Resilience: A Journey~ Last Words, a Closing

                  We MUST be the change we wish to see in the world.
                                                                    ~ GANDHI ~

Resilience: ~ the ability to recover from or adjust to change.
Journey: ~ a traveling from one place to another   
           ( Merriam/Webster Dictionary)

There is absolutely nothing I am more grateful for than the grace of this journey of resilience. Resilience is clearly a journey; perhaps a process, certainly a quality, a hope, a gift. 
"Resilience: A Journey" is perhaps a perpetual state of mindfulness. If it is unattainable for us, then perhaps we will be fortunate enough to observe the process in others, absorbing some measure of the gathering of wisdom.

Here, today, in a mindful presence, I leave these pages. Opening new doors, seeing & listening in new ways of understanding, with growing compassion...we, I, move forward. 

Please take this Stafford poem with you, continuing a Journey of Resilience. It has long been a guide and inspiration, often a gentle, clear reminder. Read, re-read and  maybe read another time.

Neah Kah Nie Mountain, North Pacific Coast, July 2012

Be well, dear travelers, in peace. ~ S.St.J.
(new blog: journeyofresilience.wordpress.com)
                            
                                                 YOU, READING THIS, BE READY

Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
sound from outside fills the air?

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now? Are you waiting
for time to show you some better thoughts?

When you turn around, starting here, lift this
new glimpse that you found; carry into evening
all that you want from this day. This interval you spent
reading or hearing this, keep it for life ~ 

What can anyone give you greater than now,
starting here, right in this room, when you turn around? (1993)

~WILLIAM STAFFORD (1914 - 1993)
American poet & pacifist, U.S. Poet Laureate 1970, Oregon Poet Laureate 1975

A Gathering of Wisdom

 

Walden Pond

 

 

 

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach ~ and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."
                            ~ HENRY DAVID THOREAU (Walden) ~ 


A Gathering of Wisdom:
~ On a study retreat(Authentic Leadership in Action Institute), I found paths through the fields and woods of Nova Scotia, on a university campus, a contemplative environment.

~ Visiting dear friends in Massachusetts, I discovered their home within the Walden Woods Preserve, ancient stone walls following trails to secluded ponds...some of the very land Thoreau explored while writing.

~ In Maine, another dear friend explored the wooded trails of Acadia, the oldest national park on the east coast, windblown coastal firs and birch, mirroring our own Pacific forests.

 
~ In N.Y.C., more dear friends walked the pavement beneath arching sycamores and beloved gingkos.

~ Returning home, to endless "woods", forests of our Pacific Northwest, I am called to gather the wisdom and learn again to live deliberately, simply.

Neahkahnie Mountain,Pacific Ocean

"The true harvest of my daily life is somewhat as intangible and indescribable as the tints of morning or evening. It is a little stardust caught, a segment of the rainbow which I have clutched."
                                             ~THOREAU~

A Gathering of Wisdom is perpetual, is near, far or in between....intangible, yet clear. Perhaps we all live our lives to the best of our abilities - not right or wrong, good or bad - just living the best we can with who we are and what we are given.
In one friend's home, a Thoreau quote: "We are constantly called to be what we are." What meaning do those words have today? What are we - you and I? Another intangible that we hope will become clear as we journey.


"I learned this: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours....
However mean your life is, meet it and live it. Love your life, poor as it is....Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth...only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star."
                                           ~ THOREAU~ 

 Gathering wisdom, I learned this:
At ALIA retreat symposium(Halifax) ~ Mindfulness practice = silent respect, surprising sense of immediate community, acceptance, inclusion, flexibility, safety, clarity
~ calm down, focus, slow tempo, open
~ enveloped by attentive listening, profound understanding, intuitive compassion even in the midst of intensive learning
~ comfortable with silence or conversation within large(200+) & small groups(10+)
~ Practical process of contemplative, decisive decision & action for change
~ an important event, retreat, symposium of people from around the world, various simple & complex careers, exploring problems together, working to make the world more compassionate, exciting, instilling curiosity & wonder, a source of wisdom gathered from all 200+ participants.


