Offering Gifts

"It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you...every time you smile at your brother and offer him your hand." 
                              ~ Mother Teresa

The only true gift is a portion of thyself.
                            ~ R. W. Emerson

  Peace to all ~                                            

Resilience ~ The Process of Giving & Receiving Energy

"Let the waters settle. 
You will see stars and moon mirrored in your Being."  ~ RUMI

Resilience: the process of giving and receiving energy, an ability/capability to navigate in adversity. In psychology: a process, not a character trait. In physics: potential energy, elasticity, absorbs energy but has give.

Is resilience a radiance, a process involving radiating out and around and through? Resilience is a glowing energizing process of giving back ~ to the universe, to self.

A time of giving is once again upon us. How we wish it might be perpetual rather than temporal, if we could just save it, energize it, capture the resilience, the radiance of giving. A time of spirit, faith...a time of reconnecting with whomever or whatever is of importance & meaning to us. The gifts, the connections, the immediate pressing care, are always and forever there, here, inside, waiting.

Look up! There is always light, resilient, endless light ~ in some form or value, always ~ somewhere, up there, within our sight, if we look.

LIGHT: something which makes vision possible ~ Webster's Dictionary

How much has been forever written about light, vision, illumination..both physical and spiritual...strengthening, nurturing, a source of resilience? Many write of light: the meaning, the need, the clarity, the intuition, the differences, the connections, the constancy ~ consistent unconditional light of stars, sun, moon, God. Light is my story - my strength & journey, my learning & giving, my inspiration & intuition. "Write", something prods me, ever within this process, upon this journey.

Why words? Why do we even need words to describe, when we can walk out the door, go find these visions, experiences, chances, changes, LIFE? Anywhere, in urban, field, forest, neighborhoods, streets, beaches, there is light waiting. 

So ~ Open the door. Go. Find. Be. Leave the door ~ See light, hear sound, feel wind. Know spirit, self, universe.
You can.
A journey of resilience involves being brave. It just is. You are. 
That's not something to celebrate, be proud of or even explain. It just happens somewhere, sometime, somehow - in the midst of the resilience-without awareness, you are brave.
You only ever know this in hindsight - or through the exclamations of others. Suddenly, clearly ~ you extend yourself, you move into the light, you ARE the process, the journey.

Be well, all ~ S StJ

The Process of Resilience ~Coming Full Circle ~ a Journey

.....Resilience is a process. Resilience is life, is strength, is hope, is a continuing journey upon which we are forever inspired, challenged, concerned, curious, listening, open to change. Resilience sustains us, prods us forward, pulls us toward the new, opens doors & windows into wind & light. Resilience brings us full circle, re-investigating past choices, re-engaging with life's challenges, re-learning old lessons, captivating our imagination and heart. There is simply no other path for many of us...

"The eye is the first circle; the horizon which it forms is the second; and throughout nature this primary figure is repeated without end. St. Augustine described the nature of God as a circle whose center was everywhere and its circumference nowhere. Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning."
                 ~RALPH WALDO EMERSON, 19th c. American philosopher

A resilient journey is one where we bounce back when life appears difficult; we adjust and look forward when the way seems impossible; we trust and find the faith to reclaim the beauty in the world which is our constant gift; we believe in and stand for what is good and true and fair, and know our limitations as human beings in a spiritual world.


"The key to every man is his thought...The life of man is a self-evolving circle, which, from a ring imperceptibly small, rushes on all sides outwards to new and larger circles, and that without end. The extent to which this generation of circles, wheel without wheel, will go, depends on the force or truth of the individual soul."
                                                                            ~ R.W. EMERSON 

These words of Emerson's inspired me in 1970 in a college American Lit. course, then again, employed as part of our marriage vows in 1975, yet again and again as the circles ever-widened and multiplied. An unsettling belief of his: "People wish to be settled; only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them," inspires this journey. Forever we long to be settled, to be at home, to even find "home". What if it were to be the inherent quality and most profound value of our journey to be UNsettled?

Exploring life in small Pacific coastal communities, remembering lessons learned in the Caribbean, knowing truths found in the mountains and cities of our land, in the universities, schools and concert halls, on the beaches and trails of wilderness, in the power of storms and brilliant sun, in the eyes of our youth and the smiles of our children....the resilient journey continues, with renewed gratitude.