Humming

In the light, shadows seem less frightening. There is interplay, give and take, dancing to the music of faith, humming through the places where we touch.

Will we remember this as the sun sinks beneath the horizon? When we flutter and drift in pieces, petal by petal torn apart? There may well be a rising of fear as we each descend, broken, alone.

When we become a carpet shriveled atop the soil, perhaps we’ll shiver and huddle close again in the chill night air waiting for the rain. Surely then we’ll fully understand our true unity as we merge with the soil.

Shadow and light will no longer seem so startlingly separate, and neither will we. The music of faith will hum quietly, audible only to those who choose to be still, rest an ear on the ground and listen.

linking to: 

d'verse

nature notes

Our World Tuesday

tones on tuesday

Thanks to everyone who participated in I Heart Macro. Wow, what a great turn out for the first time hosting here :-)

I Heart Macro Week 1

a rainbow silk web

light caught as this heart opened

to awe and wonder

Welcome to this first week of I Heart Macro with me as host. Thank you to creative and kind Lori Plyler for the honor of allowing me continuing this wonder-filled meme.

I've never been a meme host before so please be patient as I figure out the process. I will do my best to visit your blogs when you link up, but as you know if you are a regular follower of my blog, sometimes I just don't have the energy to respond to everyone who visits, (MS lassitude has a way of sneaking up on me) so the same will be true for participants of I Heart Macro... AND I will make my best effort to connect with you as I am able. The meme will be open from Saturday's at 8pm EST through Monday's at 8pm EST. 

Please link back to my blog either using the button Lori so generously provided (html code is in the box below the button) or by just linking the words "I Heart Macro" back to my blog using this link: shinethedivinecreativityisaspiritualpractice.com, particularly if you like to participate in several memes with a single post as I often do.

<center> <a href="http://www.shinethedivinecreativityisaspiritualpractice.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Shine the Divine" src=" http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5024/5613077984_0632a92989_o.jpg"/></a></center>

Feel free to include poetry, prose and thoughts your macro photo or series inspire(s) in you. Writing is completely optional for participation however. Straight out of the camera, edited, color, black and white; all are welcome as long as you bring the viewer near to whatever it is that attracted your heart and woke up delight. Technically I don't have a "macro" lens, although my Lumix DMC-LX5 is excellent at close range, so don't feel like you can't participate if you don't have fancy equipment either. 

I read this quote recently and I think it applies to expansive experiences as well as deeply focused practices such as macro photography. "Pure awareness transcends thinking... It allows you to look at the world once again with open eyes. And when you do so, a sense of wonder and quiet contentment begins to reappear in your life."~Mark Williams and Danny Pennman, from Mindfulness An Eight-Week Plan For Finding Peace In A Frantic World

So, enjoy slowing down with your camera, paying full attention, observing beauty and curiosities many people pass right by. Your generosity of spirit and keen eyes might just open the door to miniscule miracles and mirth others would not have access to otherwise.

Also linked to: 
poetry pantry
real toads 
postcards from paradise
weekend reflections
weekly topshot
macro monday

worlds within worlds (amended)

upon my belly curious about the light

kindled in my heart reflected in orbs

tiny universes atop blades of grass

worlds within worlds i see clearly

joy made manifest in this moment

of noticing beauty poised right here

gratefully distracted by tiny shiny

objects inviting me to full presence

my attention will not last waning

before morning's tears evaporate 

is this why dew cries so early in the day

predicting a lack of sustained appreciation?

does the grass acknowledge her generosity

or the ant whose thirst is slaked?

above black-capped chickadee sings out

modah thank you somehow this is enough

to re-kindle faith in giving for the sake of giving

loving for the sake of living

http://www.nhest.org/bcchick.wav

Listen to black-capped chickadee's gratitude chant in the link above and another poem in which you can hear me imitate his voice in this past friday's half-hour mindfulness meditation offering in The Healing Womb. Look for thehealingwombseason2_11.mp3 in the big black podcast box. Donations for podcast meditation sessions are greatly appreciated. Enjoy!

linking to:

one single impression
poetry pantry
real toads
macro monday
d'verse

nature notes

Our World Tuesday
guest heart thursday

the weekend in black and white
haiku my heart

Wait, there's more!

What a joy to find those precious moments in which we can pause, stop, take a breath, feel, hear, see, experience fragrance and sun, wind or rain on our faces. Our lives are often so full, maybe a little too full of going, going, doing doing, we forget in the rush of "have to's" to simply pause and receive what is right here, right now; to wear the skin of human's being. A week after returning from a weeklong retreat, I am well aware of how I am slipping back, no, being sucked back in to life's hectic vortex. And I am equally aware of those precious moments when I stop, breathe, feel, hear, see, experience fragrance, sun, wind or rain on my face. Shavuot, the Jewish holy-day(s) of revelation; receiving Torah, the teachings we are open to receive with our wholeness of being, l'shmoah, listening that is seeing, and all the other senses mentioned above merged awakened, is drawing near, beginning tomorrow, Tuesday evening, actually.

____________________________________

I had three separate appointments today, (Monday) and hoped, in the midst of the rush, I would remember to pause. And, of course you know I did. I spied a tree we planted from the arbor foundation in our front yard, probably 10 years ago, that is blooming for the first time ever! I don’t even remember the kind of tree it is any more and I never expected it to bloom. What a wonder-filled pause of surprise and delight to see those lovely white blossoms way at the top of the tree dancing in a sun-kissed breeze.