Traveling on(Boston, Maine, NYC) to gather wisdom from visits with friends of 40 years, I learned this: ~my great good fortune to have close, honest, true friends who, though separated by thousands of miles and many years, remain bound by some intangible connection(like Thoreau's rainbow).
~ Learning and growing from each other's successes and failures
~ gathering and giving intuitive life skills as we approach this new chapter of life

And most of all: I am so fortunate to have this life, this place, this freedom, the clarity of air, mind, life. The "woods" on both sides of this vast country, the mountains, the seas, the sky, thankfully preserved to inspire. It's time to continually work to preserve more, to make sure not just our children, but everyone's children, live to know this inspiration.
Gathering wisdom ~ a perpetual journey ~simply,clearly,mindfully we learn.

                                   
 

Morning at Low Tide

Awaken to a magnificent gift! 
"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase; just take the first step." ~ MLK

One of the lowest tides of the year...June 6, 2012...Remember what you have seen, have heard, have taken to heart as such gifts of this life, this simple walk on a northern beach in spring light.

 There are no words for the enormity of such places at such times...the intimate yet private sharing of an expansive world with a few strangers or neighbors...no words exchanged, just a knowing tilt of the head in passing, perhaps a smile. For here is something far greater than we are alone...yet together with the life revealed at this low tide, we find connections clear and ringing true. Just look at this life:

...rushing toward us, waiting for our eyes and ears and hearts.

Come walk. Breathe the fine salt air. Absorb the morning light and the pulsing sounds of the sea. Notice life left over, left behind by the shrinking tides, sleeping on sands, waiting.

Take that first step, that moment saved for another day, a "special" time...take the step now, while you are able....in faith. Choose life. Go! Here we are; all of us, out there together...Rejuvenate, in order to continue the journey of resilience.

"As long as we do our best at what matters most, things will find their way." ~ Adam (b. 6/6/89)

Constant Movement within Us

   All is movement, is sound, through this spring day. Wind, changeable, in tree boughs and flowering, leafing, growing life.
Winds ~ coming and going, quieting and surging ~ always accompanied by the constant shushing of the distant sea...the waves and tides, winds and water. Like heartbeats ~ the constant movement within us: life.
 Eyes closed ~ sounds become richly complex. Feeling wind - gentle touches of coolness, pushing at my back, spiraling in sound from one cheek and ear in a circle to the other....Winds of change, of forward journeys.

 Eyes open - filled with light, the world is made of movement. Each blowing lily-of-the-valley glows, rings and is still -

 

 

under ancient, anchored firs, billowing their deep green beauty against a cerulean sky. Birds, silent in mid-day heat, return to calling, chanting in the fading evening light...moving in flight and song.

The sea ~ all turquoise, teal, blue-green and white - all impossible shades

of watery light - delicate and dense at once. What life moves within its rocking,relentless sound & motion? 

The ground around my feet is filled with moss and clover, and tiny white stars of flowers - pine needles and cones, and old shells someone gathered there long ago to remember the day, connecting beach to garden.

Where the sun heats, the wind cools. Where dreams are a longing, this present moment is some small glimpse of peace. 

Listen ~ A New Song

Listen well ~ hear ~ be well ~ absorb the day, the light of life ~ the swirling bird flocks and tides, the unending power of wind and water ~ the myriad gifts, each moment blending into yourself and spirit. Walking,walking,walking amidst birds and stones, shells and wood, water, sand & reflected sky...listen and hear a new song. Can we? wherever we are, whoever we are?

"Where had I heard this wind before
Change like this to a deeper roar?
What would it take my standing there for,
Holding open a restive door,
Looking downhill to a frothy shore?"
~ ROBERT FROST ~ (from Bereft) 

I stood there, on the dunes, above the expansive, deserted windswept beach ~ absorbing salt air, a shifting grazing flock of sandpipers, gulls & eagles flying low, white caps on steel blue water extending seemingly forever into deepening, dark sky. A new song blends erratically with the old ~ filling me with a familiar angst, an overwhelming sadness experienced months ago in a warmer, intense beach land...a place where grief lives in every moment of every day & night ~ such an intensity of emotion floods through where I had sought to move beyond into necessary work for others.
 A single white crane flies over our bay and I am back there on the island, where white egrets symbolize intense hope. I watch an eagle climb in elegance against the mountainside and over the ocean....I am there, everywhere, bound to all who see and hear, who listen and absorb.
Each day, a new gift of thought...as yesterday contrasts with today, it's turquoise spring beauty sending me laughing and sighing with amazement. As changeful as always, the sea gives up alternate states....influences and inspires.

