena-singh/ New to Haiku: Advice for Beginners – Neena Singh
I thought Haiku is about connecting with nature and feelings that arise. But Neena explains in her article..
“.I have learned much from attending Michael Dylan Welch‘s presentation at the Japan Fair. He says that instead of writing about our reactions to stimuli, in a good haiku we should write about those things that cause our reactions. If our haiku take advantage of this technique, our readers can experience the same feelings we felt, without our having to explain them. I find this advice valuable.”
Thank you Neena!
I call these poems my Riverside Haiku....regardless if they are true Haiku or not, writing these small three lined poems expanded my experience by the river…
riverside
morning rhythm ripples
heron in silence
~
stream rushes
sparkles on the water
a way home
~
river bends
homeward bound
front door opens
~
meditation
matters for eternity
unsolved puzzle
~
spirit
ever renewal
river flows
~
By Jane Rosalea Brown, May, 2023
If you like to write poetry, explore Haiku….it is fascinating! My deepest gratitude to Neena Singh for inspiring me to share my poems and for your generous sharing of your knowledge of Haiku. I love your beautiful Haiku poetry.
John O’Donohue was an Irish poet, author and teacher of Celtic spirituality As we have just experienced the Vernal Equinox with equal amount of daylight and night, his blessing poem for Equilibrium is a lovely way to welcome our New Moon today. The New Moon a great time to set new intentions and to align yourself with the direction of your soul’s growth as we move into the freshness of Spring.
“For Equilibrium, a Blessing: Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore, May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul.
As the wind loves to call things to dance, May your gravity by lightened by grace.
Like the dignity of moonlight restoring the earth, May your thoughts incline with reverence and respect.
As water takes whatever shape it is in, So free may you be about who you become.
As silence smiles on the other side of what’s said, May your sense of irony bring perspective.
As time remains free of all that it frames, May your mind stay clear of all it names.
May your prayer of listening deepen enough to hear in the depths the laughter of god.”
― John O’Donohue,
From To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings
Just saying the word “spring” warms my heart! It’s still cold here in Meaford,-6C with a strong north wind…brrr! But March 20/23 soon brings us the Vernal Equinox. It is the time when the sun crosses the plane of the earth’s equator, making day and night approximately equal length all over the earth. It means our days will be warming and our earth will soon be ready for planting here in the Northern Hemisphere. And our season of Spring begins.
Today is a good time to give thanks for the past winter with its season of quiet hibernation, reflection, and snowflakes, each unique and beautiful. Together they provided the earth’s blanket. Thank you for the blessings of winter.
Now, we begin to feel our energies stirring and rising with our hope of warmer days, the return of birds, the birthing of animals, the spring rains, the green shoots pushing through the wet earth…quite a wondrous and magical event is our springtime. It’s an exciting time.
We all need this nourishment of spring birthing. I want to soak it up! Nature is a great teacher with each of its seasons. I especially love how spring shows us new life…renewal for us…after a cold winter. It lifts our hopes! We can plant new seeds, find new ways of being so we evolve in a peaceful way.
We need these loving energies of spring to heal through forgiveness and to return to love. So many dear hearts around the world are aching and need support…may we pray and send love to them. We pray for a return to peace in our world.
In a recent meditation I heard these words…
Be still – Know that you are loved
Be still – Feel the love within
Be still – Within the garden of love
Be still – Be the prayer of love
And a wee poem~
springtime
rest is over
new beginnings
The Vernal Equinox, March 20/23, reveals to us the balance of night and day. What a reminder to create balance in our lives! When we create an holistic balance of body-mind-spirit, light flows into our heart and it opens to bloom with the energies of springtime. We move into harmony with nature…
Step into the spring! How can you create more balance and harmony in your life? What ‘newness’ can you create for yourself and others to lift your energies, to birth a new idea, to enjoy the freshness of spring? Perhaps have fun writing a poem! It’s relaxing.
As I walked through the nearby woods on this snowy morning, I reflected on Hafiz’s words, written in the 14th century about aging.
The impermanence of the body should give us great clarity, deepening the wonder in our senses and eyes of this mysterious existence we share and are surely just traveling through. ~ Hafiz, Persian Poet , translator unknown
Hafiz’s words made me think of where I am on my ‘traveling through”. Soon I will be 77 years old. Yet, the wonder and mystery of life, a presence, still deepens within me. It still calls me to see the beauty of life, to be touched by the natural way, and to live with compassion for all beings. This presence wandered with me through the woods, as it does each day, as I reflected about the wonders of aging and the gifts that this time of life has to offer.