This world within worlds is so very beautiful. It seems my DNA is wired such that I am inclined to stop and notice no matter how busy my mind and body are. How grateful I am to be so easily awed.

Below I am re-sharing a portion of a post, (lyrics and music) that I offered back in 2011 for Shavuot. The original post can be read here my body has journeyed and healed tremendously since that time, still eMeS is a very real aspect of my truth.

listen to your heart

draw near what is true for you

alive present here

To listen to a recording of me singing Esso Eini For Healing back in 2011 when I was quite ill in the midst of an exacerbation, please click the heart photo below, it is a link. Or this works too.

Music and Lyrics Copyright © 2011 Laura Hegfield All rights reserved.

  

Esso Eini For Healing

From the frailest flower to the soaring forest trees

Rolling oceans wide and deep

I place my faith in the womb of Rachamim, 

Compassionate Essence of all being.

Esso einai el heharim, 
me'ayin yavo ezri

I lift my eyes to the mountain above

Yes I know from where my strength will come.

Ezri me'im Hashem, 
Oseh shamayim va'aretz

With all my heart I trust the One

I trust the One   

Creator of heaven and earth

(Hebrew translation inspired by Psalm 121:1-2)

Chag Shavuot Sameach to all of my Jewish friends and family. May all beings be as open and awake to receiving exactly what is needed as is possible, moment-by-moment, breath-by-breath, each and every day. 

~laura

Through Morning Blossoms

through morning blossoms

the sky sang of promises

and i believe her

what could be more true

than what the heart sees and hears

through morning blossoms?

Photos from our recent Jewish Mindfulness Teacher Training @ Garrison Institute

Linking to:

himmelsk

skywatch friday

weekly topshot

the weekend in black and white

share the joy thursday

scenic weekends
shadow shot sunday 2
weekend flowers on Friday
today's flowers
haiku my heart
guest heart thursday

Also want to share some exciting news. My blog friend, gifted artist, artisan and photographer, Lori Plyler of Studio Waterstone, known to many in the blogosphere as host of I Heart Macro needs some more spaciousness with her time. She has decided to pass the torch (hmmm, spark...since we are talking macro, getting up close to what is teeny-tiny and draws our eyes and hearts near with loving attention), on. She asked for volunteers. I too am mindful of time, yet you all know how much I Heart Macro photography, so I asked in turn if I could do the honors. I want to keep alive this practice of looking deeply; coming close to beauty in ways we might not be able to without the aid of a camera, or other magnifying device, here in the wide world of blogging. And she said "yes." The plan (if I can LinkyTools to cooperate over this weekend) is to begin on the evening of May 18th. Originally I told Lori May 19th, but I thought opening on Saturday evenings through Monday evenings would give people more time to link up.

Thank you Lori dear, with MY WHOLE HEART for allowing me to use the lovely button you designed and truly, the deep honor of continuing this blog meme that is so precious to me and many other photographers in our expansive worldwide community, so we can keep on sharing the love - up close.

To every mom, whether you mother children born through you, adopted and loved by you, adored and cared for through your nurturing skills as a teacher, counselor, clergy or caring family friend or some other heartfelt connection, no matter if the little’s (or big’s) you tend are fleshy, furry, feathered or scaled...

Happy Mother’s Day!

Unpacking

slowly softly gently

i awoke in stages this morning

drifting in and out of sleep until

until i clearly heard a bird singing

the last bits of sleep released their clinging

easing me into a new day with profound gratitude.

i have returned from a souljourn deep wide

in out in out in out

as my friends taught

“cosi rivaya”

our cups

my cup

my heart

is so full it is spilling over it’s edgeless

brim

i prayed and meditated

stepped into my jeans

arms reaching through jacket sleeves

a long stretch as my hands were set free

to pull my big boots on lift my camera

and walk out into the field of mostly white violets

grasses and wild plants every shade of green yellow

purple blues and oh a rainbow arrayed on the ground

looking up through the trees the halos of light on the

edgeless tips of leaves aglow with life merging one thing

one breath one song one step one into one into ONEness

two-hundred fifty emails that i sifted through last night

after slipping into pajamas and familiar sheets at the end

and of course beginning of a journey home to home to home

all those messages set aside as i stepped outside mind into

the center of the morning moment dazzled with sun drizzled

with dew

amazed at all that had changed

grown transformed since i last walked on this soil the same

only clearly different

the words to are spilling over

cosi rivaya

and saturated in meaning i cannot yet discern distill

too much to unpack just yet

so i will hush and be still now

aware of blessing.

Unedited... don’t know if this stream of consciousness “worderfall” qualifies as a poem...  it is an offering. Over a thousand photos to view and edit from the retreat... oh my and so much learning, loving to absorb before it can be articulated into thoughts to share. So many halo photos... soon, soon. The photos above are a few from this morning at home in NH.

Thank you thank you THANK YOU to our beautiful JMTT2 Jewish Mindfulness Teacher Training kehillah. I love you all, truly everyone of us is an exquisitely blossoming teacher.

macro monday

real toads 
d'verse

nature notes

Our World Tuesday
guest heart thursday