More on Hand-Written Letters

There are a number of letter-writing exchanges, and I'd like to list two of them here:

1)  www.ipfpenfriends.com - where you get a list of 14 pen-friends from all over the world

2)  www.letter-exchange.com - for a small fee you get connected to pen-pals all over USA.

Hand written letters are such a gift.  If you take the time to express your heartfelt thoughts and feelings, you share part of your soul.  What could be nicer?  Everyone enjoys receiving a hand written note, especially of appreciation or gratitude for something that someone has said or done.  It's always nice to be remembered.

Old Shaker Song

Simple Gifts
 Simple Gifts was written by Shaker Elder Joseph Brackett, Jr. in 1848. It was first published in
The Gift to be Simple: Shaker Rituals and Songs.


'Tis a gift to be simple,
'Tis a gift to be free,
'Tis a gift to come down
Where we ought to be
And when we find ourselves
In the place that's right
'Twill be in the valley
Of love and delight.

To hear the music and read all of the lyrics go to:

http://www2.gol.com/users/quakers/simple_gifts.htm

The Art of Hand-Written Letters

Elegy for the Personal Letter

by Allison Joseph

I miss the rumpled corners of correspondence,

the ink blots and crossouts that show

someone lives on the other end, a person

whose hands make errors, leave traces.

I miss fine stationary, its raised elegant

lettering prominent on creamy shades of ivory

or pearl grey. I even miss hasty notes

dashed off on notebook paper, edges

ragged as their scribbled messages—

can't much write now—thinking of you.

When letters come now, they are formatted

by some distant computer, addressed

to Occupant or To the family living at—

meager greetings at best,

salutations made by committee.

Among the glossy catalogs

and one time only offers

the bills and invoices,

letters arrive so rarely now that I drop

all other mail to the floor when

an envelope arrives and the handwriting

is actual handwriting, the return address

somewhere I can locate on any map.

So seldom is it that letters come

That I stop everything else

to identify the scrawl that has come this far-

the twist and the whirl of the letters,

the loops of the numerals. I open

those envelopes first, forgetting

the claim of any other mail,

hoping for news I could not read

in any other way but this.

"Elegy for the Personal Letter" by Allison Joseph, from My Father's Kites.

© Steel Toe Books, 2010.

From Today's DAILY OM

The Good In All

Looking Deeply


We need to look deeply into all things in our lives to see the inherent goodness at the heart of everything.

Sometimes we find it difficult to see the good in people, places, or situations that aren’t to our liking. We focus on the things we don’t like in our lives as a way of fueling our efforts to create change. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, and it is one way we make progress. However, if we get too caught up in this way of looking at the world, we lose touch with our ability to sit back and simply say yes to everything on our plates, which is the true starting point for all successful activity. Sometimes what we really need is to encourage ourselves to look deeply into all things in our lives to see the inherent goodness at the heart of everything.
 

At the core of this inquiry is the practice of unconditional acceptance, which can be scary because we feel as if we are being asked not to change the things we don’t like. But when we think this way, we are still operating on the surface of our lives. In order to feel the beauty and warmth of full acceptance, we have to be willing to sink deeper into the stratum underlying the external manifestation of our lives. This deeper place of being is the origin of all lasting change, yet its paradox is that when we are in it, we often don’t feel the need to change anything. From this place, we experience the pure beauty of the process of being alive, and we see that all things change in their own time.

We don’t need to force anything. If there are things that we do need to change, from this place of serenity we create the shift easily, our hands guided by an energy that resides at the very center of our hearts. 

In our active, goal-oriented culture, we learn to distrust stillness and to engage in busywork on the surface of life. This tendency can blind us to the good that lies at the heart of all things. But all we have to do to see again is stop for a moment, let go of our preconceptions and our agendas, and settle into the very center of our hearts, remembering that it is only
from here that we can truly see.

We Make Our Own Luck - Or, Do We?

The future is not some place we are going to but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination.

John Schaar

American Scholar and Professor

 

What do you think about the above quote?  Does one make their own luck, are our lives predestined or is it all one big roll of the dice?  Or, perhaps a little of each?

 

Is the randomness of life alive and well?  Do you believe in pre-
destination or fate?  Luck, chance or a Higher Power?  Maybe a little of each?  Depending on how things turn out? Important questions.  To think about, ponder and reflect upon.

 

At various times in my life, I've felt I was the luckiest person alive.  At other times, the unluckiest.  Then there were instances where I believed my Higher Power was leading me to safety, or a resolution of some kind.  Still, other times felt like plain bad luck.  The parking ticket I got last week, for instance.  My husband leaving.  My kitty getting run over by a hit and run driver when she was just a year old.  And, the list goes on.

 

And so it is with such profound, and often confusing or upsetting situations, complications and life events, that I turn to meditation and Buddhism.  For in meditation, everything comes and goes like clouds passing in the sky.  Nothing stays the same--fortunately or unfortunately.  Of course, we'd all like the happy times to freeze-frame and stay around forever, but that's not the way life works.

 

So then, we need to appreciate the joy as it's happening--which is moment by moment.  And which, when you stop to think about it, is every moment you're alive.  For, every breath is joyful, every inhale and exhale, a celebration.  Disappointments come and go.  Failures are a matter of perspective and interpretation.  Much of what we attribute to unhappiness is a result of our own unskillful behavior (or reactivity, anger and negative emotions.) 

 

So rejoice.  You are ALIVE! You are in a good place. Be aware of this and other gratitudes in life.  Down times will come, to be sure.  Losses, sadness, grief and even trauma.  Yet present moment, wonderful moment is alive and well for all of us.  So, like the title of my photo suggests:  Bee Happy!