I realized that my “beliefs’ are melting away and like Hafiz, I feel like I am passing through…a story, my story, my creation…and what a journey it has been! Ups and downs…and in between! And I know I can keep creating, sharing and “being” my story in this present moment! I know I am captain of my journey but I am not alone…I am connected to all beings, to everything in the universe. Even as I age, my every thought and action affect everything else. So my life, as long as I am here, is important. And what I leave as a legacy is important too. What an empowering thought. Thank you Hafiz.
A Haiku from my morning walk inspired by Hafiz,
winter stillness
infinite spirit calls
deep within
By Jane Rosalea Brown
May we all move more deeply into our senses with clarity and wonder!
Most of us want to have good relationships with others. We want to find a life partner, our soulmate; we want good working relationships; we want a happy family. However, creating harmonious relationships can be difficult at times. Whether we are in a working, volunteer or personal relationship, the challenge of ‘getting along’ with others is always present. Happiness may be our goal, but unfortunately it may seem like conflicts get more of our attention. Our relationships affect our everyday!
Through all my different relationships I experienced the power of love…the hurtful feelings of not being loved and the warm and compassionate feelings of being loved. The most important thing that I learned from difficult relationships was that I needed to get in touch with myself…to figure out who I was. Meditation was my “way” to knowing myself…to loving myself.
Taking time to meditate each day gave me an inner place to let go, to release my anxieties and feel the love within my heart. I just had to be still and feel it. Loving myself was not about being conceited and only thinking about what I wanted and not caring about others. I learned it was about being humble, to take time to delve into my true feelings and to have courage to open my heart to welcome loving relationships.
How are you really feeling…about yourself, your relationships…about your view of life? All our relationships help us to grow and to know ourselves and others better. What can you do today to create a more peaceful relationship with someone you love? How can you assist another to make their day brighter? How are you going to nurture yourself today?
Here are 10 few tips to assist you to create the relationships you desire:
v Focus on what you want in your relationship, rather than on what you do not want.
v Only say good things about your partner or friend.
v You cannot change another person, but you can transform yourself.
v When your heart truly opens to love, your ‘poor me’ feelings leave.
v Respect your partner’s right to choose what he/she wants to do.
v Enjoy time on your own to explore your creative side.
v Love yourself everyday and shine as brightly as you can.
v Embrace your personal power – you are in charge of how you feel and what you do in every moment.
v Forgive yourself and your partner … each day is a new beginning.
v Create a loving relationship where there are ‘spaces’ for each one to create, to love and to flow…
Love is the key in everything we experience…the more love…the more peace and happiness…the better friend you are to yourself and others…the better your relationships!
And so we begin another New Year 2023! I love that this threshold calls to us to begin anew, refresh our thoughts and step forward in a move positive light. I looked to the past to find some insight about how to begin a new year. I found a lovely old Japanese Haiku poem that reminded me to move forward but ‘keep it simple’. Sounds great to me!
May New Year be filled with much love, tolerance, understanding, compassion and most of all peace on earth for everyone! May peace prevail on earth.
Are you feeling a little stuck, sad or stifled at this time of the year? It may be a good time to let go of what is bothering you. The concept of ‘letting go is a powerful and transformative one to relieve stress.. So how do we cope with all this letting go and how does it benefit us?
Acceptance is the the key! Accept what you can and cannot do. Accept that you may have fears such as aging but you don’t let those fears engulf you. Accept other’s right of choices and beliefs…and your right to your values and desires. This will help you cope with relationships at work, friends or family. If you are sad or grieving, nurture yourself, and allow time to accept and adjust to the ways your life has changed.
Stay in the present moment. It’s okay to have our mind wander to the past…dream old memories. Sometimes I dream of what would have happened if I had made different decisions. But then I awake and realize that all those tough decisions…letting go of relationships and work…led me to where I am now. And I feel blessed. I sometimes wish some things were different or I fret about small things. But when I am in the ‘present moment’, it is the moment where I can change my thoughts if I am in a grumpy mood, worried or sad. I change and calm my thoughts. I know that negative thoughts are not good for my health. My body, mind and spirit stay well when I stay balanced and peaceful.
Put your energies into what you can do! I make muffins for my husband! It’s a small thing but I am creating something new. Or I write a poem or write for this blog. Put your energies into volunteering. This always lifts your spirit when others receive you caring. The past two years of Covid took away our normal communications and contact with others. This week the snow has stopped us from seeing our family. I had to ‘let go’ of my deep disappointment from not seeing my grandkids. So I talked to my grandchildren and my 2 year old granddaughter said “I love You” and suddenly the world seemed like a better place.