Listen well...it is never gone, that which we experience on a soul level. Listen and absorb the old into the new, and then try to sing again. Looking across an empty expanse of land and churning, powerful sea ~ an immensity of spirit guides my memory of that familiar, forgotten, distant tension and turmoil of a land not quite mine. Yet, this empathetic compassion, which so seems like grief, serves as a bond, connection, inspiration. Gratefully, again, I realize: a continuing journey of resilience provides light and song.

May! is here! Hear it, absorb it! My favorite month of a lifetime, providing scents and sounds for a gladness of heart! Be well. Live deeply.  Go ahead: be sad, be unendingly happy, just be....May Spring bring whatever you need most.

"SPRING IS AN EXPERIENCE IN IMMORTALITY." ~ Thoreau

 

"Resilience" ~ pop topic of the moment

Having no idea what a "pop"-ular topic I chose back in November 2011 when this blog was started, I am amazed, confused and humbled by the abundance of essays, articles, books, workshops, courses exploring "resilience". It's suddenly everywhere! I wonder.........why....?

As many leaders are writing and teaching: Many of us are searching, are hoping, are questioning the complexities of the current global experience. Resilience, we remember, is a journey - according to psychology......or a state of being, according to physics. Something to aspire towards, or something to gather strength from, or something we work on, day after day....and something we are utterly blessed with when it becomes an integral part of our being.

I'm attempting a new journey ~ calling it "A Gathering of Wisdom Journey 2012". It began with a new grandchild, and progressed to visits/conversations with family and friends, in Oregon & Colorado. It will continue in June in Nova Scotia and Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine and New York....gathering wisdom of my oldest friends, my mentors, teachers and colleagues, as we all approach this time of life through divergent, diverse paths. 
Conversations, as many have written, are essential today. Communicating honestly, with dedication to clarity, truth, learning and giving. There is forever much to give....and to gather....and to give again, after the "gathering of wisdom journey" begins. Sharing our resilience can only serve to help all.


Peace for your journey, is all I can wish you ~
(pictures are Colorado, March '12)

Leadership: Contemplative & Resilient

Did you know that our Pacific coast abounds with restored-from-endangered bald eagles? They ride the currents and soar beside my car as I drive to work on Hwy.101! How about great blue herons in the tidal bays, or white egrets in fields with cattle(just like Jamaica!), sea ducks of all shapes and colors riding & bobbing the bay waters? The bay waters~ impressionist views eternally altering in mood & intensity. Light upon bird and wave,reflection, glorious resilient flight. And here, in the quiet cottage neighborhood, finches and doves, flickers tapping and dashing across your path, near your face....all in love with this beauty as much as we are.

I will go in June to a wonderful symposium in Nova Scotia, learning and sharing with leaders around the globe, in contemplative, compassionate, resilient creativity,~ re-thinking, re-inventing, caring, searching, facilitating positive change...challenging present communities to new, innovative, inclusive pathways for this most diverse & complex world. I am hopeful this experience will advance my Peace Corps community & education training, opening mind and soul to something vibrant, inspiring and so relevant. 
Be inspired;look at this website: aliainstitute.org

What do you see when your eyes take in such skies? Look up, even in the rain and storm. Be blown off course for just a moment. Find resilience: your journey.

 

Absorbing Resilience ~ a childs flight

".....Don't believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding, find out what you already know, and you'll see the way to fly.....an unlimited idea of freedom."  ~ RICHARD BACH (yes, the old 1970 J.L. Seagull)

"The moment you decide that what you know is more important than what you have been taught to believe, you will have shifted gears in your quest..." ~ RALPH WALDO EMERSON (c. 1870)

A seagull child calls and flies, high on the dune cliffs, where homes more expansive than mine hug the shifting sand and scrub pines - bay windows set towards the sunset. A young girl dances on a deck, waves, flaps and skips ~ calling in an astonishing voice to a small flock of circling gulls.

Gulls swoop, dip, dive and elegantly hold to the air currents, closely calling and wheeling with the child on the cliffside. Far from their usual ocean beach habitat, entranced by this young strangers voice, resounding as their own, perhaps communicating a kinship, a love, a longing, even wonder...the birds slow their normally erratic swift flight, hover and flow with a kind of calm beauty.

I stop my beach walk, directing my gaze to the high perch of this creative one. I turn my back on the rolling waves, the kites, the dogs, the tourists on this unusually busy winter Sunday ~ 
I am entranced with the slow elegance of the seagulls, as they loop over and around the childs head. They are performing for her, and she for them! Count them: six white winged, lazy dancing birds - normally so arrogant, so brazen in their strutting, diving perpetual search for food. Yet here, I witness a beauty, and hold close a new appreciation.

