My best meditation, if you want to call it that, is when I am walking. I start by looking up at the blue sky and sun reflecting on the snow, adjust my sunglasses as the glare blinds my blue eyes and I walk. I start chanting my mantra 108 times and if my mind is still chattering, I chant another set. And then I am in a magical zone.
(c) Clr ‘157Amma, Mom, GrandMaman
Amma smiles at me
departed spirits appear
reassuring me
Amma smiles at me
mind swims
in harmony
departed spirits appear
a message
removing my fears
reassuring me
feeling their presence
blessing my day
Our host , Chèvrefeuille, writes a very moving post at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, about friendship before continuing on to the lesson in The Pilgrimage on acknowledging friends and support around us.
In times of sorrow or personal strife, I have found solace in my solitude, my writing and my readers. The latter have become friends from afar, who have read my words and “got it”, felt it and embraced it.
I love this passage we are referred to on friendship:
[…] ‘Once, a poet said that no man is an island. In order to fight the good fight, we need help. We need friends, and when the friends aren’t nearby, we have to turn solitude into our main weapon. We need the help of everything around us in order to take the necessary steps toward our goal. Everything has to be a personal manifestation of our will to win the good fight. If we don’t understand that, then we don’t recognize that we need everything and everybody, and we become arrogant warriors. And our arrogance will defeat us in the end, because we will be so sure of ourselves that we won’t see the pitfalls there on the field of battle.’ […](Source: The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho)
How true! Amma, (Mata Amritanandamayi) says, “We are all beads strung together on the same thread of love”.
As much as I love to help others, be supportive and it is part of my work as a counsellor as well, I find it difficult to ask for help. I am working on that. It is not arrogance but perhaps the attitude, “I can do it on my own” may be my giving into vanity which is really the same thing.
on pebbled roads
my walking stick breaks
a rest is due
watching travellers go by
humbly ask a stranger’s help
limping’s not so bad
free of a heavy knapsack
a comrade now carts
Walking along the narrow path through the mountains, we feel a soft breeze. Cautiously, looking over my shoulder from time to time, the journey seems much longer now that I know I must meet up with a huge challenge.
scanning high and low
even the clouds seem daunting
demons etched throughout
scanning high and low
sniffing the air around me
danger has a scent
even the clouds seem daunting
fear listens attentively
danger has a growl
demons etched throughout
imagination running wild
gets the best of me
Long ago, she remembers sipping her loose leaf tea with her Grand-Maman late one night in her kitchen. After she was finished sipping her tea, her grandmother would take her cup.
Tipping towards her
decrypting my future
cup of tea leaves
tipping towards her
tell telling patterns
messages appear
decrypting my future
shape of a mail box
a letter awaits
Walking to work is just after lunch for most people since she starts her work in the afternoon. She tries to leave earlier than usual so she can take different streets and walk slowly noticing the homes and parks along the way. Of course in winter with ice caked on the sidewalks forces her to truly walk slowly.
(troiku)
snowbound park abandoned for a season trees snore silently
snowbound park
smoke curling in the air
scent of apple trees
abandoned for a season
bicycle by the lamppost
gnarled fender rusts
I love this part of Coelho’s book. I can relate to the long journey of nine years studying to get my degree. And throughout that journey I learned so much more outside the classroom. I learned more about myself. I don’t think I would have become the person that I am if I would have crammed it all in three years full time.
Last summer I went on a road trip. Rather than take two days to drive to visit my family 600 Km away and continuing on another 200 km to relax by Lake Erie in a secluded village, I took four days to get to Lake Erie. I drove along the lake making the trip that much longer due to the route and having to drive slower since I was on a secondary route. I stopped at several places to sleep and met amazing people who have also traveled to many other countries. Staying at Airbnb’s that were humble homes, at affordable prices, I was able to get a taste of real living in some of the towns, getting to know the residents of each place…feeling more connected than having stayed at motels or hotels.
Just like my last trip at the end of December, I traveled to San Francisco only for two days before going on to a 4 day retreat in San José. I walked for hours despite the rain by the water and revisited many places as well as discovered new finds.
history relived
walking along similar paths
inhaling new insights
The retreat in San José was another experience as well since I had never attended a retreat completely alone. Within minutes at the end of the token line, I met someone who became my guide, my mentor and my new friend throughout the four days there.
strangers on the path
coming together as one
seek Mother’s blessing
power of the mundane,
oh such meaningful lessons!
Tournesol dans un Jardin 