We can always think about doing things a new way. This is called re-framing our thoughts. The ‘letting go’ process is an on-going one. Everyday we can release, cleanse, create new thoughts to lift our spirits. It may take time, even practice to heighten our awareness of what we are afraid of or what is weighing us down. We can learn to re-frame our thoughts to create a more positive way to be. Take time in meditation to receive new inspirations.
Daily affirmations are a wonderful practice. Many have health concerns and then our illness takes our focus. I know when I had breast cancer, I repeatedly told myself that I was well. I said affirmations “I am well. I am healthy”. These little words transformed me and allow me to heal. That was 15 years ago. I still say affirmations…”I am calm. I am peace. I am love”. I chant these words before I go to sleep every night. Any worries I have seem to fade away as I say these words and I fall asleep in peace.
Gratitude shifts us as we move into our heart. There is an energy in the universe that responds to our letting go especially if we are also grateful for our blessings. That may be hard for many in the world right now with so much destruction and war. But people are resilient, loving and compassionate…they will and do rise above the darkness. Each of our loving thoughts helps to circulate this energy that spreads and ripples out….we are all connected. Your every thought matters…you are a powerful being!
In May, 2011, I led a Peaceful Path Women’s Retreat to the Ghost Ranch, a wonderful Education & Retreat Center in New Mexico, USA, that fosters well-being and spiritual health through this historic, inspiring southwest landscape. At this retreat, I fell in love with the New Mexico’s culture and rugged, majestic land where the Pueblo Native Americans had lived for centuries. This experience transformed me and the memories still resonate with me today!
As I prepared for this retreat, I researched the American Natives that lived nearby. I discovered the teachings of Dr. Rina Swentzell, an architect, who explained the deep connection and oneness with the earth and cosmic energies that was the foundation of their spiritual beliefs, culture and way of daily living in the Santa Clara Tewa Pueblo This way of living and their relationship with their Pueblo clay homes really touched my heart…
In an interview, Dr. Swentzell shared her thoughts of how she experienced the deep connection that her people have with nature and their clay homes..and with each breath..
“According to Pueblo cosmology people are not separate from land and nature. Quite the contrary. We are one with the natural universe in an insoluble connection that has existed from the beginning of time. My ancestors lived intimately with the life forces of the earth. They had a keen awareness of clouds, rain, mountains. That awareness made them sensitive to the spirit within clay, wood, and rocks–materials they modeled into ceremonial and functional items for everyday use…
When someone needed a house in the Pueblo we would help build a place for them. It was an act of reciprocation. The act of building–materials, design, the whole thing, including community–is related. It’s all tied up with who we think we are.
We grew up believing that we are a part of the breath of the world. That’s the primary belief. That when I take a breath it’s the same breath as is in that cloud out there. We’re really cosmically connected.
Everything is breathing, therefore related. It’s not a notion of separation. I am in one sense very much a part of this house because I am breathing it in. Po-wa-ha–wind, water, breath—connects all life.”
The house, too, has breath. Its breath is affected by what is in the house and the people who come into it. When someone walks into a place their smell, their energy gets left there, and that affects the materials. So when anyone enters a house they really are affecting the energy of the house. It becomes a real interactive event…
Wherever you walk you affect the energy of the place. We love to visit old Pueblo ruins because we believe that spirit is strong there. We can walk in history with that energy. The ground itself remembers who walked there. We take deep breaths to breathe in energy. I can breathe in the breath of “those gone before us” in such places. Pueblo tradition tells us that we leave our sweat and breath wherever we go. The place never forgets us. Even more, the structures we build also have breath. They are alive and participate in their own cycles of life and death and of those who have lived within them.
We believe the purpose of life is to be intimately united with nature. Everything is included in that connectedness. Houses, for instance, are “fed” cornmeal after construction, so that they may have a good life. Clay (dirt) is talked to because it is of the earth and shares in the flow of life.
To me this world view makes all the sense in the world. If you believe everything is cosmically connected you actually move through the world in a different way. If you believe a place is alive you step on it in different ways. You move around it in a different way. You move around everything in a different way.
Your coming into my house is a momentous occasion for me. Respect is expected. That’s the basic premise. You cannot move without affecting the cosmos where you are. This ‘cosmic’ way of living, this deep connection to the earth, this knowing that each being is important and leaves its energy for future generations…” Dr. Rita Swenztell
Dr. Rina Swentzell of Santa Clara Pueblo. Dr. Swentzell, who passed away in 2015, was an architect, potter, teacher and activist, and alumna of the University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning.
May we learn this deep appreciation of our sacredness with all life and ‘cosmic’ oneness…we are all connected. We so need everyone to feel this love and respect.
A Peaceful Way Meditation 