The child calls, sings, skips rope down the length of her deck....she calls with arms raised as if to launch upwards in flight. The gulls circle, soar, float ~ wondering.......

Absorbing resilience, I watch until the child disappears into the home and the gulls at long last return to wandering. I will not forget.

Being "HOME"

"There's a place for us; a time and place for us... Time together with time to spare. Time to learn, time to care." ~ Stephen Sondheim, from lyrics to SOMEWHERE (West Side Story) 

HOME ~  comfort, safe, settled, stability, shelter, familiar, relax, honest, rest....inspires longing, hoping, searching, a natural quest.

homecoming ~ homegrown ~ homeland ~ homeless ~ homemade ~ home place ~ home port ~ homesick ~ homespun ~ homestead ~ home stretch ~ hometown ~ homeward ~ homework ~ home free


To "be at home" in the world ~  is perhaps a common, shared hope, goal ~
To "BE home" for self, family, for friends, community ~ is perhaps a never-ending process which we strive to be comfortable with.
Without our potential sense of resilience, of starting over each morning, of believing in the value of the process, of knowing there is a perpetual place for us in the universe, feeling the truth of our life...even when the search, the process itself continues.....without that sense of resilience, would we be here, now, this moment?


The process of resilience ~ the potential to lead a resilient life ~ feeling "at home" or even "being home" ~ may lie within all of us.
My home is the world, is within the souls of my children and grandchild, within my friends, family, students and colleagues, even strangers as we pass on the beach or in our cars or in the post office and library.
Home is in the center of an old song, a symphony, in the wild abandon of storms, of forest, of sea, of the exquisite, unspeakable beauty of a smile or a flower or a shaft of light through mountainous clouds. 
My place is where I am needed ~ settled, safe, sheltered ~ challenged, concerned, inspired ~ finding the courage to forget myself and give to others. I give unbounded thanks for the opportunity.

Epiphany

EPIPHANY ~ revelation, awareness, opening, new insight, "a moment of sudden, intuitive understanding"(Webster's)......12 days after Christ's birth, a time of giving in the spirit of the Wise Men...can not epiphany be a constant state of being, of spiritual giving?


~ Know this is truth, this moment, life, time.
~ Know you are here. this way, beloved and for a purpose.
~ Know, feel, believe in your wealth of spirit, the gifts of another new day.

Always wake with a grateful heart. If not, search your life, in truth and integrity, for a reason to be in gratitude, some measure of grace allowed.

Resilient Life ~ 
the journey....a newness of spirit; a fresh, brand new dimension of self:
I woke New Year's Day 2012 to the early news: I added "grandmother" to my being, my identity! At 61, this is not a surprise, no amazing addition ~ yet, a glowing shift in spiritual dimension occurred, a new life full of possibility inspired and altered our world.



We live to love and to find love, to be loved and to give love.
Resilience requires acceptance, embracing even, of that ever-shifting paradigm~ elusive state ~
Shadowy, then enlightened; tender, then exuberant; awake/alert, then quiet, simple,clear.
Faith upholds us, every one of us, even those who doubt ~

Are we not born with an innate faith in the light and dark of the world, the pull of gravity securing us and all there is? Aren't we possessed of the awareness & unassuming knowledge of something beyond that knowledge,something we may never know/understand ~ just be aware of?

Resilience believes, accepts, glories in the unknown. Resilient life absorbs energy in order to multiply it and release it ~ To hold it would stagnate the capability of being resilient. Our mere tuning to the vibration of the air we breathe signifies and validates our very being.
We - all living things - are brave and strong, at some amazing point ~
Look carefully: How, when are you, have you, been there -in your unknowing, believing resilience?
Epiphany ~ a gift forever available.

New Year Illuminated

 

Light of suns and moons, early morning hope of a new day, a new and shining year. Arise and walk. Look up and listen. Be blessed.

Observe how the land and sea unite with sky to paint reflections of a new day.

Know,believe in the gift of this moment, this miracle, which we are given over and over again, an inseparable portion of our hearts.

We must be the change we wish to see in the world.

~ GANDHI~

Remain true and essential: these words, this mantra. Let this new year bring a settling, an acceptance of the glory of diversity, the connection of all life. 

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.